[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 55 (Friday, March 21, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13946-13947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-5888]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[(WY-060-1320-EL), WYW151634]


Notice of availability of West Hay Creek Coal Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement and Federal Coal Notice of Hearing, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability (NOA) of a draft environmental impact 
statement (DEIS) on a maintenance lease for a Federal coal tract in the 
decertified Powder River Federal Coal Production Region, Wyoming, and 
notice of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the 
implementing regulations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces 
the availability of the West Hay Creek Coal DEIS and announces a public 
hearing pursuant to 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3425.4.
    The DEIS analyzes and discloses to the public direct, indirect, and 
cumulative environmental impacts of issuing a Federal coal lease in the 
Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin. The BLM is considering a 
coal lease issuance as a result of an August 31, 2000 application made 
by Triton Coal Company, LLC to lease approximately 838 acres 
(approximately about 130 million in-place tons of coal) of Federal coal 
near the Buckskin Mine in Campbell County, Wyoming.
    The purpose of the public hearing is to solicit comments on the 
DEIS on the proposed competitive sale of the Federal coal in the West 
Hay Creek Coal tract, and on the fair market value and maximum economic 
recovery of the Federal coal.

DATES: Written comments on the DEIS will be accepted for 60 days 
following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
publishes their NOA of the DEIS in the Federal Register. The public 
hearing will be held at 7 p.m. MST, on April 16, 2003, at the Clarion 
Hotel, 2009 South Douglas Highway, Gillette, Wyoming. Requests to be 
included on the mailing list and to receive copies of the DEIS and 
notification of the comment period and hearing date should be sent to 
the address, facsimile number, or electronic address listed below.
    The BLM asks that those submitting comments on the DEIS make them 
as specific as possible with reference to page numbers and chapters of 
the document. Comments that contain only opinions or preferences will 
not receive a formal response; however, they will be considered and 
included as part of the BLM decision-making process.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions, comments, or concerns to the 
Casper Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Patricia Karbs, 
2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, Wyoming 82604, fax them to 307-261-7587, 
or send e-mail comments to the attention of Patricia Karbs at [email protected]. A copy of the DEIS has been sent to affected Federal, 
State, and local Government agencies; persons, and entities identified 
as potentially being affected by a decision to lease the Federal coal 
in this tract; and persons who indicated to the BLM that they wished to 
receive a copy of the DEIS. Copies of the DEIS are available for public 
inspection at the following BLM office locations: BLM Wyoming State 
Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009; and BLM Casper 
Field Office, 2987 Prospector Lane, Casper, Wyoming 82604. Comments, 
including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available 
for public review at the Casper Field Office at the address listed 
above during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. 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 or officials 
of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public 
inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Karbs or Mike Karbs at the 
above address, or telephone: 307-261-7600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 31, 2000, Triton Coal Company, 
LLC, (Triton) filed a coal lease application for a maintenance tract 
containing approximately 130 million tons of Federal coal covering 
approximately 838 acres. Triton, the operator of the Buckskin Mine 
approximately 12 miles

[[Page 13947]]

north of Gillette, Wyoming, applied to lease the tract as a maintenance 
tract to extend the life of their existing mining operations under the 
provisions of the Leasing on Application regulations at 43 CFR 3425. 
This tract, case number WYW151634, is referred to as the West Hay Creek 
Coal tract.
    On November 5, 2001, BLM received a request from Triton to modify 
the West Hay Creek Coal tract. The following lands in Campbell County, 
Wyoming are included in the tract as currently filed:

Sixth Principal Meridian, Wyoming

    T. 52 N., R. 72 W.
    Sec. 17, lot:
    5(S\1/2\S\1/2\)--10.265 acres
    6(S\1/2\S\1/2\)--10.265 acres
    7(S\1/2\S\1/2\)--10.3475 acres
    8(S\1/2\S\1/2\)--10.3475 acres
    9--41.32 acres
    10--41.32 acres
    11--41.12 acres
    12--41.12 acres
    13--41.18 acres
    14--41.18 acres
    Sec. 18, lot:
    13(E\1/2\)--21.035 acres
    20(E\1/2\)--20.75 acres
    Sec. 19, lot:
    5(E\1/2\)--20.71 acres
    12(E\1/2\)--20.84 acres
    13(E\1/2\)--20.935 acres
    20(E\1/2\) 21.065 acres
    Sec. 20, lot:
    2(W\1/2\,W\1/2\E\1/2\) 31.1175 acres
    3--41.39 acres
    4--41.28 acres
    5--41.30 acres
    6--41.41 acres
    7(W\1/2\,W\1/2\E\1/2\)--31.1325 acres
    10(W\1/2\,W\1/2\E\1/2\)--31.1475 acres
    11--41.42 acres
    12--41.32 acres
    13--41.34 acres
14--41.44 acres
 Total Acres: 838.0975


    The tract as currently filed includes an estimated 130 million tons 
of in-place coal.
    The Buckskin Mine is adjacent to the lease application area and has 
an approved mining and reclamation plan from the Land Quality Division 
of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The Mine has 
an approved air quality permit from the Air Quality Division of the 
Wyoming DEQ to mine up to 27.5 million tons of coal per year.
    The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is a 
cooperating agency in the preparation of the DEIS. If the tract is 
leased as a maintenance tract, the new lease will be incorporated into 
the existing mining and reclamation plan for the adjacent mine. The 
Secretary of the Interior must approve the revision to the MLA (Mineral 
Leasing Act) mining plan before the Federal coal can be mined. If the 
tract is leased, OSM is the Federal agency that would be responsible 
for recommending approval, approval with conditions, or disapproval of 
the revised MLA mining plan to the Office of the Secretary of the 
Interior.
    The DEIS analyzes leasing the tract as applied for as described 
above as a separate Proposed Action. As part of the coal leasing 
process, BLM has identified and is evaluating other tract 
configurations which add, or subtract, Federal coal to avoid bypassing 
coal or to prompt competitive interest in the unleased Federal coal in 
this area. The tract configuration that BLM has identified is described 
and analyzed as a separate alternative in the DEIS. The DEIS also 
analyzes the alternative of rejecting the application to lease Federal 
coal as the No Action Alternative. The other two alternatives evaluate 
alternate tract configurations considered by BLM. Under these 
alternatives, a competitive sale would be held and a lease issued for 
Federal coal lands included in a tract modified by the BLM.
    The Proposed Action and Alternatives being considered in the DEIS 
are in conformance with the ``Approved Resource Management Plan for 
Public Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management Buffalo 
Field Office'' (April 2001), the USDA Forest Service ``Final EIS for 
the Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revision'' (May 2001) and 
the BLM ``Platte River Resource Area Resource Management Plan'' (1985).

    Dated: January 17, 2003.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-5888 Filed 3-20-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P