[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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