[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 116 (Thursday, June 17, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33936-33937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-13669]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-920-1320-EL; WYW151634]


Notice of Availability of West Hay Creek Lease by Application 
(LBA) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA) of Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) for the West Hay Creek LBA tract, for Federal coal in 
the decertified Powder River Federal Coal Production Region, Wyoming.

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SUMMARY: Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
implementing regulations and other applicable statutes the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the West Hay Creek 
LBA FEIS. The FEIS analyzes the impacts of issuing a Federal coal lease 
in the Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin.

DATES: The FEIS will be available for review for 30 calendar days from 
the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its NOA in 
the Federal Register. The BLM can best utilize your comments and 
resource information submissions within the 30 day review period 
provided above.

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 [email protected]., Attn: Patricia 
Karbs. Copies of the FEIS are available for public inspection at the 
following BLM office locations:
     Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office, 5353 
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009.
     Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, 2987 
Prospector Lane, Casper, Wyoming 82604.
    The FEIS is also available electronically on the Internet at http://www.wy.blm.gov/cfo/minerals.htm#docs.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Karbs or Nancy Doelger; BLM 
Casper Field Office, 2987 Prospector Lane, Casper, Wyoming 82604. Ms. 
Karbs and Ms. Doelger may also be contacted by telephone at 307-261-
7600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 31, 2000, Triton Coal Company 
(Triton), a subsidiary of Vulcan Intermediary, LLC, filed an 
application for a coal lease maintenance tract in an area adjacent to 
the company's Buckskin Mine including approximately 933 acres and 
containing approximately 135 million tons of Federal coal. This tract 
has been assigned case number WYW151634, and is known as the West Hay 
Creek tract. On November 5, 2001, BLM received a request from Triton to 
modify the West Hay Creek tract to include the following lands in 
Campbell County, Wyoming:

T. 52 N., R. 72 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming
    Section 17: Lots 5 (S\1/2\ S\1/2\), 6 (S\1/2\S\1/2\), 7 (S\1/
2\S\1/2\), 8 (S\1/2\S\1/2\), 9-14;
    Section 18: Lots 13 (E\1/2\), 20 (E\1/2\);
    Section 19: Lots 5 (E\1/2\), 12 (E\1/2\), 13 (E\1/2\), 20 (E\1/
2\);
    Section 20: Lots 2 (W\1/2\, W\1/2\E\1/2\), 3-6, 7 (W\1/2\,W\1/
2\E\1/2\), 10 (W\1/2\, W\1/2\E\1/2\), 11-14.

    Containing 838.0975 acres, more or less.

    In May 2003, Arch Coal purchased Vulcan Coal Holdings, LLC 
including the Buckskin Mine operations. To maintain continuity with the 
original application, Notice of Intent (NOI) and Draft EIS, the 
applicant is referred to as Triton in this Notice as well as the FEIS.
    The Buckskin Mine and West Hay Creek tract are located in Campbell 
County, Wyoming. The tract was applied for as an LBA tract under the 
provisions of 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3425.1. Triton 
proposes to mine the modified West Hay Creek LBA tract as a maintenance 
tract for the Buckskin Mine and estimates that the tract includes an 
estimated 145 million tons of in-place Federal coal. At Buckskin's 
proposed mining rate of 25 million tons of coal per year this amount of 
recoverable coal would extend the life of the Buckskin Mine by 
approximately 6 years.
    The Powder River Regional Coal Team (RCT) reviewed this competitive 
application at public meetings held on October 25, 2000, in Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, and May 30, 2002, in Casper, Wyoming. The RCT recommended that 
BLM continue to process this LBA. The BLM published an NOI in the 
Federal Register to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on 
June 25, 2002.
    On March 21 and March 28, 2003, respectively, the BLM and the EPA 
each published an NOA in the Federal Register announcing that the Draft 
EIS was available for public review and comment. Pursuant to 43 CFR 
3425.4, a formal public hearing on the West Hay Creek tract application 
was held on April 16, 2003, in Gillette, Wyoming. The purpose of the 
hearing was to solicit public comments on the Draft EIS and on: (1) The 
fair market value, (2) the maximum economic recovery, and (3) the 
proposed competitive sale of the coal included in the proposed tract. 
The 60-day review and comment period on the Draft EIS ended on May 27, 
2003.
    The FEIS analyzes leasing the West Hay Creek tract as applied for 
as the Proposed Action (Alternative 3). As part of the coal leasing 
process, to avoid bypassing coal or to increase potential competitive 
interest in the tract, the BLM will evaluate the tract configuration, 
and may decide to add or subtract Federal coal. The preferred tract 
configuration that BLM has identified for this tract is described and 
analyzed as Alternative 2 in the EIS. The EIS also analyzes the 
alternative of rejecting this application to lease this tract of 
Federal coal as the No Action Alternative.
    The Final EIS for the West Hay Creek tract analyzes the effects of 
three alternatives:
     Alternative 1, the No Action Alternative;
     Alternative 2, the Preferred Alternative; and,
     Alternative 3, the Proposed Action.

