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Final Environmental Assessment for the West Black Thunder Coal Lease Application

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Final Environmental Assessment for the West Black Thunder Coal Lease Application U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Final Environmental Assessment for the West Black Thunder Coal Lease Application The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for the balanced management of the public lands and resources and their various values so that they are considered in a combination that will best serve the needs of the American people. Management is based upon the principles of multiple use and sustained yield; a combination of uses that take into account the long term needs of future generations for renewable and nonrenewable resources. These resources include recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, fish and wildlife, wilderness and natural, scenic, scientific and cultural values. ~ I I I BLM-WY -ES-92-007-4120 I I ~ I I I I I I I I l I I I I III IIIIIIII United States Department of the Interior BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEME;'\iT I11III CASPER DISTRICT OFFICE .-IIIIIIII III 1701 EAST E STREET CASPER, WYOMING 82601 3420 WYW118907 Dear Reader: Enclosed is a copy of the final environmental assessment (EA) prepared for the West Black Thunder coal lease application. The Decision Record for the final West Black Thunder EA is scheduled for signing on April 2, 1992. Comments on the final EA, which are received by March 27, 1992, will- be considered in preparing the Decision Record. Comments should be addresed to James W. Monroe, Bureau of Land Management, Casper District Office, 1701 East "E" Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601. Sincerely, District Manager Enclosure - Copy of Final EA F'inal Environmental Assessment of the West Black Thunder Coal Lease Application as applied for by Thunder Basin Coal Company (Federal Coal Lease Application WYWl18907) EA # WY061-2-004 Prepared by Casper District Bureau of Land Management Cooperating Agencies: US Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service March 1992 TABLE OF CONTENTS SU1vTht:IARY . VI 1. INTRODUCTION 1 A. Need for Proposed Action . 1 B. Conformance with Land Use Plan 6 C. Relationship to Statutes, Regulations, or Other Plans 6 D. Public Participation. 10 II. PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES 11 A. Alternative No.1: Proposed Lease Sale To Be Mined With Existing Mining Operation: Preferred Alternative . 11 B. Alternative No.2: No Action . 14 C. Alternative No.3: Proposed Lease Sale for a New Stand-Alone Mine 14 D. Alternative No.4: Postpone Lease Sale 15 III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT 16 A. General Setting . 16 B. Affected Resources. 18 1. Geology and Topography 18 2. Water Resources 22 a. Ground Water 22 b. Surface Water 24 c. Alluvial Valley Floors. 25 d. Wetlands 25 3. Soils. 26 4. Vegetation. 28 5. Ownership and Use Of Land 28 6. Wildlife . 30 7. Cultural Resources . 34 8. Native American Consultation 38 9. Paleontological Resources 38 10. Visual Resources 39 11. Noise . 40 12. Air Quality . 40 13. Transportation Facilities 44 14. Socioeconomics 46 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) IV. ENVIRONMENTAL IM:PACTS 52 A. Impacts of the Proposed Action . 52 1. Geology and Topography 52 2. Water Resources 53 a. Ground Water 54 b. Surface Water 59 c. Alluvial Valley Floors . 60 d. Wetlands 61 3. Soils. 61 4. Vegetation . 63 5. Land Use . 63 6. Wildlife 64 7. Cultural Resources 64 8. Paleontological Resources 65 9. Visual Resources 65 10. Noise . 65 11. Air Quality . 66 12. Transportation Facilities 68 13. Socioeconomics 68 14. Hazardous Waste . 69 B. Impacts of Alternatives 70 1. Alternative No.2: No Action 70 2. Alternative No.3: New Stand-Alone Mine 70 3. Alternative No.4: Postponement of Lease Sale 75 C. Mitigation Measures 76 D. Residual Impacts 78 E. Cumulative Impacts 78 1. Actual and Predicted Coal Activity in the Eastern Powder River Coal Region 79 2. Water Resources 86 a. Ground Water 86 b. Surface Water 93 3. Air Quality 93 4. Socioeconomics 95 ii V. CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION 101 VI. REFERENCES 103 VII. COMMENT LETTERS ON DRAFT EA AND RESPONSES 115 VITI. FINAL AND DRAFT EA MAILING LISTS 171 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES FIGURES Figure 1. Coal Leasing Interest, Powder River Coal Region, Wyoming and Montana . ,.. 2 Figure 2. General Location Map of West Black Thunder Tract 4 Figure 3. Detailed Location Map of West Black Thunder Tract 5 Figure 4. Generalized Stratigraphic Chart for the latest Cretaceous and early Tertiary, Powder River Basin, Wyoming . , . 19 Figure 5, Ownership Map of West Black Thunder Tract and Vicinity 29 Figure 6. Land Use and Wildlife Features of West Black Thunder Tract and Vicinity ..,.."............ 31 Figure 7. Relationship Between A-Scale Decibel Readings and Sounds of Daily Life. , . 41 Figure 8. Transportation Facilities in Vicinity of West Black Thunder Mine . 