[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 217 (Friday, November 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66255-66256]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-26382]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement


Black Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement, OSM-EIS-
033

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the final environmental impact 
statement for the Black Mesa Project.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (we 
or OSM), as lead Federal agency, announces the availability of the 
final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Black Mesa 
Project. The proposed project consists of Peabody Western Coal 
Company's (Peabody's) operation and reclamation plans for coal mining 
at the Black Mesa Complex near Kayenta, Arizona.

DATES: The waiting period for OSM's and the Bureau of Land Management's 
(BLM's) records of decision on the proposed project ends on December 8, 
2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: OSM, Western Region, P.O. Box 46667, 
Denver, CO 80201, Dennis Winterringer, Black Mesa Project EIS Leader, 
telephone (303) 293-5048 or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2006, under the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), we prepared and made available for public 
review a draft EIS analyzing the effects of the Black Mesa Project. The 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the notice of 
availability on December 1, 2006 (71 FR 69562). The proposed project 
consisted of (1) Peabody's operation and reclamation plans for coal 
mining at the Black Mesa Complex near Kayenta, Arizona; (2) Black Mesa 
Pipeline Incorporated's (BMPI's) coal slurry preparation plant at the 
Black Mesa Complex; (3) BMPI's reconstruction of the 273-mile-long coal 
slurry pipeline across northern Arizona from the coal slurry 
preparation plant to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada; 
and (4) the Mohave Generation Station co-owners' construction and 
operation of a water supply system consisting of water wells in the 
Coconino aquifer (C aquifer) near Leupp, Arizona, and of a water supply 
pipeline running 108 miles across the Navajo and Hopi Reservations from 
the wells to the coal slurry preparation plant. Peabody proposed to 
continue supplying coal to the Navajo Generating Station and the Mohave 
Generating Station. The coal slurry preparation plant, coal-slurry 
pipeline, and Coconino aquifer water-supply system were associated with 
supplying coal to the Mohave Generating Station.
    Since the draft EIS was issued, the scope of the proposed project 
has been reduced to Peabody's operation and reclamation plans for coal 
mining at the Black Mesa Complex for supplying coal

[[Page 66256]]

to the Navajo Generating Station. The proposed project no longer 
includes the originally-proposed project components associated with 
supplying coal to the Mohave Generating Station, although the final EIS 
continues to analyze them in one of the EIS alternatives.
    OSM is the lead Federal agency preparing the EIS. The BLM, EPA, 
Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, County of Mohave, Arizona, 
and City of Kingman, Arizona are cooperating agencies.
    The preferred alternative in the final EIS is for OSM to approve 
the permit application submitted by Peabody under the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act and for BLM to approve the mining plan 
submitted by Peabody under Secretarial Order No. 3087, Amendment No. 1 
(February 7, 1983), and the Tribal Lands Leasing Act (25 U.S.C. 396a).
    The final EIS analyzes the potential direct, indirect, and 
cumulative impacts of approval of the proposed project and alternative 
actions on the physical, biological, and human environments. The final 
EIS is not a decision document. OSM will use it to make an informed 
decision on the permit application. In accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulation at 40 CFR 1506.10(b)(2), the BLM and 
OSM records of decision can be made no sooner than 30 days after EPA's 
weekly Federal Register notice announcing that the Black Mesa Project 
EIS has been filed with it. OSM is timing this notice to coincide with 
the date of publication of the EPA notice.
    You may view and download a copy of the final EIS on the OSM 
Internet Web site at http://www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm. 
Limited numbers of compact disk and paper copies of the final EIS are 
available by contacting the person listed in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.

    Dated: October 22, 2008.
Allen D. Klein,
Regional Director, Western Region, OSM.
[FR Doc. E8-26382 Filed 11-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P