[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 251 (Friday, December 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83076-83077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-33090]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-920-1320-EL, WYW151133]


Federal Coal Lease Application

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental assessment and 
notice of public hearing on the Belle Ayr 2000 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 Draft 
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Belle Ayr 2000 Coal Lease 
Application, BLM serial number WYW151133, in the Wyoming Powder River 
Basin (PRB), and announces the scheduled date and place for a public 
hearing pursuant to 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3425.4. The 
draft EA analyzes the impacts of issuing a Federal coal lease for the 
proposed Belle Ayr 2000 Federal coal tract. The purpose of the hearing 
is to solicit public comments on the Draft EA, the fair market value, 
the maximum economic recovery, and the proposed competitive sale of the 
coal included in the proposed Belle Ayr 2000 Federal coal tract. The 
Belle Ayr 2000 tract is being considered for sale as a result of a coal 
lease application received from RAG Wyoming Land Company (RAG) on July 
28, 2000. The tract as applied for includes about 243.61 acres 
containing approximately 29 million tons of recoverable Federal coal 
reserves in Campbell County, WY.

DATES: A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. MDT, on January 18, 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 Draft EA will be accepted until on 
or before January 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions, comments or requests for copies of 
the Draft EA to the Casper Field Office, BLM, Attn: Nancy Doelger, 2987 
Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 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 Belle Ayr 2000 tract 
was filed as a maintenance tract coal lease-by-application (LBA) under 
the provisions of 43 CFR 3425.1.
    On July 28, 2000, RAG filed coal lease application WYW151133 for 
the Belle Ayr 2000 Federal coal tract with the BLM for the following 
lands:

T48N, R71W, 6th P.M., Campbell County, Wyoming
Section 28: Lots 3 through 6;
Section 29: Lots 1, 6.

Total surface area applied for: 243.61 acres.
    RAG had previously applied for a maintenance LBA that encompassed 
the coal resources included in the Belle Ayr 2000 lease application as 
well as additional coal resources northwest of the Belle Ayr 2000 lease 
application area on March 20, 1997. They filed a request to modify the 
1997 Belle Ayr LBA by withdrawing the lands included in the Belle Ayr 
2000 application on July 28, 2000. RAG then filed a separate lease 
application for the lands withdrawn from the original LBA and included 
in Belle Ayr 2000 Tract.
    The Powder River Regional Coal Team reviewed the request to modify 
the Belle Ayr 1997 LBA application and the application for the Belle 
Ayr 2000 LBA at their public meeting on October 25, 2000, in Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, and recommended that BLM process it.
    The Belle Ayr 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 45 million tons of coal per year.

[[Page 83077]]

According to the application filed for the Belle Ayr 2000 tract, the 
maintenance tract would be mined to maintain production at the existing 
Belle Ayr Mine. The tract is also contiguous to an existing lease at 
the Caballo Mine.
    The Belle Ayr 2000 tract is bounded on three sides by existing coal 
leases at the Belle Ayr and Caballo Mines. Under the approved mining 
plans for these two mines, a large portion of the tract will be 
disturbed when the adjacent leases are mined in order to recover all of 
the coal in those leases.
    The Draft EA analyzes two alternatives. The Proposed Action is to 
issue a maintenance lease for the Belle Ayr 2000 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 Belle Ayr 2000 tract is rejected.
    The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is a 
cooperating agency in the preparation of this EA because it is the 
Federal agency that would recommend approval or disapproval of the 
Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) mining plan for the Belle Ayr 2000 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 application included: The potential for conflicts with 
recovery of coalbed methane resources in the coal; potential cumulative 
impacts of increasing mineral development in the PRB; 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 EA. 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 21, 2000.
Alan Rabinoff,
Deputy State Director, Minerals and Lands.
[FR Doc. 00-33090 Filed 12-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P