2020-06-25_REVISION - C1981035 (35)

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Environmental Assessment 1. PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION 1.1 Introduction On December 28, 2010, GCC Energy, LLC(GCC), a subsidiary of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, submitted an application to the Colorado State Director of the United States Department of the Interior (USDOI) Bureau of Land Management(BLM)to modify Federal Coal Lease COC-62920 pursuant to regulations in 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3432. The application was amended on October 17, 2014 to adjust the parcels submitted in the modification and to clarify legal land descriptions for a total modification request of 950.55 acres. As the agency charged with administering the affected federal mineral estate,the BLM must analyze the potential environmental impacts to determine whether to approve the proposed lease modification. On March 20, 2017, GCC submitted a permit application package (consisting of a Permit Revision application and a Permit Renewal Application)to the USDOI Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSMRE)to revise Federal Permit CO-0106A to mine the additional lease acreage proposed for the King II Mine. As the regulatory authority with jurisdiction by law to approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve the federal mine permit(including permit renewals and revisions), and to provide oversight authority of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety(CDRMS)mine permit, OSMRE must analyze the potential environmental impacts to determine whether or not to approve the permit revision and renew the federal permit. Both agencies recognized that it is of mutual benefit for the BLM and OSMRE to join as Co-Lead Agencies in preparing a single Environmental Assessment(EA)to disclose and analyze the potential environmental effects of GCC's proposed lease modification and mining plan revision(hereafter referred to as the "proposed project"). This EA is prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and the President's Council on Environmental Quality(CEQ)regulations for implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508); USDOI regulations for implementation of NEPA(43 CFR Part 46); USDOI Departmental Manual Part 516; and OSMRE guidance,including the OSMRE Handbook on Procedures for Implementing NEPA(OSMRE 1989), and the BLM NEPA Handbook (H- 1790-1) (BLM 2008). Information gathered from federal, state, and local agencies, GCC,publicly available literature,and in-house OSMRE and BLM sources were used in the preparation of this EA. An EA is a site-specific analysis of potential environmental effects that could result in the implementation of the Proposed Action or an alternative. The EA will assist the BLM and OSMRE in project planning, ensuring compliance with the NEPA, and in making a determination as to whether any"significant" effects could result from the Proposed Action and Alternatives. Significance is defined by the NEPA and found in 40 CFR 1508.27. An EA provides analysis for determining whether to prepare an environmental impact statement(EIS) or a"Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI). If following the EA analysis,the BLM and OSMRE determine that a project could have "significant"effects that cannot be mitigated to "less than significant,"then an EIS will be prepared for the project. If not,then a Decision Record may be signed for the EA that describes the decision. The decision can consist of a single alternative or a combination of alternatives. The Decision Record and FONSI describe why the implementation of the selected alternative DOI-BLM-CO-S010-2011-0074-EA September 2017 -12-