2020-06-25_REVISION - C1981035 (35)

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Environmental Assessment The LPC Planning Commission heard the GCC Class II Land Use Permit application on March 2-3, 2016, but continued the project to April 14, 2016 to allow time for County staff and GCC to prepare a Road Improvements Agreement to address traffic, dust and safety issues on County Road 120. Because of having achieved agreement between LPC and GCC on the RIA, LPC can consider the applicant compliant, compatible, and consistent with adopted Code and long-range plans. On April 14, 2016,the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval for the project to the Board of County Commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners heard the application on May 31, 2016 and continued the project to June 1, 2016 where they voted to approve the project with changes to the RIA and the findings and conditions. A Class II LUP was issued to GCC by LPC on July 8, 2016. The LUP and RIA are publicly available for review from LPC and have been made a part of the Administrative Record for this EA. 1.9 Scoping, Public Involvement, and Issues The CEQ defines scoping as "an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying the significant issues related to a Proposed Action alternative" (40 CFR 1501.7). Scoping is the process by which the BLM and the OSMRE solicits internal and external input on the issues, impacts,and potential alternatives that will be addressed in the NEPA document. For the BLM's and OSMRE's NEPA analysis, an "issue"is a point of concern, identified through scoping, of a real or perceived anticipated environmental effect associated with the Proposed Action. Scoping for this EA was conducted on several levels: 1. Internal scoping with resource specialists from the BLM/TRFO and the OSMRE in 2017. 2. External scoping completed by BLM specifically for this EA in 2012. 3. External scoping completed by OSMRE as part of their annual oversight program in 2015. 4. External scoping completed by LPC as part of their Land Use compatibility review and formation of a Citizen's Advisory Panel for the GCC Class II Land Use Permit Application from 2012-2016. 5. External supplemental scoping completed in February 2017 by the OSMRE and the BLM. 1.9.1 Internal Scoping BLM and OSMRE (2017) Issues identified by the resource specialists with the BLM and the OSMRE during internal scoping included air quality impacts, climate change,hydrologic connectivity of the mine to nearby water wells and ephemeral drainages, as well as how to coordinate traffic and transportation issues related to coal transport with LPC. 1.9.2 External BLM Scoping (2012) As outlined in the BLM NEPA Handbook, it is optional for the BLM to conduct external scoping on actions analyzed by an EA (BLM 2008, Section 6.3.2).While optional for an EA,the BLM conducted external scoping on November 23,2012,by sending scoping letters to adjacent landowners and to other DOI-BLM-CO-S010-2011-0074-EA September 2017 -25-