[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68833-68834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-20045]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-040-1320-EL, WYW160394]


Notice of Availability of the Pit 14 Coal Lease-By-Application 
Final Environmental Impact Statement, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Pit 14 Coal Lease By Application (LBA) FEIS. The tract is being 
considered for sale as a result of coal lease application received from 
Black Butte Coal Company (BBCC) operating the adjacent mine in 
southwestern Wyoming.

DATES: The FEIS will be available for a 30 calendar-day review period 
effective the date that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
publishes their Notice of Availability (NOA) of the FEIS in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: The FEIS is available at http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/rsfodocs/pit14 on the internet. In addition, copies are available at 
the following BLM offices:
     BLM-Wyoming State Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, 
Wyoming 82009.
     BLM-Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock 
Springs, Wyoming 82901.
    Written comments may be submitted to: Bureau of Land Management, 
Rock Springs Field Office, Attn: Pit 14 LBA Project, 280 Highway 191 
North, Rock Springs, WY 82901. The public may submit comments 
electronically at: [email protected]. Please note that any 
comments submitted to this FEIS including names and street addresses of 
respondents will be made available for public review at the Rock 
Springs Field Office, at the address listed above, during regular 
business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. 
If you wish to withhold your name or 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. All 
submissions from organizations, businesses and individuals identifying 
themselves as

[[Page 68834]]

representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be 
made available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the NEPA aspect of 
the project, please call Teri Deakins at 307-352-0211. For information 
on coal leasing, please call Joanna Nara-Kloepper, Project Leader, at 
307-352-0321.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 24, 2004, BBCC filed an LBA with 
the BLM, to access Federal coal reserves adjacent to their existing 
Black Butte Mine in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The LBA tract is 
approximately 28 miles southeast of Rock Springs, Wyoming, and 
comprises the following public lands:

T. 17 N., R. 101 W., 6th PM, Wyoming
    sec. 2: Lots 3, 4, SW\1/4\NW\1/4\;
    sec. 4: Lots 1, 2, S\1/2\NE\1/4\, SE\1/4\NW\1/4\, NE\1/4\SW\1/
4\, S\1/2\SW\1/4\, SE\1/4\;
    sec. 10: NW\1/4\, N\1/2\SW\1/4\;
T. 18 N., R. 101 W., 6th PM, Wyoming
    sec. 34: E\1/2\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\.

    Containing 1,399.48 acres, more or less.

    The Black Butte Coal Mine started operations in the late 1970s and 
continues to operate today. Additional mineable coal reserves are 
needed to meet the growing regional demand for electricity, including 
electricity supplied by the Jim Bridger Power Plant. BBCC estimates 
that approximately 34.6 million tons of in-place coal reserves are 
present in the Upper Cretaceous Almond Formation within the project 
area.
    The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) is a 
cooperating agency in the preparation of this Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS). If the tract is leased as a maintenance tract, the new 
lease must be incorporated into the existing mining and reclamation 
plan for the adjacent mine. The Secretary of the Interior must approve 
the revision to the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) mining plan before the 
Federal coal can be mined. If the tract is leased, OSMRE is the Federal 
agency that would be responsible for recommending approval, approval 
with conditions, or disapproval of the revised MLA mining plan to the 
Secretary of the Interior.
    On January 7, 2005, the BLM published its Notice of Intent (NOI) to 
prepare an EIS for the Pit 14 Coal LBA (WYW160394) in the Federal 
Register. On March 24, 2006, both the BLM and the EPA published NOAs of 
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Pit 14 Coal LBA 
project for a 60-day comment and review period. Under the provisions of 
Federal coal regulations at 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
3425.4, a public hearing was held at 2 p.m. on May 10, 2006, at the BLM 
Rock Springs Field Office, Rock Springs, WY. The purpose of the hearing 
was to solicit comments on the DEIS, fair market value, and the maximum 
economic recovery of the Federal coal. Seven comment letters on the 
DEIS were received during the review and comment period, and two 
statements were recorded during the public coal hearing (of which one 
statement was subsequently submitted as a comment letter).
    The FEIS analyzes two alternatives in detail:
    1. The Proposed Action. This alternative analyzes the impacts of 
leasing Federal coal and the impacts associated with surface mining.
    2. The No Action Alternative. This alternative would reject the 
coal lease application as submitted.
    BLM's preferred alternative is the Proposed Action. The Proposed 
Action is in conformance with the Green River Resource Management Plan 
(1997).
    A Record of Decision (ROD) will be prepared after the close of the 
comment period for the FEIS. Comments received on the FEIS will be 
considered during preparation of the ROD.

    Dated: September 22, 2006.
Robert A. Bennett,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E6-20045 Filed 11-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P