South Gillette area coal lease applications : draft environmental impact statement

2008·176.9 MB·English

by  United States. Bureau of Land Management. High Plains District Office

BLM LIBRARY
III II | III II
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Environmental Impact Statement for the
South Gillette Area Coal Lease Applications
WYW1 WYW1 WYW1 WYW161248
72585, 73360, 72657,
Volume of 2
1
1-8
Chapters
Wyoming
Mule Deer on ReclaimedRangeland Reclaimed Belle Fourche River State
Coal Creek Mine, Wyoming Cordero Rojo Mine, Wyoming
Office
-
High
Plains
District
Reclaimed Tisdale Creek American Avocet in a Reclaimed Wetland
Cabalio Mine, Wyoming BelleAyr Mine, Wyoming
October 2008
MISSION STATEMENT
It is the mission ofthe Bureau ofLand Managmentto sustain the health, diversity,
and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and
future generations.
BLM/WY/PL-09/001+1320
United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Take Pride*
'n^mERICA
WyomingStateOffice
P.O. Box 1828
Cheyenne,Wyoming 82003-1828
3425 (LBA)
WY922 (MLove)
WYW172657 (Caballo West LBA)
WYW161248 (Belle AyrNorth LBA)
WYW173360(MaysdorfII LBA)
WYW172585 (West Coal Creek LBA)
SouthGillette Area Coal EIS
Phone No: 307-775-6258
FAX No: 307-775-6203
October 2008
1,
Dear Reader:
The Bureau ofLand Management (BLM) has prepared this draft environmental impact statement
(DEIS) to document and disclose the results ofenvironmental analyses offour applications
BLM
received by to lease tracts ofFederal coal. The tracts are located in the South Gillette Area
ofthe Wyoming Powder River Basin at the Caballo, Belle Ayr, Cordero Rojo, and Coal Creek
mines. A copy ofthis document is provided for your review and comments. The DEIS may be
reviewed on the following website:
http://www.blm.gov/wv/st/en/info/NEPA/cfodocs/southgillette.html Copies ofthe DEIS are
.
BLM
also available for public inspection at the following offices:
Bureau ofLand Management Bureau ofLand Management
Wyoming State Office Casper Field Office
5353 Yellowstone Road 2987 Prospector Drive
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009 Casper, Wyoming 82604
A
formal public hearing on these applications to lease Federal coal will be held at 7 p.m. on
November 18, 2008, at the George Amos Memorial Building, 412 South Gillette Avenue,
Gillette, Wyoming. The purpose ofthe hearing is to receive comments on the proposed coal
lease sales, on the fair market value, and on the maximum economic recovery ofthe Federal coal
resources included in the tracts.
BLM
has prepared a separate document entitled Supplementary Information on the Affected
Environment in the GeneralAnalysis Areafor the South Gillette Area CoalLease Application
EIS in addition to this DEIS. This document, which is available on request, includes more
detailed site-specific information about the potentially affected resources included in the study
areas for the South Gillette Area tracts.
3425 (LBA)
WY922 (MLove)
WYW
172657 (Caballo West LBA)
WYW
WY16W1248 (BelleAyrNorth LBA)
173360 (MaysdorfII LBA)
WYW172585 (WestCoal Creek LBA)
SouthGillette AreaCoal EIS
Page2
BLM will accept public comments on this DEIS, for sixty (60) days commencing on the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes a Notice ofAvailability in the Federal Register
.
Comments received after the end ofthe 60-day comment period will be considered in preparation
BLM
ofthe final EIS as time permits. is also publishing a Notice ofAvailability and Notice of
Hearing in the Federal Register
.
Ifyou wish to comment on the DEIS, your comments should relate directly to the document.
Comments should be as specific as possible and the location or locations in the document on
which you are commenting should be cited. The agencies involved in preparing this draft EIS
are required to respond in the final EIS to all substantive comments submitted. Substantive
comments should: (1) give any new information that could alter conclusions; (2) show why or
how analysis or assumptions in the DEIS are flawed; (3) show errors in data, sources, or
methods; or, (4) request clarifications that bear on conclusions.
Opinions or preferences will not receive a formal response, but they will be considered and
BLM
included as part ofthe decisionmaking process.
This DEIS was prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act and applicable
regulations, and other applicable statutes, to address possible environmental and socioeconomic
impacts that could result from this project. This DEIS is not a decision document. Its purpose is
to inform the public and the agency decisionmakers ofthe impacts ofleasing some or all ofthe
South Gillette Area tracts ofFederal coal to the existing applicant mines in the Wyoming Powder
River Basin and to evaluate alternatives to leasing the Federal coal included in the tracts as
applied for.
Comments, including names and addresses ofrespondents, will be available for public review at
the address listed below during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through
Friday, except holidays, and will be published as part ofthe final EIS. Individual respondents
may request confidentiality. Ifyou wish to withhold your name or address from public review or
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the
beginning ofyour written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law.
All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves
as representatives or officials oforganizations or businesses, will be made available for public
inspection in their entirety.
Please send written comments to Bureau ofLand Management, Casper Field Office, Attn:
WY
Teresa Johnson, 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, 82604. Written comments may also be e-
mailed to the attention ofTeresa Johnson at “[email protected]”. E-mail comments must
3425 (LBA)
WY922 (MLove)
WYW172657 (Caballo WestLBA)
WYW
161248 (BelleAyrNorth LBA)
WYW173360(MaysdorfII LBA)
WYW
72585 (WestCoal CreekLBA)
1
South GilletteAreaCoal EIS
Page 3
include the name and mailing address ofthe commenter to receive consideration. Written
comments may also be faxed to 307-261-7587.
Ifyou have any questions or would like to obtain a copy ofthe supplementary information
document or additional copies ofthis DEIS in either hard copy or PDF, please contact Teresa
Johnson at 307-261-7510, Ginger Vickers at 307-261-7773, or at the above address.
Sincerely,

DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
SOUTH GILLETTE AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS
CAMPBELL COUNTY, WYOMING
Lead Agency USDI, Bureau of Land Management, High Plains District Office,
:
WY
Casper,
Cooperating Agencies USDI, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
:
Western Region, Denver, CO
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Cheyenne, WY
Wyoming Department of Transportation, Cheyenne, WY
Abstract: This Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) assesses the environmental consequences
of decisions to hold competitive, sealed-bid sales and issue leases for several tracts of federal coal
located adjacent to existing surface coal mines in Campbell County, Wyoming, subject to standard and
special lease stipulations. The South Gillette Area Coal Lease by Application (LBA) Tracts, as applied for
by Foundation Coal West, Ark Land Company, Caballo Coal Company, and Cordero Mining Company,
include approximately 8,161.0 acres containing approximately 873.6 million tons of in-place Federal coal.
The four coal companies, operators of the adjacent Belle Ayr Mine, the adjacent Coal Creek Mine, the
adjacent Caballo Mine, and the adjacent Cordero Rojo Mine, respectively, propose to mine the tracts as
maintenance leases for the existing mines, if lease sales are held and they acquire the leases.
This Draft EIS describes the physical, biological, cultural, historic, and socioeconomic resources in and
around the existing mines and the LBA tracts. The alternatives in the Draft EIS consider the impacts of
leasing the tracts as they were applied for; leasing reconfigured tracts in order to avoid bypassing Federal
coal or to increase competitive interest in a tract, and not leasing the tracts. The focus for the impact
analysis was based upon resource issues and concerns identified during previous coal leasing analyses
and public scoping conducted for these lease applications. Concerns related to leasing coal and its
subsequent development include impacts to groundwater, air quality, wildlife, global climate change,
impacts to human health, conflicts with oil and gas development, impacts to cultural and paleontological
resources, impacts to wetland resources, nitrogen oxide emissions resulting from blasting of coal and
overburden, access to county roads, and impacts from coal transport. Cumulative impacts related to
ongoing surface coal mining and other proposed development in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming,
and coal combustion residues and other by-products from coal-fired power plants, are also of concern.
This Draft EIS, in compliance with Section 7(c) of the Endangered Species Act (as amended), identifies
any endangered or threatened species which are likely to be affected by the Proposed Action.
The Draft EIS is open for a 60-day review period beginning on the date that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency publishes the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. Comments that are
postmarked or received on or before the end of the 60-day review period will be considered in the
preparation of the final EIS.
For Further Information Contact:
Teresa Johnson
Bureau of Land Management, High Plains District
2987 Prospector Drive
WY
Casper, 82604
[phone]
Email: casoer [email protected] (Teresa Johnson in the subject line)
'
SOUTH GILLETTE AREA COAL LEASE APPLICATIONS
DRAFT ENVIROMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
Prepared by
WWC
Engineering
Sheridan, Wyoming
Under the Direction of
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
High Plains District Office
Casper, Wyoming
and
Cooperating Agencies
U.S. Department of Interior
Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement
Denver, Colorado
and
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality
Cheyenne, Wyoming
and
Wyoming Department of Transportation
Sheridan, and Cheyenne, Wyoming
September 2008