[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 155 (Monday, August 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39885-39886]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17214]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Sugar Camp Energy LLC Mine Expansion (Revision 6) Environmental 
Impact Statement

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed expansion of 
mining operations by Sugar Camp Energy, LLC to extract TVA-owned coal 
reserves in Hamilton and Franklin counties, Illinois. A portion of the 
expansion area contains coal reserves owned by TVA that are leased to 
Sugar Camp Energy, LLC. TVA will consider whether to approve the 
company's application to mine approximately 12,125 acres (``project 
area'') of TVA-owned coal reserves.

DATES: Comments must be received or postmarked by September 11, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Elizabeth Smith, NEPA 
Specialist, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 W Summit Hill Drive #WT11B, 
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902. Comments may be sent electronically to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Smith, by phone at 865-632-
3053, by email at [email protected], or by mail at the address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is provided in accordance with 
the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 
to 1508) and TVA's procedures for implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 106 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations (36 
CFR part 800).
    Sugar Camp Energy, LLC (Sugar Camp) proposes to expand its 
underground longwall mining operations at its Sugar Camp Mine No. 1 in 
southern Illinois by approximately 37,972 acres. TVA owns coal reserves 
underlying approximately 12,125 acres of the Herrin No. 6 seam within 
the expansion area. In November 2017, Sugar Camp obtained approval for 
the expansion from the State of Illinois, when the Illinois Department 
of Natural Resources (IDNR), Office of Mines and Minerals (OMM) Land 
Reclamation Division (LRD) approved Significant Revision (SR) No. 6 to 
the company's Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Operations Permit--
Underground Operations (Number 382). TVA will consider whether to 
approve the company's application to mine approximately 12,125 acres 
(``project area'') of the TVA-owned coal reserves.
    Under the proposal, surface and underground disturbance would 
occur. Surface activities to support the underground mining would be 
limited to the construction of bleeder shafts and installation of 
associated utilities to operate the bleeder shafts to support the 
extraction of TVA-owned coal. The exact location of these surface 
activities is unknown at this time, but they would occur within the 
project area. Other activities to support the underground mining of 
TVA-owned coal would be located outside of the project area and include 
operation of the coal preparation plant (approximately 3.5 miles 
southwest of Macedonia, Illinois).
    Underground mining would be performed using two techniques. Coal 
would be extracted using room and pillar and continuous mining 
techniques during a development period, followed by longwall mining and 
associated planned subsidence. Subsidence would only occur under a 
portion of the project area. Sugar Camp would utilize its existing Mine 
No. 1

[[Page 39886]]

facilities to process and ship extracted coal.

Background

    TVA is a federal corporation and instrumentality of the United 
States government, created in 1933 by an act of Congress to foster the 
social and economic well-being of the residents of the Tennessee Valley 
region. As part of its diversified energy strategy, TVA completed a 
series of land and coal mineral acquisitions from the 1960s through the 
mid-1980s that resulted in the coal ownership of two large coal reserve 
blocks in the southwestern section of the Illinois Basin. TVA owns coal 
reserves underlying approximately 65,000 acres of land containing 
approximately 1.35 billion tons of Illinois No. 5 and No. 6 coal seams.
    TVA executed a coal lease agreement with Sugar Camp in July 2002 
which allows Sugar Camp to mine the TVA coal reserves in the Illinois 
Basin coalfield. The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the 
recovery of TVA coal resources in an environmentally sound manner. 
Under the terms of the agreement, Sugar Camp may not commence any 
mining activity pursuant to a mining plan or revisions until 
satisfactory completion of all environmental and cultural resource 
reviews by TVA required for compliance with all applicable law and 
regulations. Sugar Camp submitted to TVA a plan for the mining of 
12,125 acres of coal reserves within the area previously approved by 
the State of Illinois as SBR No. 6. The EIS initiated by TVA will 
assess the environmental impact of approving this plan. In doing so, 
TVA also expects to address the cumulative impacts from the mining of 
the larger 37,972-acre area previously approved by the State of 
Illinois as SBR No. 6.
    The operations of Sugar Camp Mine No. 1 have previously been 
subject to TVA review and approval. In 2008, Sugar Camp obtained a 
permit from the State of Illinois for underground longwall mining 
operations on approximately 12,103 acres in Franklin and Hamilton 
counties; the original permit did not include TVA-owned coal reserves. 
In 2010, Sugar Camp applied to the state for a SBR of that permit to 
mine TVA-owned coal under an additional 817-acre area. The permit was 
issued in May 2010. In 2011, TVA prepared an EA to document the 
potential effects of Sugar Camp's proposed mining of TVA-owned coal 
underneath a 2,600-acre area for Sugar Camp Mine No. 1.
    In November 2017, Sugar Camp obtained approval from the IDNR to 
expand Sugar Camp Mine No. 1 by 37,792 acres. The Sugar Camp proposal 
included the expansion of operations along the north perimeter of its 
original mine perimeter, into a 2,250-acre area referred to as Viking 
District #2. In November 2018, TVA completed an EA entitled ``Sugar 
Camp Coal Mine Expansion Viking District #2'' which addressed expansion 
of mining operations into the area. In May 2019, TVA supplemented this 
EA to consider Sugar Camp's proposal to expand its mining into a 155-
acre area within the Viking District #3, adjacent to Viking District 
#2.

