[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 144 (Thursday, July 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42658-42659]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-12003]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-923-06-1320-00]


Notice of Federal Competitive Coal Lease Sale, Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Competitive Coal Lease Sale, Mill Fork West Tract, 
Coal Lease Application UTU-84285.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the United States Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah State Office will 
offer certain coal resources described below as the Mill Fork West 
Tract (UTU-84285) in Emery County, Utah, for competitive sale by sealed 
bid, in accordance with the provisions for competitive lease sale 
notices in 43 CFR 3422.2(a), and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as 
amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq).

DATES: The lease sale will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 1, 2006. 
The bid must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or be 
hand delivered to the address indicated below, and must be received on 
or before 10 a.m., Tuesday, August 1, 2006.
    The BLM cashier will issue a receipt for each hand delivered sealed 
bid. Any bid received after the time specified will not be considered 
and will be returned. The outside of the sealed envelope containing the 
bid must clearly state that envelop contains a bid for Coal Lease Sale 
UTU-84285, and is not to be opened before the date and hour of the 
sale.

ADDRESSES: The lease sale will be held in the Utah State Office, BLM in 
the Monument Conference Room, Fifth Floor, 440 West 200 South, Salt 
Lake City, Utah. Sealed bids can be hand delivered to the cashier, Utah 
State Office, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah, or 
may be mailed to the BLM, Utah State Office, P.O. Box 45155, Salt Lake 
City, Utah 84145-0155.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stan Perkes, 440 West 200 South, Suite 
500 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101-1345 or telephone 801-539-4036.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Coal Lease Sale is being held in 
response to a lease by application (LBA) submitted by InterWest Mining 
Company (InterWest), a subsidiary of PacifiCorp to BLM on January 26, 
2006. All coal LBAs submitted to BLM for processing on or after 
November 7, 2005 are subject to cost recovery on a case by case basis 
(See 43 CFR 3000.10(d)(1), 70 FR 58872, October 7, 2005). The cost 
recovery rules implemented for coal LBAs at 43 CFR 3473.2(f) (70 FR 
58876, October 7, 2005) require the applicant who nominates a tract for 
a competitive lease sale to pay the processing fee on a case-by-case 
basis as described in 43 CFR 3000.11 prior to publication of the sale 
notice. InterWest paid the BLM a processing fee in the amount of 
$12.388.00. The successful bidder must pay to BLM the cost recovery 
amount of all costs BLM incurs processing the coal lease sale and 
additionally must pay all processing costs that BLM incurs after the 
date of the sale notice leading to lease issuance (See 43 CFR 
3473.2(f)). If the successful bidder is someone other than the 
applicant, BLM will refund to the applicant the processing fee 
specified in this sale notice. If there is no successful bidder, the 
applicant remains responsible for all processing fees.
    The coal resources to be offered consist of all recoverable 
reserves available in the following described lands located in Emery 
County, Utah approximately fourteen miles northwest of Huntington, Utah 
on Forest Service (FS) administered surface with BLM administered 
minerals:

SLM, Emery County, Utah

T. 16 S., R. 6 E.,
    Sec. 10, S\1/2\NE\1/4\NE\1/4\, SE\1/4\NE\1/4\, W\1/2\E\1/2\SE\1/
4\;
    Sec. 15, E\1/2\W\1/2\E\1/2\;
    Sec. 22, lot 3.

    Containing approximately 213.57 acres in Emery County, Utah.
    The Mill Fork West coal tract has two minable coal beds. The 
minable portions of the Hiawatha coal bed and the Blind Canyon coal bed 
in this area are around eleven feet in thickness. The Hiawatha and 
Blind Canyon coal beds contain around 325 thousand tons of recoverable 
high-volatile A to B bituminous coal. The coal quality in the Hiawatha 
coal bed on an ``as received basis'' is as follows: 12,892 Btu/lb., 
4.54

[[Page 42659]]

percent moisture, 7.69 percent ash, 42.46 percent volatile matter, 
45.48 percent fixed carbon, and 0.57 percent sulfur. The coal quality 
in the Blind Canyon coal bed on an ``as received basis'' is as follows: 
13,314 Btu/lb., 5.26 percent moisture, 4.68 percent ash, 44.18 percent 
volatile matter, 45.88 percent fixed carbon and 0.61 percent sulfur. 
The Mill Fork West Tract may be leased to the qualified bidder of the 
highest cash amount, provided that the high bid equals or exceeds the 
Fair Market Value (FMV) for the tract as determined by the authorized 
officer after the Sale.
    The BLM held a public hearing and requested comments on the 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and the FMV of the Mill Fork West Tract 
on June 1, 2006. The BLM and the FS prepared a joint Finding of No 
Significant Impact (FONSI), Decision Record (DR)/Decision Notice (DN). 
The BLM signed the FONSI/DR June 2, 2006. No appeals of the BLM 
decision to lease were filed during the appeal period that ended on 
July 3, 2006. The BLM must have FS consent to lease land under surface 
lands that is in their jurisdiction (43 CFR 3400.3-1). The FS signed 
the FONSI/DN on June 5, 2006 consenting to allow leasing beneath the FS 
surface. The FS appeal period ends on July 24, 2006. No appeals have 
been received by the FS as of July 14, 2006. The BLM will not issue 
this lease until any FS appeals have been resolved.
    The Department of the Interior has established a minimum bid of 
$100 per acre or fraction thereof for the tract. The minimum bid is not 
intended to represent the FMV. The lease that may be issued as a result 
of this offering will provide for payment of an annual rental of $3 per 
acre, a royalty rate of 12.5 percent of the value of coal mined by 
surface methods, and a royalty of 8 percent of the value of the coal 
produced by underground mining methods. The value of the coal will be 
determined in accordance with 30 CFR 206.250.
    The required Detailed Statement for the offered tract, including 
bidding instructions and sales procedures under 43 CFR 3422.3-2, and 
the terms and conditions of the proposed coal lease, is available from 
BLM, Utah State Office, P.O. Box 45155, Salt Lake City, Utah 84145-0155 
or in the Public Room (Room 500), 440 West 200 South, Salt Lake City, 
Utah 84101. All case file documents and written comments submitted by 
the public on Fair Market Value or royalty rates except those portions 
identified as proprietary by the commentator and meeting exemptions 
stated in the Freedom of Information Act, are available for public 
inspection during normal business hours in the BLM Public Room (Room 
500).

    Dated: July 12, 2006.
Kent Hoffman,
Deputy State Director, Lands and Minerals.
 [FR Doc. E6-12003 Filed 7-26-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-DK-P