45 Figure 9. Layout for Hypothetical Stand-Alone Mine on West Black Thunder Tract , . 71 Figure 10. Location of Existing and Proposed Coal Mines in Campbell County . 80 Figure 11. Comparison between 1990 cumulative draw downs and the mines worst-case and the USGS predicted cumulative draw downs ............ 89 iii TABLES Table 1. Validation of Leasing Unsuitability Criteria for West Black Thunder Tract . 7 Table 2. Federal and State Permitting Agencies 9 Table 3. Federal and State Permit Requirements 9 Table 4. :rvn3HFI Status in Northeast Wyoming and Expected Occurrence Near Black Thunder . 35 Table 5. Status of Known Cultural Sites Within the West Black Thunder Tract and One-Mile Buffer . 37 Table 6. Regulated Air Emissions for Wyoming 42 Table 7. Maximum Allowable Increases for Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality in Wyoming . 42 Table 8. Summary of Air Quality Monitoring in Wyoming's Powder River Basin 1980-1988. 43 Table 9. Housing Availability in Gillette, Wyoming, 1990 46 Table 10. Historic and Projected Coal Production for Wyoming and Campbell County . 47 Table 11. Labor Force Data for Selected Years for Wyoming, Campbell and Weston Counties . 49 Table 12. Local Disbursements for Campbell County and Gillette for Selected Years . 50 Table 13. Housing Availability in Newcastle, Wyoming, 1990 50 Table 14. Hypothetical Coal Production Schedule for Stand-Alone Mine on WBT Tract . 72 Table 15. Mine Sites Addressed in Previous Regional EIS Analyses 82 Table 16. Cumulative Regional Activity, Eastern Powder River Basin Coal Region. 83 IV TABLES (continued) Table 17. Cumulative Surface Disturbance, Employment and Population- Actual and Predictions without the Lease-By-Applications, Eastern Powder River Coal Region . 84 Table 18. Particulate Concentrations by Mine in the Eastern Powder River Basin as Projected for 1990 and as Measured for 1990 for the Annual Ambient Air Quality Standard ......................... 95 Table 19. Particulate Emissions by Mine in the Eastern Powder River Basin as Predicted for 1990 and as Estimated from Actual Mining Activity for 1990 . 96 Table 20. Crime in Campbell County, 1980 and 1989 98 Table 21. Marriage and Divorce Rates in Campbell County, 1980 and 1989 . 99 Table 22. Birth and Death Rates in Campbell County, 1980 and 1989 . 100 v SUMMARY Thunder Basin Coal Company (TBCC) has applied to the BLM for a lease for federal coal adjacent to TBCC's existing Black Thunder Mine (BTM). The tract proposed for leasing is called the West Black Thunder (WBT) tract. This environmental assessment characterizes and quantifies the environmental impacts that would likely result from leasing the West Black Thunder tract. It also addresses the cumulative impacts of this application and the other pending lease-by-applications. In preparation of this environmental assessment four alternatives were considered as follows: Alternative 1- Lease the coal as a maintenance tract for an existing mine. This case assumes that the applicant is the successful bidder. This is the preferred alternative. Alternative 2- Take no action on the lease application. Alternative 3- Lease the coal to open anew, stand-alone mine. This alternative assumes that the applicant is not the successful bidder. Alternative 4- Postpone the lease sale. Under Alternative 1 and Alternative 3 the lease would be offered under a competitive bid process, with the coal rights going to the company or individual that submits the highest qualified bid for the property. Under Alternative 1, the proposed action, the tract would be mined by TBCC in order to extend the life of the BTM. Coal would be recovered from beneath about 3,225 acres of land adjacent to and west of the existing BTM. The tract is assumed to contain 400 million tons of recoverable coal. The reserves requested in the application for the WBT tract would extend the number of years the mine would be able to produce at the currently permitted maximum production rate by approximately 13 years. Two possible variations of the proposed action may be implemented by BLM. Option A would add about 33 million tons of federal coal underlying approximately 280 acres to the tract, extending the mine life by approximately one year. This coal is located between the WBT tract and Highway 450 and may be bypassed if not mined with the WBT tract. Option B would be to offer the WBT tract for sale in two parcels if BLM determines that offering the tract as two parcels would maximize revenues to the Federal Government. Option B would not change the coal tonnages. The proposed action with Option A included is the preferred alternative of the BLM. The environmental impacts of Alternative 1, the proposed action, would not be significantly different than the impacts currently resulting from the mining of the current Black Thunder lease, except that the duration of these impacts would be extended. Water-level declines in the coal aquifer due to mining at the current Black Thunder Mine would be extended one mile further to the west. Drawdowns in the overburden aquifer would also be extended further to the west.
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