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2018-06-01_REVISION - C1980007 (4)
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2018-06-01_REVISION - C1980007 (4)
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Last modified
6/6/2018 10:21:07 AM
Creation date
6/6/2018 10:10:49 AM
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Template:
DRMS Permit Index
Permit No
C1980007
IBM Index Class Name
Revision
Doc Date
6/1/2018
Doc Name
Comment Forwarded To Applicant
From
Shannon Hughes
To
DRMS
Type & Sequence
PR15
Email Name
LDS
Media Type
D
Archive
No
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scope and content of the other agency's NEPA document. Further, an agency may adopt another <br />agency's EIS without recirculating it only if it concludes that its NEPA requirements have been <br />satisfied. 40 C.F.R. §§ 1506.3(a) and (c). This allowance for the adoption of another agency's <br />environmental documents does not, however, excuse an agency from its own requirements to <br />comply with the NEPA. An agency cannot delegate its NEPA responsibilities by relying on the <br />scrutiny of another agency. <br />OSMRE may not rely on the SFEIS in relation to the site-specific impacts. The SFEIS <br />falls short because it indicates that additional analysis was to be undertaken at a "later time". See <br />SFEIS at 90-91. Here, the SFEIS predicted that there would be only 6 miles of road construction <br />in the National Forest. Id. The exploration plan and the proposed roads for MDWs, however <br />appears to far exceed that mileage. See Arch Coal, Map, Proposed MVB's — PR -15 (Mar. 22, <br />2018), attached as Exhibit 5.5 <br />OSMRE cannot rely on the SFEIS because it relied on a "reasonably foreseeable mine <br />plan" to address impacts to wildlife, vegetation and other values that made assumptions not <br />reflective of the reality of the mine plan for which Arch now seeks approval. Because Arch has <br />submitted a mine plan, and the location of roads and drilling pads is known, OSMRE cannot rely <br />on a fictional "reasonably foreseeable" mine plan but must assess the impacts of the mine plan <br />before it. The SFEIS states: <br />To evaluate the effects of leasing, the federal agencies project reasonable <br />development scenarios based on a reasonably foreseeable mine plan" ("RFMP"). <br />(Section 3.2). Agencies rely on the RFMP in their NEPA analysis and to identify <br />needed non -mineral resource protections (as stipulations; see Tables 2-1 and 2-2) <br />because specific locations of the MDWs and roads will not be known until <br />specific mine plans are approved by the State, BLM, MSHA, and the OSMRE <br />during their subsequent permitting processes. RFMP is also used to develop <br />stipulations to protect non -mineral resources[.] The RFMP is analyzed for each <br />resource area and alternative in Chapter 3. <br />SFEIS at 4; see also id. at 84 ("decisions pertaining to surface use and disturbance ... are not <br />made at the leasing stage. Rather, the decisions related to permit -related surface activities are <br />made when and if site-specific surface uses are proposed"); id. at 90 ("Site-specific locations of <br />anticipated disturbance cannot be identified at the leasing stage due to the fact that a final mine <br />plan has not been approved." ).6 <br />Because the "specific locations of the MDWs and roads" are identified, OSMRE cannot <br />rely on a reasonably foreseeable mine plan to project potential impacts when it has a concrete <br />plan before it. Moreover, the Lease Modifications made assumptions about the impacts of <br />s Approximately 1.5 miles constructed for MDWs is private land. <br />6 The Lease Modifications SFEIS admits that the mine plan submitted to OSMRE will contain more accurate <br />information about mining's site-specific impacts. Lease Modifications SFEIS at 61 ("The mine plan is approved in a <br />later permitting process by DBMS and OSMRE. The longwall panels foreseen by Arch Coal are based on current, <br />yet limited knowledge of the geology. As panels are developed, they could be longer or shorter, depending upon <br />conditions found during development."). <br />7 <br />
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