[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 25 (Monday, February 8, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6112-6113]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-2856]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[UT-060-09-3800-00, UTU-72499]
Notice of Final Decision; Lisbon Valley Copper Project, San Juan
County, UT
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice of final decision prepared for Summo USA Corporations's
Lisbon Valley Open Pit Copper Mine in San Juan County, Utah.
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SUMMARY: Interior Board of Land Appeals (Board) decision dated
September 23, 1998 (National Wildlife Federation, et. al., 145 IBLA
348), affirmed in part the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Record of
Decision (ROD) of March 26, 1997, approving the Lisbon Valley Copper
Project, but set aside and remanded in part a section of that decision
dealing with analysis of a backfill alternative for that project.
In that decision, the Board concluded that the record did not
support BLM's rejection of the Open Pit Backfilling
[[Page 6113]]
Alternative in the ROD based on concerns for impacts on water quality
from acid generating material. The Board further recognized that while
concerns regarding impacts from alkaline conditions may be legitimate,
those concerns were not sufficiently stated in the ROD or the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) so as to serve as the principal
basis for complete rejection of the alternative (145 IBLA at 374). The
Board remanded that portion of the ROD and directed BLM to reconsider
the backfill alternative.
The BLM has conducted the analysis directed by the Board,
summarized in a memorandum dated January 25, 1999, from the Moab Field
Office to the Utah State Director. While the FEIS and ROD contained
analyses of multiple complex geochemical and geohydrologic technical
issues, the re-analysis of data summarized in this memorandum confirmed
BLM's concerns expressed in the FEIS and ROD that potential alkaline
conditions in the post-mining pit lakes could mobilize and transport
metal oxyanions from mine waste material utilized as pit backfill
material into underlying groundwater at the mine site. The data
indicates that such mobilization and transport has a significant
likelihood of adversely impacting groundwater quality and violating
acceptable water quality standards.
As reflected in the FEIS and ROD, the BLM retains the authority to
further analyze backfilling if the results of required life-of-the-mine
waste rock sampling and hydrologic testing reveals additional adverse
impacts not foreseen or predicted in the EIS, and/or indicates that the
potential impact of metal oxyanion mobilization and transport
associated with backfilling is overestimated. Any additional
consideration of backfilling, and potential changes in environmental
consequences resulting from such action, would be subject to additional
analysis under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Based on the re-analysis of data as directed by IBLA and the
conclusion that BLM's rationale for rejecting the backfill alternative
was sound and reasoned, BLM has determined that no modifications or
changes are required in the ROD. Furthermore, since none of the data or
additional analyses performed to date identify environmental impacts
not previously identified in the FEIS, no additional analysis is
warranted under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.
This Notice of Final Decision is BLM's final decision regarding the
approval of the Lisbon Valley Copper Project pursuant to direction
given by the Board in its September 23, 1998, decision, to reconsider
the Backfill Alternative. The Moab Field Office memorandum of January
25, 1999, is available at the Moab Field Office of the BLM at 82 East
Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532, (435-259-6111).
DATES: Parties adversely affected by this Notice of Final Decision have
until March 10, 1999, to file a Notice of Appeal (43 CFR 4.411 and
4.413). The decision to approve the mining operation in relation to the
original decision regarding rejection of the Open Pit Backfill
Alternative is in full force and effect, effective on the date of this
publication of the Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision (43
CFR 3809.4(f). A petition for a stay of the decision may be filed in
accordance with the above cited regulations.
ADDRESSES: A Notice of Appeal should be addressed to: Bill Lamb, Utah
State Director, Bureau of Land Management, PO Box 45155, 324 South
State Street, Room 301, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynn Jackson, Project Coordinator,
Moab Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 82 East Dogwood Avenue,
Moab, Utah, 84532, (435) 259-6111.
Dated: February 1, 1999.
Brad Palmer,
Associate Moab Field Office Manager, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 99-2856 Filed 2-5-99; 8:45 am]
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