[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3836-3837]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-1495]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

Corps of Engineers


Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Mingo County, WV

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT. U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (USACE), DoD.

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

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SUMMARY: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the United 
States Department of the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in cooperation 
with the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) will prepare a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to evaluate the 
impacts of the proposed Delbarton to Belo portion of the King Coal 
Highway 2000 FEIS and the Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine Clean Water Act 
Section 404 Permit Application. The FHWA and USACE are joint-lead 
federal agencies on this project and are evaluating federal actions. 
FHWA is evaluating a location shift of a portion of the alignment 
between the West Virginia towns of Delbarton and Belo described in the 
2000 FEIS and approved in the 2000 ROD. The USACE is evaluating a Clean 
Water Act (CWA) Section 404 Individual Permit (IP) application 
submitted by Consol of Kentucky, Inc. (CONSOL), for the discharge of 
fill material into waters of the United States (U.S.) in conjunction 
with the construction and operation of the Buffalo Mountain Surface 
Mine.

DATES: To ensure that a full range of issues related to the proposed 
action are addressed and all significant issues identified, comments 
and suggestions are invited from all interested parties. Comments and 
suggestions concerning the proposed action and the SEIS should be 
submitted to FHWA, the USACE or WVDOH (www.transportation.wv.gov) at 
the address below within 30 days to ensure timely consideration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Smith, Division Administrator, 
Federal Highway Administration, 700 Washington Street E., Charleston, 
WV 25301; telephone: (304) 347-5928; email: [email protected]. 
Ginger Mullins, Chief, Regulatory Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
502 Eighth Street, Huntington, WV 25701-2070; telephone: (304) 399-
5610; email: [email protected]. Greg E. Bailey, P.E., 
Director Engineering Division, WVDOH, State Capitol Complex, Building 
5, 1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East, Charleston, WV 26305; telephone: (304) 
558-9722; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    1. Description of the Proposed Action--CONSOL proposes to extract 
coal within the vicinity of Delbarton and Belo for the proposed Buffalo 
Mountain Surface Mine. The construction and operation of the Buffalo 
Mountain Surface Mine will require the discharge of fill material into 
waters of the U.S.; therefore, CONSOL is required to obtain a CWA 
Section 404 IP. In 2008, CONSOL submitted an application for a CWA 
Section 404 IP, and the USACE issued Public Notice 2008-491 on December 
3, 2008. The USACE is currently processing the Department of Army (DA) 
permit application (LRH-2008-491-TUG).
    The King Coal Highway is a series of transportation improvements 
stretching for 94 miles in southern West Virginia. The approximate 
length of the Delbarton to Belo portion of the project is 7 miles. The 
King Coal Highway is also part of the I-73/74 National Highway System 
(NHS) Corridor. A Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the 
entire King Coal Highway was approved by FHWA in June 2000 and a Record 
of Decision (ROD) was issued on August 24, 2000. Sections of the 
overall project are complete and open to traffic and a few others are 
currently under construction. Due to the limited availability of 
federal and state funding for the King Coal Highway, however, much of 
the highway alignment has not been constructed.
    Since the issuance of the ROD, an opportunity for a joint 
development initiative was identified during CONSOL's development of a 
plan to

[[Page 3837]]

extract mineable coal reserves between the towns of Delbarton and Belo, 
Mingo County, West Virginia. A joint development initiative would 
incorporate the approved highway project into the post-mining land use 
plan of CONSOL's proposed Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine, and it would 
allow future highway construction to occur on land disturbed by a 
surface mine operation. In addition, the opportunity to combine the 
adjacent King Coal Highway and the Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine 
project areas would limit the resource impacts from each project to one 
location as well as minimize highway construction costs. The joint 
development initiative requires the portion of the King Coal Highway 
Corridor between Delbarton and Belo to be shifted eastward beyond the 
previously approved corridor alignment, and requires the WVDOH and FHWA 
to re-evaluate the June 2000 King Coal Highway EIS.
    The SEIS will review information from the King Coal Highway FEIS/
ROD, incorporate new information, update the impacts analysis, and 
assess impacts not previously evaluated in the FEIS/ROD. To streamline 
federal processes, the SEIS will also include the USACE's NEPA 
evaluation of DA permit application LRH-2008-491-TUG.
    2. Alternatives--Alternatives available to FHWA for the proposed 
project are the no-build alternative, highway construction on new 
alignment within the Original King Coal Highway Corridor (i.e., the 
selected alternative from the 2000 ROD), or a joint development 
initiative (i.e., construction of a new highway alignment within the 
Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine).
    Alternatives available to the USACE for the proposed project are 
issue the permit, issue the permit with special conditions, or deny the 
permit.
    3. Scoping and Review Process -Throughout the course of the 
project, scoping and public involvement efforts for the original King 
Coal Highway Project have included: (1) A formal scoping meeting on 
September 16, 1999; (2) agency resource meetings for the King Coal 
Highway Project on October 13, 1995, and January 29, 1997; and, (3) 
public information workshops/public hearings on November 9, 1992, 
November 10, 1992, November 17, 1992, November 24, 1992, May 18, 1998, 
May 20, 1998, May 27, 1998, February 28, 2000, February 29, 2000, March 
2, 2000, March 13, 2000, March 14, 2000, and March 16, 2000.
    There have also been several public outreach activities associated 
with the Buffalo Mountain Surface Mine. These include multiple meetings 
with the Pigeon Creek Watershed Association between January 2007 and 
April 2008, a meeting with officials from the Town of Delbarton in 
October 2008, and agency coordination meetings with the USACE, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), FHWA, and West Virginia 
Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) between June 2008 and 
February 2010. In addition, information on the joint development 
initiative was presented at public meetings on December 11, 2008, and 
November 17, 2011.
    Agency and public scoping meetings will be held during the 
development of the SEIS. The public scoping meeting will be announced a 
minimum of 15 days in advance of the meeting. The WVDOH will provide 
information for the public meeting, including date, time and location, 
on their Web site and by newspaper advertisement. The USACE will 
issuance the public meeting information via Public Notice.
    4. Significant Issues--Based on preliminary information, the issues 
to be analyzed in the SEIS are likely to include, but are not limited 
to, the effects to surface water and groundwater resources, including 
aquatic habitat, water quantity and quality; wetlands; effects on the 
immediate and adjacent property owners and nearby communities; 
downstream hydraulics and hydrology; geologic resources; vegetation and 
forestland; fish and wildlife; threatened and endangered species; 
socioeconomics; land use; transportation impacts; and cumulative and 
secondary effects.
    5. Additional Review and Consultation--The SEIS will comply with 
other Federal and State requirements including, but not limited to, the 
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for 
Users (SAFETEA-LU); State water quality certification under Section 401 
of the CWA; protection of water quality under the West Virginia/
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System; protection of air 
quality under the West Virginia Air Pollution Control Act; protection 
of endangered and threatened species under Section 7 of the Endangered 
Species Act; and protection of cultural resources under Section 106 of 
the National Historic Preservation Act.
    6. Availability of the Draft SEIS--A Draft SEIS will be available 
for public review and comment. Individuals interested in obtaining a 
copy of the Draft SEIS for review should contact either the FHWA or 
USACE. Comments will also be accepted through the WVDOH Web site at the 
URL provided above.

    Authority:  23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48; 33 CFR Part 325.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205, 
Highway Planning and Construction. The regulations implementing 
Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental consultation on 
Federal programs and activities apply to this program.)

    Issued on: January 18, 2012.
Thomas J. Smith,
Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Charleston, 
West Virginia.
Robert D. Peterson,
Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Commanding.
[FR Doc. 2012-1495 Filed 1-24-12; 8:45 am]
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