[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 242 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78504-78505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31870]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-920-1320-EL, WYW146744]


Federal Coal Lease Application

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact 
statement (DEIS) and notice of public hearing on the north Jacobs ranch 
federal coal lease application in the decertified Powder River federal 
coal production region, Wyoming.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
implementing regulations and other applicable statutes, the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of a DEIS for the 
North Jacobs Ranch Coal Lease Application, BLM serial number WYW146744, 
in the Wyoming Powder River Basin, and announces the scheduled date and 
place for a public hearing pursuant to 43 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) 3425.4. The DEIS analyzes the impacts of issuing a Federal coal 
lease for the proposed North Jacobs Ranch Federal coal tract. The 
purpose of the hearing is to solicit public comments on the DEIS, the 
fair market value, the maximum economic recovery, and the proposed 
competitive sale of the coal included in the proposed North Jacobs 
Ranch Federal coal tract. The North Jacobs Ranch tract is being 
considered for sale as a result of a coal lease application received 
from Jacobs Ranch Coal Company (JRCC) on October 2, 1998. JRCC is a 
subsidiary of Kennecott Energy Company. The tract as applied for 
includes about 4,821.19 acres containing approximately 519 million tons 
of Federal coal reserves in Campbell County, Wyoming.

DATES: A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. MDT, on January 17, 
2001, at the Clarion Western Plaza Motel, 2009 S. Douglas Highway, 
Gillette, WY. An open house will start at 6:30 p.m., prior to the 
hearing, to answer questions related to the leasing process and this 
coal lease application. Written comments on the DEIS will be accepted 
for 60 days following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) publishes their notice of availability of the DEIS in the Federal 
Register. We expect that the EPA will publish that notice on December 
15, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions, comments or requests for copies of 
the Draft EIS to the Casper Field Office, BLM, Attn: Nancy Doelger, 
2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, Wyoming 82601; or you may e-mail them to 
the attention of Nancy Doelger at [email protected]; or fax them 
to 307-261-7587.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The application for the North Jacobs Ranch 
tract was filed as a maintenance tract coal lease-by-application (LBA) 
under the provisions of 43 CFR 3425.1
    On October 2, 1998, JRCC filed coal lease application WYW146744 for 
the North Jacobs Ranch Federal coal tract with the BLM for the 
following lands:

T. 44 N., R. 70 W., 6th P.M., Campbell County, Wyoming

    Sec. 26: Lots 9 and 10;
    Sec. 27: Lots 1-16;
    Sec. 28: Lots 1-16;
    Sec. 29: Lots 1-16;
    Sec. 30: Lots 5-20;
    Sec. 31: Lots 5-20;
    Sec. 32: Lots 1-16;
    Sec. 33: Lots 4, 5, 12, 13.

T. 44 N., R. 71 W., 6th P.M., Campbell County, Wyoming

    Sec. 25: Lots 1-16.
Total surface area applied for: 4,821.19 acres.
    The Powder River Regional Coal Team (RCT) reviewed this competitive 
lease application at public meetings held on February 23, 1999, in 
Billings, Montana; October 27, 1999, in Gillette, Wyoming; and October 
25, 2000, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. At these meetings, the RCT recommended 
that BLM process this LBA, pending resolution of the conflicts between 
proposed coal mining and existing and proposed oil and gas development, 
including proposed coalbed methane (CBM) development on the tract.
    The Jacobs Ranch Mine, which is adjacent to the lease application 
area, has an approved mining and reclamation plan from the Land Quality 
Division of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and 
an approved air quality permit from the Air Quality Division of the 
Wyoming DEQ to mine up to 38 million tons of coal per year through 
2001, and 50 million tons of coal per year to be mined in 2002 through 
2004. According to the application filed for the North Jacobs Ranch 
tract, the maintenance tract would be mined to extend the life of the 
existing mine. JRCC estimates that, under the current mine plan, the 
existing recoverable reserves at the Jacobs Ranch Mine will be mined 
out in about 7 years at an average production rate of 30 million tons 
per year. The Black Thunder Mine is also contiguous to the lease 
application area.
    JRCC previously acquired a maintenance coal lease (serial number 
WYW117924, issued effective October 1, 1992), containing approximately 
1,709 acres adjacent to the Jacobs Ranch Mine using the LBA process.
    The DEIS analyzes four alternatives. The Proposed Action is to 
lease the North Jacobs Ranch tract as applied for to the successful 
bidder at a competitive sealed bid sale. The second alternative, 
Alternative 1, is the No Action Alternative, which assumes that the 
application for the North Jacobs Ranch tract is rejected. The third and 
fourth alternatives evaluate issuing a lease for a tract that has been 
modified to avoid bypassing coal in the future and/or to reduce 
multiple mineral development conflicts with existing oil and gas 
development.
    The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is a 
cooperating agency in the preparation of this EIS because it is the 
Federal agency that would recommend approval or disapproval of the 
mining plan for the North Jacobs Ranch LBA tract to the Secretary of 
the Interior, if a lease is issued for the tract.
    During the scoping process, the issues that were identified related 
to this lease

[[Page 78505]]

application included: potential conflicts with existing conventional 
oil and gas development and proposed CBM development; potential 
cumulative impacts of increasing mineral development in the Powder 
River Basin; validity and currency of resource data; public access; 
potential impacts to threatened and endangered species and other 
species of concern; potential cumulative air quality impacts; potential 
impacts of nitrogen oxide emissions resulting from blasting of coal and 
overburden; and cumulative impacts of reasonably foreseeable actions 
such as the construction and operation of the DM&E railroad in the 
cumulative analysis.
    Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the BLM, Casper Field Office, 2987 
Prospector Drive, Casper, WY, during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 
4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be 
published as part of the final EIS. Individual respondents may request 
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. 
All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives of officials of organizations 
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

    Dated: December 8, 2000.
Lynn E. Rust,
Acting Deputy State Director, Minerals and Lands.
[FR Doc. 00-31870 Filed 12-14-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P