The No Action alternative assumes that the coal lease application would 
be rejected and the West Hay Creek Federal coal tract would not be 
offered for competitive sale. Under the Preferred Alternative the size 
of the tract as applied for would be reconfigured and increased, and 
the larger tract would be offered for competitive sale. The Proposed 
Action alternative assumes that the size and configuration of the tract 
of coal as proposed and included in Triton's application would remain 
the same and would be offered for competitive sale.
    The Agency-preferred Alternative: The BLM's preferred alternative 
is Alternative 2.
    If implemented, the Proposed Action or any of its alternatives 
considered in the EIS would be in conformance with the ``Approved 
Resource Management Plan for Public Lands Administration by the Bureau 
of Land Management Buffalo Field Office'' (April 2001, amended 2003).
    The Buckskin Mine adjacent to the lease application area has an 
approved mining and reclamation plan from the Wyoming Department of 
Environmental Quality (WYDEQ), Land Quality

[[Page 33937]]

Division. WYDEQ Air Quality Division has permitted the mine operator 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 this EIS. If the West Hay 
Creek LBA tract is leased to the applicant, the new lease must be 
incorporated into the existing mining plan for the adjacent Buckskin 
Mine. Before the Federal coal in the tract can be mined, the Secretary 
of the Interior must approve the revised Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) 
mining plan. If the tract is leased OSM is the Federal agency that 
would be responsible for recommending approval, approval with 
conditions, or disapproval of the MLA mining plan to the Secretary of 
the Interior.
    Seven written comments were received on the Draft EIS, and one 
comment was recorded at the 2003 public hearing. The issues that were 
identified in the comment letters and at the hearing included potential 
conflicts with existing conventional oil and gas and coalbed methane 
development; potential cumulative impacts of increasing mineral 
development in the Powder River Basin; validity and currency of 
resource data; potential impacts to threatened and endangered species 
and other species of concern; potential cumulative air quality impacts; 
private versus Federal leasing.
    The BLM will consider all comments received on the FEIS in its 
preparation of the Record of Decision (ROD) and BLM's response to those 
comments included with the ROD. To be given consideration by BLM, all 
FEIS comment submittals must include the commenter's name and street 
address.
    Our practice is to make comments, including the names and street 
addresses of each respondent, available for public review at the BLM 
offices listed above during business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except for Federal holidays. Your comments may 
be published as part of the EIS process. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name, street 
address, or both, from public review or from disclosure under the 
Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the 
beginning of your written comments. Such requests will be honored to 
the extent allowed by law. We will not consider anonymous comments. All 
submissions from organizations or businesses will be made available for 
public inspection in their entirety.

    Dated: May 3, 2004.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-13669 Filed 6-16-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P