Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary AA-2
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Executive Summary This page intentionally left blank Executive Summary AA-1 1 Acronyms and Abbreviations 1969 Lease Navajo Project Indenture of Lease BART Best Available Retrofit Technology BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs BLM Bureau of Land Management BM&LP Railroad Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad BO Biological Opinion CAP Central Arizona Project CAWCD Central Arizona Water Conservation District CEQ Council on Environmental Quality CFR Code of Federal Regulations CO2 carbon dioxide Co-tenants Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service Company, NV Energy, and Tucson Electric Power Company Development Fund Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund EIS Environmental Impact Statement ERA Ecological Risk Assessment ESA Endangered Species Act of 1973 HHRA Human Health Risk Assessment km kilometer KMC Kayenta Mine Complex kV kilovolt kW kilowatt MW megawatt N-Aquifer Navajo Aquifer NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended NGS Navajo Generating Station NGS Participants U.S. (Reclamation), Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service Company, NV Energy, and Tucson Electric Power Company NHPA National Historic Preservation Act NNEPA Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency NO2 nitrogen dioxide NOX nitrogen oxide OSMRE Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement PM particulate matter PM10 particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 microns or less PM2.5 particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns or less PFR Partial Federal Replacement PWCC Peabody Western Coal Company Reclamation U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ROW Right-of-way SO2 sulfur dioxide SRP Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary AA-2 STS Southern Transmission System U.S. United States USC United States Code USEPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WTS Western Transmission System 1 2 Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary i 1 Contents 2 ES1.0 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... ES-1 3 ES1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... ES-1 4 ES1.2 Public Involvement/Scoping ............................................................................................... ES-1 5 ES1.3 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action ..................................................................... ES-3 6 ES1.4 Development and Description of Alternatives ................................................................... ES-9 7 ES1.4.1 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Detailed Analysis in the EIS ...... ES-9 8 ES1.4.2 Alternatives Evaluated in the EIS ..................................................................... ES-10 9 ES1.4.2.1 NGS-KMC Project (Proposed Action) ...................................................... ES-10 10 ES1.4.2.2 Natural Gas Partial Federal Replacement (PFR) Alternative ................. ES-11 11 ES1.4.2.3 Renewable Partial Federal Replacement Alternative ............................. ES-11 12 ES1.4.2.4 Tribal Partial Federal Replacement Alternative ....................................... ES-12 13 ES1.4.2.5 No Action Alternative ................................................................................ ES-12 14 ES1.5 Primary Technical Issues ................................................................................................. ES-13 15 ES1.6 Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences ............................................. ES-14 16 ES1.6.1 Affected Environment ........................................................................................ ES-14 17 ES1.6.2 Environmental Consequences ......................................................................... ES-19 18 19 Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary ii 1 List of Tables 2 Table ES-1 Preliminary List of Federal Actions for the NGS-KMC Project ........................................ ES-4 3 Table ES-2 Navajo Generating Station – Kayenta Mine Complex Project Quantitative Impact 4 Summary ......................................................................................................................... ES-20 5 Table ES-3 Navajo Generating Station – Kayenta Mine Complex Project Impact Summary ......... ES-23 6 7 List of Figures 8 Figure ES-1 General Location Map ...................................................................................................... ES-2 9 Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary ES-1 1 ES1.0 Executive Summary 2 ES1.1 Introduction 3 The Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is an existing 2,250-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant 4 located on leased Navajo Nation tribal trust lands approximately 5 miles east of Page, Arizona. NGS 5 provides baseload power to over 1 million customers in Arizona, California, and Nevada. NGS also 6 provides over 90 percent of the power used by the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a federal project that 7 delivers approximately 1.5 million acre-feet annually of Colorado River water from a diversion point in 8 Lake Havasu near Parker, Arizona, to tribal, agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users in 9 Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, Arizona. The current NGS Participants include the NGS Co-tenants 10 (Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP), which also is the operator of 11 NGS; NV Energy; and Tucson Electric Power Company), and the United States. Power generated by 12 NGS is transmitted to points of delivery by the Western Transmission System (WTS) and Southern 13 Transmission System (STS) and their associated substations and communication sites. 14 The coal supply for the NGS is delivered from Peabody Western Coal Company’s (PWCC) Kayenta 15 Mine, located approximately 78 miles southeast of NGS. The Kayenta Mine is the sole commercial 16 supplier of coal used by the NGS, and NGS is the sole commercial customer of coal produced at the 17 Kayenta Mine. The Kayenta Mine is located on the Black Mesa and on Navajo and Hopi trust lands, 18 where PWCC has been granted three contiguous mining leases that provide PWCC the right to produce 19 up to a total of 670 million tons of coal (Figure ES-1). Under the Proposed Action, facilities on the former 20 Black Mesa Mine currently being used to support the Kayenta Mine operations would be combined with 21 the existing Kayenta Mine to create the proposed Kayenta Mine Complex (KMC); mining would not be 22 authorized anywhere in the former Black Mesa Mine area. 23 The terms of the Navajo Project Indenture of Lease for Units 1, 2, and 3 (1969 Lease) for NGS and its 24 associated facilities and the Navajo and Hopi coal mining leases have provided both tribes with 25 substantial revenues from lease and coal royalties, which support the Navajo and Hopi governments. 26 ES1.2 Public Involvement/Scoping 27 Formal Public Scoping was initiated when a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact 28 Statement (EIS) was published in the Federal Register on May 16, 2014; Public Scoping closed on 29 August 31, 2014. Ten public scoping open house meetings were held June 10-June 20, 2014, in the 30 following Arizona locations: Window Rock, Forest Lake, Kayenta, Shonto, LeChee, and Tuba City on 31 the Navajo Reservation; Kykotsmovi on the Hopi Reservation; and Page, Phoenix, and Marana. An 32 additional scoping open house meeting was held on Third Mesa of the Hopi Reservation on August 14, 33 2014, and two community outreach meetings also were held on the Hopi First and Second Mesas on 34 August 13, 2014. At the request of residents living within the PWCC mine leasehold, two listening 35 sessions were held at the PWCC Human Resources Center on July 16 and August 28, 2015. The 36 residents provided input on cultural resources and other issues related to the Proposed Action. 37 Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project September 2016 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary ES-3 1 ES1.3 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action 2 The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) proposes to approve the federal actions, which would enable 3 continued involvement by the United States (U.S.) in the NGS beyond December 22, 2019, when the 4 current lease between the NGS Co-tenants and the Navajo Nation is set to expire. There are a number 5 of federal approvals and actions associated with the Proposed Action under the Secretary’s authority 6 (Table ES-1). The following are the major Secretarial approvals described in detail in the Environmental 7 Impact Statement (EIS): 8 • As an NGS Participant, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) needs to respond to the 9 impending expiration of the initial term of the 1969 Lease, grants of right-of-way (ROW) and 10 easements, and other agreements needed for the continued operation of NGS. Reclamation’s 11 purpose for the Proposed Action is to secure, after 2019, a continuously available and reliable 12 source of power and energy to operate the CAP pumps, which would be competitively priced 13 with NGS and could be sold as surplus power, the proceeds of which would be deposited in the 14 Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund