[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 175 (Friday, September 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62531-62533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-21772]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[15XL LLIDI02000 L71220000.EO0000-LVTFDX508400 241A 4500080287]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Proposed Rasmussen Valley Phosphate Mine, Caribou County, Idaho

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior, United States Forest 
Service, Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS), Caribou-Targhee 
National Forest (CTNF), have prepared a Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the proposed Rasmussen Valley Phosphate Mine, and 
by this Notice are announcing the opening of the review and 
availability of the document. A Draft USFS Record of Decision (ROD) is 
also available for review and objection as described in the Summary 
section.

DATES: The BLM and USFS will issue coordinated RODs for this project. 
The Final EIS is now available for public review, as is the Draft USFS 
ROD. The BLM ROD will be released and announced separately, no sooner 
than the end of the Final EIS availability period on October 11, 2016. 
A legal notice published in the newspaper of record of the Final USFS 
ROD will be released no sooner than five business days following the 
end of the 45 day objection period after the Draft USFS ROD has been 
announced and made available.

ADDRESSES: CD-ROM and print copies of the Rasmussen Valley Mine Final 
EIS and the Draft USFS ROD are available in the BLM Pocatello Field 
Office at the following address: 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, ID 
83204. In addition, an electronic copy of the Final EIS is available 
online at BLM Planning and NEPA Register: http://on.doi.gov/1GpGxyW and 
an electronic copy of the Final EIS and the Draft USFS ROD are 
available online at CTNF Current and Recent Projects: http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/ctnf/landmanagement/projects.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William (Bill) Volk, Bureau of Land 
Management, Pocatello Field Office, 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, ID 
83204, telephone 208-236-7503, fax 208-478-6376. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
individual. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to 
leave a message or question with the above individual. You will receive 
a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Nu-West Industries, Inc., doing business as 
Agrium Conda Phosphate Operations (Agrium), has submitted a mine and 
reclamation plan for the Rasmussen Valley Mine to exercise their 
contractual rights to recover phosphate ore reserves contained within 
Federal Phosphate Lease I-05975 (the Lease). The mine would be located 
in Caribou County approximately 18 miles northeast of Soda Springs, 
Idaho, on the southwestern flank of Rasmussen Ridge and adjacent to 
Rasmussen Valley near the headwaters of the Blackfoot River.
    Agrium proposes to develop the Rasmussen Valley Mine within the 
Lease on a combination of BLM-managed lands managed by the Pocatello 
Field Office, National Forest System (NFS) lands administered by the 
Soda Springs Ranger District, the Blackfoot River Wildlife Management 
Area (WMA) administered by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game 
(IDFG), and on split estate lands (private land with Federal minerals). 
The Lease grants the lessee, Agrium, exclusive rights to mine and 
otherwise dispose of the federally-owned phosphate deposit. The 
proposed Rasmussen Valley Mine would also include some development 
outside the Lease on private lands, NFS lands, WMA lands, and on State 
lands administered by the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL). Agrium has 
also requested lease modifications in three locations to accommodate 
recovering phosphate outside the existing Lease area, or to accommodate 
disposal of mine waste on NFS lands.
    The BLM, as the Federal Lease administrator, is the lead agency for 
the Final EIS. The USFS is the joint-lead agency, and the Idaho 
Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers are cooperating agencies. The IDL, IDFG, Idaho Department of 
Water Resources, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have also 
participated in the preparation of the Final EIS. The Final EIS 
provides the analysis upon which the BLM, USFS, and other involved 
agencies will base their decisions regarding the proposed Rasmussen 
Valley Mine.

