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FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT <br />Environmental Assessment <br />DOI-BLM-C04010-2014-0025 <br />GCC Energy Proposed Exploration License Application <br />INTRODUCTION: <br />The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), DOI- <br />BLM-CO-SO10-2014-0025, to address the potential impacts associated with a coal exploration <br />license application that was submitted by GCC Energy, LLC (GCC) for the Hay Gulch area in <br />La Plata County, Colorado. The proposed coal exploration project would consist of GCC <br />drilling 23 test holes to explore for potentially minable coal reserves on lands located to the north <br />and east of the existing King II Coal Mine in La Plata County, Colorado. Drilling operations <br />would be completed by a truck -mounted rotary drill rig. Small cutting pits would be excavated <br />at each drill site. No new access roads are proposed. In total, approximately 5.29 acres of <br />surface disturbance would occur prior to the subsequent reclamation of the proposed drill holes <br />and pits and reseeding in disturbed areas. The proposed project is anticipated to occur over a <br />period of up to two months, including reclamation. <br />The BLM's purpose and need for action is to respond to GCC's application to explore for federal <br />coal resources in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Mineral <br />Leasing Act (MLA), as amended by the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act (FCLAA) of <br />1976, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. The MLA authorizes the BLM <br />to issue exploration licenses for the drilling of coal test holes for reserve determinations. <br />The surface of the land for the approximately 4,846 -acre project area is predominantly private <br />property. A small area of BLM administered surface lands also occur within the project area. <br />The mineral estate underlying the project area is owned by the United States and administered by <br />the BLM. <br />This Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is based upon and incorporates the analysis <br />documented in the EA, DOI-BLM-CO-2014-0025. In developing the proposed project, a pre - <br />application review was conducted in the field in order to identify potential drilling locations that <br />minimized potential impacts to surface resources. Two originally proposed drill locations and <br />access routes were moved in order to avoid potential impacts to cultural resources. The proposed <br />project was analyzed in the EA as Alternative A — Proposed Action (hereafter "proposed action" <br />or "proposed project"). The EA also analyzed an Alternative B — No Action alternative. Based <br />on the pre -application field review and the resource avoidances provided under the proposed <br />action alternative, it was determined that no other action alternative was warranted. <br />FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT: <br />Based upon a review of the EA and the supporting documents, I have determined that the <br />proposed action (Alternative A — Proposed Action) is not a major federal action and will not <br />significantly affect the quality of the human environment, individually or cumulatively with <br />other actions in the general area. There are no reasonably foreseeable environmental effects <br />from the proposed action that meet the definition of significance in context or intensity as <br />defined in 40 CFR 1508.27, or that exceed those effects described in the Tres Rios Field Office <br />