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CONSERVATION GROUPS’ COMMENTS <br />UNCOMPAHGRE FIELD OFFICE RMP AND DEIS <br />28 <br />The release also states that “[s]everal other processes, as well as compliance with <br />Secretarial Order 3338, which orders a comprehensive review of the federal coal program, would <br />be necessary before any additional coal leasing could occur.”83 But Secretarial Order 3338 orders <br />a discretionary PEIS; the Secretary of Interior (who is likely to be replaced in the next few <br />months) could revoke the order, and/or end the porous coal leasing “pause,” or BLM could never <br />complete the PEIS. The fact that BLM may, someday, complete a federal coal program PEIS <br />does not eliminate BLM’s duty under law to fully analyze a range of reasonable alternative <br />concerning coal leasing and coal production in the Uncompahgre RMP EIS. While the PEIS <br />could result in BLM amending numerous RMPs to address changes to coal leasing, whether or <br />how that would occur is unknown. The Uncompahgre Field Office cannot dodge its <br />responsibility to address coal production and coal leasing in the hopes that the PEIS may do the <br />job later. <br />D. BLM Must Analyze Alternatives That Require Coal Mines in the Uncompahgre <br />Planning Area to Mitigate Climate Impacts by Capturing or Flaring Methane <br />Emissions. <br /> <br />BLM must consider and analyze alternatives that require all coal mines operating in the <br />Uncompahgre planning area to mitigate climate impacts by using capturing or flaring the mine’s <br />methane emissions. Several technologies to capture or flare methane are in use now, both flaring <br />and capture have been studied or used at coal mines in the planning area, BLM has already <br />confirmed that it has the authority to require methane capture and flaring at underground mines <br />on public lands, and doing so here would generate significant savings on the greenhouse gas <br />emissions that will result from BLM’s plan over the next two decades. <br /> <br />The draft EIS for the Uncompahgre RMP, however, does not address potential climate <br />mitigation measures and does not consider an alternative requiring methane capture, methane <br />flaring, or any other approach to mitigate the climate impact of methane emissions from coal <br />mines in the planning area. This is a significant oversight for an area containing some of the most <br />methane-heavy mines in the country. BLM estimates that under each of the alternatives it <br />considers, coal mines in the planning area will emit more than 3 million tons of CO2e every year <br />in direct emissions from operation of the mines, and BLM confirms that the vast majority of <br />these emissions are “primarily from fugitive methane emissions.” DEIS at 4-39; see DEIS Tables <br />4-9 and 4-10 at 4-38, 4-39. <br />1. BLM Has the Legal Authority to Require Mines That Operate on <br />Public Lands to Capture or Flare Methane. <br /> <br />NEPA requires agencies to “[r]igorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable <br />alternatives” and to “[d]evote substantial treatment to each alternative considered.” 40 C.F.R. <br />§ 1502.14(a)-(b). These alternatives must “include reasonable alternatives not within the <br />jurisdiction of the lead agency.” Id. at 1502.14(c). NEPA also requires agencies to identify <br />measures to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of their actions. 40 C.F.R. <br /> 83 Id.