[[Page 62532]]

    In accordance with the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended, and 
NEPA, the BLM will evaluate the information in the Final EIS and 
respond to Agrium's mine and reclamation plan, review the impacts of 
the alternatives to the Proposed Action, including the No Action 
Alternative, and will issue decisions related to the development of the 
Lease and the proposed lease modifications. The USFS will make 
recommendations to the BLM concerning surface management and mitigation 
on leased lands within the CTNF and will make separate but coordinated 
decisions on special use authorizations for off-lease activities within 
the CTNF.
    Approval of the Proposed Action would constitute both agencies' 
approval of Agrium's Juanuary 2011 mine and reclamation plan and 
proposed lease modifications. Under the Proposed Action, Agrium would 
disturb approximately 468 acres using open pit mining methods in phases 
(panels), allowing concurrent backfilling and reclamation of previously 
mined panels; construct permanent and temporary external overburden and 
ore piles, topsoil and growth media stockpiles; construct haul roads 
and realign portions of nearby county roads; and construct power lines, 
a staging and fuel storage area, water supply wells, and runoff 
sediment control structures. In addition, Agrium would shape pit 
backfill and external overburden piles to reduce the risk of ponded 
water on or in the pit; place a cover system over the backfill and 
select overburden to reduce the risk of deep percolation of water; 
leave high wall exposures in portions of the backfilled pit; and extend 
the pit and associated backfill beyond the Lease boundary in several 
locations, requiring enlargement of the Lease by lease modification. 
Phosphate ore would be hauled to Agrium's existing Wooley Valley 
Tipple, where it would be placed on rail cars and shipped by existing 
rail to Agrium's Conda Phosphate Operation (CPO) Fertilizer Plant 
approximately 12 miles to the southwest.
    A Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare this EIS was published in the 
Federal Register on March 1, 2011, which initiated a 30-day public 
scoping period for the Proposed Action. During public and internal 
scoping, issues and concerns were expressed that included impacts to 
wetlands; impacts to surface water and groundwater potentially 
resulting from releases of selenium and other contaminants of potential 
concern (COPCs) from waste rock; physical stability of proposed 
external overburden piles; management of pit water; impacts to wildlife 
and associated wildlife habitat, especially on the WMA; and maximizing 
phosphate resource recovery.
    To address these issues and concerns, the agencies considered 
several alternatives to the Proposed Action. From these alternatives, 
Agrium proposed a combined set of alternatives to form Alternative One, 
called the Rasmussen Collaborative Alternative (RCA). In the Final EIS, 
the RCA is the agencies' preferred alternative and would disturb 
approximately 548 acres. Under the RCA, wetlands issues would be 
addressed by relocating the haul road, pit ramps and county road, and 
positioning borrow areas to avoid all wetlands. The potential for 
selenium and other COPCs to impact shallow groundwater and connected 
surface water would be avoided by eliminating the three external 
overburden piles from the mine plan. To accomplish this, overburden 
would be placed as backfill in the existing open pit at the Monsanto 
Company's wholly owned subsidiary, P4 Production, LLC's (P4), nearby 
South Rasmussen Mine. Eliminating the three external overburden piles 
would also alleviate concerns for the stability of these piles. Water 
management needs would be greatly reduced by not excavating the pit 
below the water table. Impacts to regional groundwater from COPCs would 
be reduced by proposing a more protective earthen cover over the 
backfill and overburden than the cover system proposed in the Proposed 
Action. The RCA cover system would use select alluvium and soil, 
available from a nearby borrow area, to reduce the amount of 
precipitation that percolates through the backfill and overburden. The 
RCA would also extend the pit toward the north to maximize phosphate 
resource recovery.
    Under the RCA, the proposed lease modifications would be revised to 
accommodate backfill and external overburden piles on NFS land outside 
of the current Lease boundaries. Off-lease borrow areas on NFS lands 
would require a mineral materials permit from the USFS. Other off-lease 
activities on NFS land would require USFS Special Use Authorizations. 
RCA activities on State land, including pit backfill and haul roads on 
P4's South Rasmussen Mine, would require a modification to the 
currently approved mine plan for P4's State lease. A modification to 
the currently approved mine plan for P4's South Rasmussen Mine Federal 
fringe lease (IDI-023868) would also be required for RCA activities 
that would backfill a portion of that mine pit.
    The RCA proposes various mitigation measures to avoid, minimize 
and/or compensate for mine impacts to all resources. The RCA would 
avoid impacts that may be associated with the Proposed Action where 
possible. For example, under the RCA, surface water impacts from mine 
waste leachates would be avoided by eliminating certain waste piles. 
Also, the main haul road would be relocated to totally avoid wetlands. 
The RCA would also minimize other impacts to the extent practicable 
such as applying a more protective cover on mine waste to reduce the 
amount of leachate reaching groundwater to a level allowable by the 
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Some impacts such as 
conversion of visual resources from upland range or aspen to bare pit 
wall cannot be fully mitigated, but would be minimized to the extent 
practicable by backfilling mine pits with all of the overburden 
generated by mining. Impacts to wildlife habitat would be minimized on-
site by using more robust reclamation including a reclamation seed mix 
with native species to provide more vegetation diversity for wildlife 
forage.
    The residual impacts to wildlife habitat for the proposed Rasmussen 
Valley Mine were quantified using a Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) 
methodology. The HEA quantifies the baseline wildlife habitat and 
predicts the permanent and interim losses and gains of wildlife habitat 
that would result from the mining activity and reclamation. Agrium has 
proposed to use the quantitative results of the HEA in the 
determination of a monetary fee that they will contribute to a third 
party, such as a State natural resource management agency, foundation, 
or other appropriate organization, to implement wildlife habitat 
mitigation projects in the regional watershed, to achieve, at a 
minimum, no net loss to the services, functions, and values of the 
original habitat.
    A Draft EIS was prepared and a notice of availability published in 
the Federal Register on September 18, 2015, initiating a 45-day public 
comment period. The Draft EIS considered several alternative 
components. Besides the Proposed Action, the RCA and the No Action 
Alternative were carried forward for full analysis in the Final EIS. 
Agencies, organizations, and interested parties provided comments on 
the Draft EIS via mail, email, and public meetings.
    In developing responses to these comments, revisions were made to 
the RCA in the Final EIS to minimize impacts to non-Federal lands and 
groundwater impacts at P4's South Rasmussen Mine. These revisions 
include the addition of off-lease borrow

[[Page 62533]]

areas on NFS lands to potentially minimize the borrow area on the WMA, 
and using select borrow material to improve the earthen cover on the 
RCA pit backfill at the South Rasmussen Mine.
    Under the No Action Alternative, the Rasmussen Valley Mine would 
not be approved for mining, and no associated development would occur 
on the existing Lease at this time. Similarly, associated requests such 
as the lease modification applications would not be approved. The No 
Action Alternative would not provide ore for the CPO and would leave 
the mineral resource unmined. However, the No Action Alternative does 
not preclude application and approval of future mine and reclamation 
plans for the site because of pre-existing mining rights granted in the 
existing Lease.
    The USFS's decision concerning that portion of the proposed project 
related to Special Use Authorizations for off-lease activities is 
subject to the objection process pursuant to 36 CFR 218 Subparts A and 
B. Instructions for filing objections will be provided in the legal 
notice published in the newspaper of record for the Draft USFS ROD. 
Objections will be accepted only from those who have previously 
submitted specific written comments regarding the proposed project, 
either during scoping or other designated opportunities for public 
comment, in accordance with 36 CFR 218.5(a). Issues raised in 
objections must be based on previously submitted, timely, and specific 
written comments regarding the proposed project, unless based on new 
information arising after designated opportunities.
    The BLM will not issue a draft ROD for the project but will release 
a ROD in the future, based on the Final EIS and any considerations the 
public may communicate regarding this proposal during the 
``availability period'' previously described. The BLM's decision 
regarding the mine and reclamation plan and lease modifications will be 
subject to appeal under procedures found in 43 CFR part 4, with 
explanation and opportunity to be provided in the forthcoming ROD.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ; 40 CFR parts 1500-1508; 43 
CFR part 46; 43 U.S.C. 1701; and 43 CFR part 3590.

Mary D'Aversa,
District Manager, Idaho Falls District, Bureau of Land Management.
Garth Smelser,
Forest Supervisor, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, U.S. Forest 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-21772 Filed 9-8-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P