3425 WYW146744 FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE NORTH JACOBS RANCH COAL LEASE APPLICATION WYW146744 N O T I C E On August 8, 2001, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the North Jacobs Ranch Coal Lease Application, Serial Number WYW146744, was provided to the public for review. On August 24, 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will publish its 30-day notice of availability in the Federal Register. The Bureau of Land Management will accept comments on this FEIS thru September 24, 2001. Comments received during the EPA notice of availability period will be considered in preparing the Record of Decision. Please send written comments to Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, Attn: Nancy Doelger, 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604. Written comments may also be e-mailed to the attention of Nancy Doelger at “[email protected].” E-mail comments must include the name and mailing address of the commentor to receive consideration. Written comments may also be faxed to 307-261-7587. Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, Wyoming, during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives of officials of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their entirety. If you have any questions or would like to obtain additional copies of this FEIS, please contact Nancy Doelger at 307-261-7627, or at the above address. Alan L. Kesterke Associate State Director FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE NORTH JACOBS RANCH COAL LEASE APPLICATION (FEDERAL COAL LEASE APPLICATION WYW146744) Prepared for U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Casper Field Office Casper, Wyoming and Cooperating Agency U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Denver, Colorado by WWC Engineering Sheridan, Wyoming JUNE 2001 Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY an LBA, the BLM must evaluate the quantity, quality, maximum economic On October 2, 1998, JRCC1 filed an recovery, and fair market value of the application with the BLM for a federal coal and fulfill the maintenance coal lease for federal requirements of NEPA by evaluating coal reserves located north and west the environmental impacts of leasing of JRCC's existing Jacobs Ranch and mining the federal coal. Mine (Figures ES-1 and ES-2). This coal lease application, which is To evaluate the environmental referred to as the North Jacobs Ranch impacts of leasing and mining the LBA Tract, was assigned case file coal, the BLM must prepare an EA or number WYW146744. As applied for, an EIS to evaluate the site-specific this tract includes approximately and cumulative environmental and 4,821 acres and approximately 533 socioeconomic impacts of leasing and million tons of in-place federal coal. developing the federal coal in the The lands applied for in this application area. The BLM made a application are located in decision to prepare an EIS for this southeastern Campbell County, lease application. The DEIS was Wyoming, approximately 7 miles east released to the public in December of Wright, Wyoming. 2000, and a formal public hearing was held in Gillette, Wyoming on This lease application was reviewed January 17, 2001. by the BLM, Wyoming State Office, Division of Mineral and Lands BLM will use the analysis in this EIS Authorization, and it was determined to decide whether or not to hold a that the application and the lands public, competitive, sealed-bid coal involved met the requirements of the lease sale for the federal coal tract regulations governing coal leasing on and issue a federal coal lease. If a application at Title 43 of the Code of sale is held, the bidding at that sale Federal Regulations Part 3425.1 (43 would be open to any qualified CFR 3425.1). The application was bidder; it would not be limited to the also reviewed by the PRRCT at public applicant. If a lease sale is held, a meetings held on February 23, 1999, federal coal lease would be issued to in Billings, Montana, on October 27, the highest bidder at the sale if a 1999, in Gillette, Wyoming, and on federal sale panel determined that the October 25, 2000, in Cheyenne, high bid at that sale meets or exceeds Wyoming. At the most recent the fair market value of the coal as meeting, the PRRCT recommended determined by BLM's economic that the BLM continue to process the evaluation, and if the U.S. lease application. In order to process Department of Justice determines that there are no antitrust violations if a lease is issued to the high bidder at the sale. JRCC previously applied 1 Refer to page viii for a list of for federal coal under the LBA abbreviations and acronyms used in this document. Final EIS, North Jacobs Ranch Coal Lease Application ES-1 Executive Summary process, was the successful high This FEIS analyzes four alternatives: bidder when a competitive lease sale was held, and, in 1992, was issued a The Proposed Action is to hold maintenance lease adjacent to this a competitive coal lease sale same mine. and issue a maintenance lease to the successful bidder for the Other agencies, including OSM, a North Jacobs Ranch LBA Tract cooperating agency on this EIS, will as applied for (Figure ES-2). also use this analysis to make Under the Proposed Action, decisions related to leasing and JRCC currently estimates that mining the federal coal in this tract. average annual production The USFS is not a cooperating agency would be 21 million tons per on this EIS because there are no year, and the life of the existing federal surface lands managed by the mine would be extended by USFS included in the North Jacobs approximately 23 years. Ranch LBA Tract. Current employment at the Jacobs Ranch Mine is 333. If The lands in the North Jacobs Ranch the LBA tract is acquired, LBA Tract have been subjected to four JRCC anticipates that coal planning screens and determined employment would remain at acceptable for consideration for 333 persons. leasing. A decision to lease the federal coal lands in this application Alternative 1 is the No Action would be in conformance with the Alternative. Under this BLM Resource Management Plan for alternative, the LBA tract the Buffalo Field Office. would not be leased, but the existing leases at the adjacent The North Jacobs Ranch LBA Tract is Jacobs Ranch Mine and Black contiguous with both the Jacobs Thunder Mine would be Ranch Mine and the Black Thunder developed according to the Mine, owned by Ark Land Co. existing approved mining plans. Under the No Action The LBA sale process is, by law and Alternative, the Jacobs Ranch regulation, an open, public, Mine would mine its remaining competitive sealed-bid process. If a 190.8 million tons of in-place lease sale is held for this LBA tract, leased coal reserves in the applicant (JRCC ) may not be the approximately 7 years at an successful high bidder. The analysis average annual production rate in this EIS assumes that JRCC would of 24.5 million tons per year be the successful bidder on the North and average employment would Jacobs Ranch LBA Tract if a sale is be 333 persons. held, and that it would be mined as a maintenance tract for the Jacobs Alternative 2 the preferred Ranch Mine. alternative of the BLM, considers holding a competitive ES-4 Final EIS, North Jacobs Ranch Coal Lease Application Executive Summary coal lease sale and issuing a situation. Under this maintenance lease to the alternative, the tract would successful bidder for the North include approximately 3,364 Jacobs Ranch LBA Tract as acres and 326 million tons of reconfigured by BLM (Figure in-place coal. Production and ES-2). BLM developed an employment would be similar amended tract configuration in to the Proposed Action. order to avoid a potential future bypass situation. Under Table ES-1 summarizes coal this alternative, approximately production, surface disturbance, and 161 acres containing about 4 mine life for the Jacobs Ranch Mine million tons of unleased federal under each alternative. The coal east of the North Jacobs environmental impacts of mining the Ranch LBA Tract as applied for LBA tract would be similar under the would be added to the tract. Proposed Action and Alternatives 2 Portions of the area that would and 3. be added under Alternative 2 lie within the proposed right-of­ Other alternatives that were way for the proposed DM&E considered but not analyzed in detail railroad. If the DM&E project include holding a competitive coal is constructed as proposed lease sale and issuing a lease to the prior to the removal of the coal, successful bidder (not the applicant) mining of these lands would for the purpose of developing a new potentially be precluded, and stand-alone mine, expanding the the coal could not be recovered. tract to include additional lands Under this alternative, applied for as part of the State production and employment Section LBA Tract application, and would be similar to the delaying the competitive sale of the Proposed Action. LBA tract. The State Section LBA Tract application has been withdrawn Alternative 3 also considers by the applicant.