[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 12, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1819-1820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-605]


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DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[DES-98-57]


Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
Colorado Sodium Products Development Project (Project), located in Rio 
Blanco County and Garfield County, Colorado.

DATES: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the 
BLM will conduct public meetings to solicit comments on this draft EIS. 
These public meetings will be held in two locations:
    1. Bureau of Land Management, White River Resource Area Office, 
73544 Highway 64, Meeker, Colorado, on February 10, 1999, at 7:00 PM.
    2. Town Hall Council Chambers, 222 Grand Valley Way, Parachute, 
Colorado, on February 11, 1999 at 7:00 PM.
    Written comments and recommendations on this Draft EIS should be 
received on or before March 9, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this notice to Mr. Larry

[[Page 1820]]

Shults, Natural Resource Specialist, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 
White River Resource Area, 73544 Highway 64, Meeker, CO 81641.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Shults, (970) 878-3601.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: American Soda, L.L.P. (American Soda) 
intends to construct and operate a commercial nahcolite solution mining 
operation in the northcentral portion of the Piceance Creek Basin in 
Rio Blanco County, Colorado. Nahcolite is naturally occurring sodium 
bicarbonate that is found in association with oil shale deposits. After 
the nahcolite is removed from the ground, it would be processed into a 
sodium carbonate solution and transported by a 44-mile pipeline south 
to a processing operation to be located at an existing industrial site 
in the Parachute Valley in Garfield County, Colorado. There it would be 
further processed to commercial grade sodium carbonate, sodium 
bicarbonate, and other sodium products which would then be shipped from 
the processing facility via a 4-mile long dedicated rail spur to an 
interstate rail connection near the town of Parachute.
John J. Mehlhoff,
Resource Area Manager, White River Resource Area.
[FR Doc. 99-605 Filed 1-11-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JB-M