Alternatives

    TVA has initially identified two alternatives for consideration in 
the EIS: TVA's approval of Sugar Camp's application to mine 12,125 
acres of TVA-owned coal reserves within the expansion area of Sugar 
Camp Mine No. 1, as approved by the State of Illinois; and the No 
Action Alternative. Under the action alternative, TVA proposes to 
assess the direct and indirect effects of the mining operations to 
extract TVA-owned coal reserves underlying approximately 12,125 acres 
within the expansion area. The mining of the remaining acreage within 
the 37,792-acre expansion area is not a connected action; however, TVA 
will address the effects of mining the remaining acreage in the 
cumulative impacts section of the EIS. The description and analysis of 
these alternatives in the EIS will inform decision makers, other 
agencies and the public about the potential for environmental impacts 
associated with the mining operations. TVA solicits comment on whether 
there are other alternatives that should be assessed in the EIS.

Proposed Resources and Issues To Be Considered

    Public scoping is integral to the process for implementing NEPA and 
ensures that issues are identified early and properly studied, issues 
of little significance do not consume substantial time and effort, and 
the analysis of those issues is thorough and balanced. This EIS will 
identify the purpose and need of the project and will contain 
descriptions of the existing environmental and socioeconomic resources 
within the area that could be affected by mining operations. Evaluation 
of potential environmental impacts to these resources will include, but 
not be limited to, water quality, soil erosion, floodplains, aquatic 
and terrestrial ecology, threatened and endangered species, botany, 
wetlands, land use, historic and archaeological resources, as well as 
solid and hazardous waste, safety, socioeconomic and environmental 
justice issues. The final range of issues to be addressed in the 
environmental review will be determined, in part, from scoping comments 
received. TVA is particularly interested in public input on other 
reasonable alternatives that should be considered in the EIS. The 
preliminary identification of reasonable alternatives and environmental 
issues in this notice is not meant to be exhaustive or final.

Public Participation

    The public is invited to submit comments on the scope of this EIS 
no later than the date identified in the Dates section of this notice. 
Federal, state and local agencies and Native American Tribes are also 
invited to provide comments. After consideration of comments received 
during the scoping period, TVA will develop and distribute a scoping 
document that will summarize public and agency comments that were 
received and identify the schedule for completing the EIS process. 
Following analysis of the issues, TVA will prepare a draft EIS for 
public review and comment; the draft EIS is scheduled for completion in 
late 2020. In finalizing the EIS and in making its final decision, TVA 
will consider the comments that it receives on the Draft EIS.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7.

M. Susan Smelley,
Director, Environmental Compliance and Operations.
[FR Doc. 2019-17214 Filed 8-9-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8120-08-P