Stark County officials will be asked tonight to delay zoning for a new coal mine near South Heart until an environmental impact statement can be done.

Mary Hodell, a member of the Badlands Area Resource Council, said 500 people signed a petition asking the zoners to require the detailed environmental report so that residents can better understand the impact of the new mine.

Great Northern Power Development, a subsidiary owner of vast railroad coal reserves, plans to open a 17-section coal mine and use the lignite as stock for a synthetic natural gas plant near the mine.

The Stark County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a hearing at 7 tonight at the county courthouse in Dickinson to decide whether to change the land use from agriculture to industrial for coal mining.

Rich Voss, a vice president of Great Northern, said the company has already compiled nearly all the environmental impact information -amounting to hundreds of pages - that is required by the Public Service Commission for a mining permit.

PSC spokesman Jim Deutsch said no mine permit issued in North Dakota has ever involved a complete environmental impact statement, which is an exhaustive federal process that takes years and involves many state and federal agencies.

Voss said Great Northern will have met its environmental study requirement for the PSC permit application.

Great Northern hopes to file for that mining permit later this month and Voss said all the environmental information will be available to the public.

As a preliminary step, the mine zoning has to be approved by the Stark County Planning and Zoning Commission, which will make a recommendation for action when the Stark County Commission meets Friday.

The Badlands Area Resource Council, a subsidiary of the Dakota Resource Council, consists primarily of families in the mine area, said Hodell.

She said the Badlands Area Resource County has reviewed the Stark County comprehensive plan and that Great Northern hasn't given the zoning board enough information.

"The … application is one line," she said. "Residents of Stark County and the surrounding area deserve more."

Deutsch said a full-blown environmental impact statement is normally associated with federal projects and there is no federal land included in Great Northern's mine application area.