[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 227 (Friday, November 22, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59457-59458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29869]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-030-1620-01; WYW139975]


Environmental Impact Statement; Notice of Intent

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Conduct a Planning Review and Prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the Carbon Basin Tract coal 
lease application, WYW 139975, and call for coal resource and other 
resource information 43 CFR 3420.1-2.

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SUMMARY: Ark Land Company has filed an application with the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) to obtain a Federal coal lease on 4145.15 acres 
of Federal coal lands located in Carbon County, Wyoming. The BLM has 
determined that an EIS must be prepared to evaluate the environmental 
impacts of coal mining which could result from the issuance of this 
lease. The application will be processed according to the coal lease-
by-application (LBA) regulations at 43 CFR 3425. The Carbon Basin coal 
tract has not been identified in the Great Divide Resource Management 
Plan (RMP)(1990) as an area available for further coal leasing 
consideration. As a result, a planning review of the proposed coal 
lease project area will be conducted concurrently with the preparation 
of the coal lease EIS.
    The Federal Coal Management Program established four major steps, 
collectively called ``the coal screening/planning process'' (43 CFR 
3420.1-4), to be used in the identification of Federal coal areas that 
are acceptable for further leasing consideration. During the planning 
review, the coal screening process, including application of the coal 
unsuitability criteria (43 CFR 3461), will be conducted on the proposed 
project area. If the area is found acceptable for further consideration 
for coal leasing, it will result in an amendment to the Great Divide 
RMP.
    In accordance with 43 CFR 3420.1-2, this notice also serves to 
fulfill the required call for coal and other resource information. This 
request for resource information is to formally solicit indications of 
interest and information on coal resource development potential and on 
other resources which may be affected by coal development for lands in 
the planning review/proposed project area. Industry, State and local 
governments, and the general public may submit information on lands 
that should or should not be considered for coal leasing, including 
statements describing why the lands should or should not be considered 
for leasing.

DATES: As part of this process, three public scoping meetings have been 
scheduled. On December 3, 1996, at 6:30 p.m., a meeting will be held at 
the Town of Hanna Administration Office, 301 S. Adams, Hanna, Wyoming. 
The second scoping meeting will take place in Laramie, Wyoming, at 6:30 
p.m., December 4, 1996, at the Albany County Library, 310 S. Eighth 
Street. The final scoping meeting is scheduled for December 10, 1996, 
6:30 p.m., at the Jeffrey Memorial Community Center, Third and Spruce, 
Rawlins, Wyoming.

ADDRESSES: Questions, comments, or concerns should be addressed in 
writing to the Great Divide Resource Area, Bureau of Land Management, 
Attn: Karla Swanson, Area Manager, 1300 North Third Street, Rawlins, 
Wyoming 82301. In order to insure that comments will be considered in 
the draft EIS, they should be received by the BLM at the above address 
by January 3, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Interested parties may obtain further 
information or request to be placed on the Rawlins BLM District mailing 
list by contacting Brenda Vosika Neuman or John Spehar, (307-328-4200) 
or write to the above address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Ark Land Company, St. Louis, Missouri, filed 
a coal lease application on September 20, 1996, with the BLM, pursuant 
to provisions of 43 CFR 3425.1 for the following lands in Carbon 
County, Wyoming:

Sixth Principal Meridian, Wyoming

T. 20 N., R. 79 W.
    Sec. 6, lot 5.
T. 20 N., R. 80 W.
    Sec. 4, lots 1, 2, 3;
    Sec. 6, lots 1, 2, and SE\1/4\;
    Sec 12, N\1/2\NW\1/4\, NW\1/4\NE\1/4\.
T. 21 N., R. 79 W.
    Sec. 20, N\1/2\, SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 28, NW\1/4\;
    Sec. 30, lots 1, 2, 3, 4, E\1/2\, E\1/2\W\1/2\;
    Sec. 32, NW\1/4\.
T. 21 N., R. 80 W.
    Sec. 26, all;
    Sec. 28, W\1/2\, SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 32, E\1/2\, SE\1/4\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 34, all.

    The area described contains approximately 4145.15 acres.

    The coal lease application area is located in the Carbon Basin, 
approximately 40 miles east of the town of Rawlins, 5 miles northwest 
of the town of Elk Mountain, 13 miles southwest of the town of Medicine 
Bow, and 12 miles southeast of the town of Hanna, all located in Carbon 
County, Wyoming. If successful in obtaining a Federal coal lease for 
the proposed project area, the coal mining would be conducted by Arch 
of Wyoming, Inc., an affiliate of Ark Land Company. Arch of Wyoming has 
operated coal mines in the Hanna Basin Region of Carbon County, Wyoming 
since 1972.
    The primary coal mining operation would utilize conventional 
dragline, surface or strip mining methods to expose the coal resource, 
including the drilling and blasting of overburden material and coal. 
Once the stripping operation reaches its economic cutoff, coal exposed 
in the final highwall

[[Page 59458]]

would be extracted using a continuous highwall mining machine.
    Mined coal would be transported by haul trucks approximately 14 
miles to a loadout facility at Arch of Wyoming's Seminoe No. 2 Mine, 2 
miles north of Hanna. Existing facilities at the Seminoe No. 2 Mine 
would be used to crush, store, and ship coal produced from the proposed 
Carbon Basin Mine.
    Mining is proposed to begin in the year 2000. The anticipated rate 
of production is about 2,000,000 tons of coal per year. It is predicted 
that surface minable reserves could be depleted in 8 to 10 years. 
Potential for underground mining exists, but will not be evaluated 
until after the completion of surface mining.
    Upon completion of mining activities, disturbed lands within the 
project area would be reclaimed and recontoured to approximate original 
contours and would be revegetated to accommodate pre-mining uses.
    The Office of Surface Mining will be a cooperating agency in the 
preparation of the EIS because it is the Federal agency that 
administers surface coal mining under the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977.
    Land and resource management issues and concerns specific to 
surface coal mining, development, operation, and reclamation in the 
proposed project area, adjacent State and private lands within the 
project area, and the transporting of mined coal to a remote facility 
that will be analyzed in the EIS include: air quality, hydrology, 
soils, vegetation, agriculture, transportation and public safety, 
conflicts with oil and gas lessees, Native American concerns, 
threatened and endangered species, impacts to raptor/sage grouse 
breeding and nesting areas, visual resources, recreation, social and 
economic effects on local communities, and cumulative impacts. Integral 
to the consideration and analyses of these issues and concerns and the 
preparation of the EIS, will be conducting the four steps of the coal 
screening/planning process (i.e., identifying the occurrence and 
development potential of coal resources in the project area, applying 
the coal unsuitability criteria, identifying other multiple use 
conflicts and impacts associated with the proposed coal mining, and 
surface owner consultation).

    Dated: November 18, 1996.
Bill G. Daniels,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 96-29869 Filed 11-21-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P