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'~~ _0 ,., ., ~, .:' ," 'j~ CHAPTER 1 THE PURPOSE AND NEED OF THE PROPOSED ACTION INTRODUCTION In accordance with the National Environmental Poli- cy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (Public Law 91-190, 1970), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared this document in response to the filing of a right-of-way application by the Utah Division of Water Resources on August 4. 1975. The applicant has applied for 3,402 acres (1.377 ha) of public land administered by the BLM to construct an earthen dam across the White River which would create a reservoir. About 2,377 acres (962 ha) are within the project area, and about 882 acres (357 ha) identified for dam core materials are located north of Bonanza. Utah. Also proposed are a hydroelectric power plant. a power transmission sys- tem. recreational facilities, and access roads. The proposed White River Dam Project would be located about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Vernal, in Uintah County. Utah (Figure 1-1). This chapter explains the purpose and need of the proposed project. the scoping processes that were used to identify significant environmental issues and concerns of people, and interrelated projects which could have cumulative effects. Government actions required to authorize the project are in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 contains an Engiish-metric conversion table for units used in this environmental impact state- ment (EIS), PURPOSEANDNEEDOFTHE PROPOSED PROJECT The basic purpose of the proposed White River Dam Project would be to supply water for energy de- velopment. principally related to oil shale. The need for reservoir storage is substantiated by Western Engineers (1979) who concluded that: "In most years an adequate water supply exists. but in years like 1977-1978. there are periods when no water will be available without hold-over reservoir storage." Within the last several years. various companies with financial grants from the Department of Energy (DOE) have been researching the feasibility of oil shale development. Several other companies on their own are now making plans for commercial operations (US Department of Interior [USDI]. BLM 1981). The tentative plans for oil shale development with White River water in Utah are as follows: 1. Enercor and Mono Power Company plan to mine and retort tar sand on about 10.000 acres in the southeastern section of Uintah County and northern Grand County. A demonstration module would be located at Rainbow Mine (Rainbow Pro- posal). and the other modules would be located at Cedar Camp'Mine (P.R. Springs Proposal). The demonstration module would produce 5,000 bar- rels per day (bpd). If successful. nine additional 5,OOO-bpd modules would be constructed near P.R, Springs for a total synthetic crude production of 50,000 bpd. 2. The Magic Circle Energy Corporation pro- poses to develop the 6.500-acre Cottonwood Wash Oil Shale Project located approximately 40 miles south of Vernal, Utah. Oil shale from an on-site mine would be processed to produce approximately 31.500 bpd. 3, The Paraho Development Corporation plans to design. construct, and operate a 1,412-acre Paraho-Ute oil shale facility located in northeastern Utah in Uintah County, approximately 50 miles from Vernal. The capacity of the Paraho-Ute oil shale facility would be 42,000 bpd of hydrotreated shale oil. 4. Syntana-Utah (a joint venture of Quintana Minerals Corporation and Synthetic Oil Corpora- tion) has proposed to construct an oil shale produc- tion facility on about 2,100 acres near Bonanza. Utah. The facility would initially produce 16,500 bpd of shale oil (Phase I), with subsequent production (Phases 2 and 3) reaching 50.000 bpd as the site is expanded. 5. Tasca Development Corporation has pro- posed to develop the Sand Wash Oil Shale Project on 14,000 acres located in the centrai Uinta Basin. approximately 30 miles south of Vernal. Utah. Plans are to process and transport 48.300 bpd of up- graded shale oil. The White River Shale Project is developing about 10.000 acres (4,047 ha) of oil shale on two tracts leased from the BLM. These two tracts. designated as Ua and Ub. are located adjacent to and south of the proposed dam. Three companies. Phillips Petroleum. Sunoco Energy Development. and Sohio Petroleum. have joined together to establish and implement a plan for the combined development of the tracts. These companies have estimated a 100,000 bpd oil produc- tion level. The White River Shale Project's detailed develop- ment plan contains the following variables related to water use: 1. There is a wide variation in water required for cooling, dust suppression. and compaction of the processed shale resulting from the various retorting systems. The actual water use for these purposes would depend on the final selected retorting system and operating experience. 7