[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 226 (Friday, November 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58091-58092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28654]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[(WY-060-1320-01), WYW127221]


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on 
the North Rochelle Tract coal lease application (originally named the 
North Roundup Tract) in the decertified Powder River Federal Coal 
Production Region, Wyoming

SUMMARY: SMC Mining Company has applied for a coal lease for 
approximately 1,439 acres (approximately 140 million tons of coal) in 
an area adjacent to the North Rochelle Mine in Campbell County, 
Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recommended that 
approximately 81 additional acres containing approximately 9 million 
tons of coal be included in the tract to avoid a potential bypass 
situation in the future. The BLM has determined that an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) must be prepared to evaluate the environmental 
impacts of coal mining which would result from issuance of this lease. 
The application will be processed according to the coal lease by 
application (LBA) regulations at 43 CFR 3425.

DATES: As part of this process a public scoping meeting has been 
scheduled on Tuesday, December 5, 1995, at 7 PM at the Tower West 
Lodge, 109 North U.S. Highway 14-16, in Gillette, Wyoming. In order to 
insure that comments will be considered in the draft EIS they should be 
received by the BLM at the address below by December 31, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Questions, comments or concerns should be addressed to the 
Casper District Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Nancy Doelger, 
1701 East E Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Doelger or Mike Karbs, phone: 
307-261-7600 or at the above address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SMC Mining Company filed a coal lease 
application on July 22, 1992, with the BLM pursuant to the provisions 
of 43 CFR 3425.1 as a maintenance tract LBA for the following lands, 
which contain an estimated 140 million tons of coal:

T. 42 N., R. 70 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Sec. 4: Lots 5-16, 19, and 20;
Sec. 5: Lots 5-16;
Sec. 9: Lot 1;

T. 43 N., R. 70 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Sec. 32: Lots 9-11, 14-16;
Sec. 33: Lots 11-14.
    Containing 1439.92 acres, more or less.

    The BLM has recommended that the following additional lands 
containing an additional estimated 9 million tons of coal reserves be 
included in the application:

T. 43 N., R. 70 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Sec. 32: Lots 12 and 13.

    Containing 81.16 acres, more or less.

    The tract as amended by the BLM contains a total of 1521.08 acres 
and approximately 149 million tons of coal. The lease application area 
is west of and contiguous with SMC Mining Company's existing North 
Rochelle Mine and Thunder Basin Coal Company's Black Thunder Mine. The 
North Rochelle Mine began producing coal in 1990. There are currently 
no mine facilities or rail facilities at the North Rochelle Mine. Coal 
is produced by truck and shovel and the produced coal is hauled by 
truck from the mine site to a contracted buyer. The company has applied 
to lease the proposed North Rochelle Tract (initially called the North 
Roundup Tract) as a maintenance tract for the North Rochelle Mine.
    The North Rochelle Mine has an approved mining and reclamation plan 
and an air quality permit allowing it to mine up to 8 million tons of 
coal per year. The potential impacts of the North Rochelle Mine, 
including construction of mine facilities and a rail loop, were 
previously analyzed in an EIS completed in 1983 by the Office of 
Surface Mining (OSM). The EIS to be prepared to evaluate the impacts of 
the maintenance lease application will include an evaluation of the 
impacts of starting up a full-scale mining operation at this time. 

[[Page 58092]]

    The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will be a cooperating agency in the 
preparation of the EIS because the surface of some of the lands 
included in the tract is owned by the Federal government and 
administered by the USFS as part of the Thunder Basin National 
Grasslands. The OSM will also be a cooperating agency in the 
preparation of the EIS, because it is the Federal agency that 
administers surface coal mining operations under the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.
    The major issues, identified to date, revolve around air quality, 
hydrology, reclamation, and socio-economics as they relate to 
facilities and rail construction, and the start-up of a full-scale 
mining operation. If other issues or concerns are known, please address 
them in writing to the above individuals, or verbally at the public 
scoping meeting scheduled on December 5 in Gillette, Wyoming. Written 
comments will be accepted by the BLM at the address shown above from 
the date of publication of this Notice in the Federal Register, through 
December 31, 1995.
Pamela J. Lewis,
Chief, Leasable Minerals Section.
[FR Doc. 95-28654 Filed 11-22-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P