[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56394-56395]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23304]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Kootenai National Forest, Sanders, County, MT; Rock Creek Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Kootenai National Forest will prepare a Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Rock Creek Project. The 
project is located within the Trout Creek Ranger District, Kootenai 
National Forest, Sanders County, Montana, and east of Noxon, Montana. 
The Final EIS was made available in September 2001. The Forest Service 
Record of Decision was issued in June 2003. The Montana Department of 
Environmental Quality issued a Record of Decision in 2001 that provided 
the State's approval of the project. The SEIS will respond to the US 
District Court Decision in Rock Creek Alliance et al. v. USFS, Revett 
Silver Company, and USFWS, (CV 05-107-M-DWM and CV 08-028-M-DWM 
consolidated) May 4, 2010 opinion. In that opinion the Court found 
deficiencies in the 2001 Rock Creek Project FEIS. The court remanded 
the FEIS back to the Forest Service for further action and vacated the 
2003 Record of Decision. The SEIS will focus on the issues directed by 
the Court, and will update other resource analyses, if there are 
significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental 
concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts in order 
ensure appropriate analysis of the proposed mining project.

DATES: Under 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(4), there is no formal scoping period for 
a SEIS. The Forest Service is not inviting comments at this time. A 
comment period for the Draft SEIS will be 45 days from the date the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability in 
the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Kootenai National Forest, 31374 US Highway 2, Libby, MT 
59923.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bobbie Lacklen, Project Coordinator, 
Kootenai National Forest, Supervisor's Office, 31374 US Highway 2, 
Libby, MT 59923-3022. Phone (406) 293-6211 or e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is a brief summary of the proposed 
action. Detailed descriptions of the proposed action and alternatives 
analysis are provided in the original FEIS and ROD, which can be can be 
viewed or downloaded from the following Web site: http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/kootenai/minerals.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is divided into two phases: Phase I consists of 
construction of the evaluation adit and data collection, and Phase II 
is comprised of construction operation and reclamation of the mine, 
mill, and tailings disposal facility. The two phases are described 
below:

Phase I

    The proposed evaluation adit would be driven prior to other major 
construction work on the Rock Creek Project in an attempt to better 
understand the configuration and grade of the ore body. During the mine 
production (Phase II), this adit will not be utilized for production 
but rather would serve as an exhaust ventilation opening and as a 
secondary escape-way. Conventional methods would be used for adit 
construction. Existing roads would provide access. Approximately 10 
acres of National Forest System lands would be disturbed at the adit 
site and 10 acres of private lands would be disturbed at a support 
facility site and from required road improvements. More details on the 
evaluation adit can be found in the Rock Creek Evaluation Adit Project 
Revised Application for Exploration License at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/kootenai/minerals.
    The portal of the evaluation adit would be located at about 5,755 
feet in elevation. The adit would be 18 feet high by 18 feet wide, with 
an estimated length of 6,592 feet at a decline of 10 percent. Forty-
foot cross cuts would be driven from the adit every 500 feet to provide 
turnouts for vehicle passing, sump construction, and space for pump 
installations.
    About 90,000 tons of barren development rock and 88,000 tons of ore 
would be excavated from the proposed adit during the evaluation phase. 
Unmineralized or barren rock would be placed near the portal to form a 
flat-topped pile sloping downhill to its angle of repose. Mineralized 
material would be placed in a stockpile near the portal for later 
processing when the mill would be in operation.
    Additional support facilities are proposed to be constructed for 
the evaluation adit. These facilities would be located on Rock Creek 
Resources (RC Resources) private property near State Highway 200. These 
include: An office; a dry change house facility; a garage, warehouse 
and water treatment facility; water retention ponds, a graded, graveled 
employee parking lot, and a soil stockpile.

Phase II

    RC Resources proposes to construct, operate, and reclaim all 
facilities (including the evaluation adit) necessary to mine, remove, 
and transport economically mineable minerals from the Rock Creek 
deposit. The Rock Creek Mine would consist of an underground copper/
silver mine and mill/concentrator complex in northwestern Montana with 
a mine life of 30 to 37 years. The disturbance area for the project 
including the tailings impoundment would encompass 482 acres, of which 
140 acres are National Forest System lands. The Rock Creek ore deposit 
is located beneath and adjacent to the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness 
(CMW) in the Kaniksu National Forest. The mill and service adit access 
to the ore body would be located 2 miles from the wilderness boundary, 
near State Highway 200. The mill and other facilities would be 
primarily located within the Kaniksu National Forest in Sanders County. 
The Kootenai National Forest (KNF) administers the Kaniksu National 
Forest (within Montana).

Lead and Cooperating Agencies

    The USDA Forest Service is the Lead Agency for this project. The US 
Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers will 
participate in the project as a Cooperating Agencies. Other agencies 
may become a Cooperating Agency as the SEIS progresses.
    The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important 
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of 
draft environmental impact statements must structure their 
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is 
meaningful and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the 
draft environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised 
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement may 
be waived or dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 
F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, 
it is very important that those interested in this proposed action 
participate by the close of the 45-day comment period so that 
substantive

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comments and objections are made available to the Forest Service at a 
time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the 
final supplemental environmental impact statement.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the Draft SEIS should 
be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to 
specific pages or chapters of the draft statement. Reviewers may wish 
to refer to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for 
implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental 
Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.

Responsible Official

    Paul Bradford, Forest Supervisor Kootenai National Forest, 31374 US 
Highway 2, Libby, MT 59923 is the Responsible Official for the Rock 
Creek Project.

    Dated: September 1, 2011.
Paul Bradford,
Forest Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2011-23304 Filed 9-12-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P