2020-06-25_REVISION - C1981035 (35)

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Environmental Assessment 2.3.1 Leasing and Mining Alternatives The original submission for the lease modification submitted to the BLM in March 2012 included a Tract C that was removed by GCC in October 2014 because timing and coal quality issues would make it inaccessible from the active workings of the King II Mine. GCC requested that Tract A be modified to include additional acreage to replace the acreage removed. The result was the final lease modification being evaluated in this EA. Potential alternative methods for mining the coal reserves in the lease modification area identified by GCC were either determined to be technologically unsuited to the topography and character of the coal seam (as underground long-wall mining requires significantly wide deposits [0.25 to 1.0 mile] of nearly uniform coal seams of a given height and character), or would result in significantly greater environmental disturbance (including open pit,contour, or other surface mining methods). 2.3.2 Coal Transportation Alternatives Alternative coal transport options have been considered and analyzed by the BLM and the OSMRE and by the cooperating agencies—particularly LPC—since July 2012 when GCC submitted a Class II LUP application to LPC. During this time,there was also substantial input from GCC,the public, and a variety of expert witnesses as the LPC Planning process presented a platform for the exchange of ideas and debate. In 2014 Roadrunner Engineering, LLC,under contract to GCC,prepared a TIA. The TIA was an integral part of the LPC planning process and was revised/updated in July 2015 and again in November 2015 as directed by LPC or was necessary to respond to new information presented by the public during the LPC LUP review process. The TIA evaluated baseline traffic values and projected traffic volumes 20 years into the future using LPC data. The TIA also evaluated project area accident records,traffic volumes and loading, speed limits and sight distances,design criteria, and included an assessment of alternative haul road option assessment. The TIA is publicly available on the LPC Planning Department website under the GCC Energy Project link at: http://Ipccds.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_1323669/File /La%20Plata%20Coun1y's%20Communi1y%20Development%20 Service s%20Department%20Migration/ Planning/Oil%20and%20Gas/GCC%20Energy%20Proj ect/1%20-%20GCC%20Energy%20Kin% %20TIA%20-Final%20151119.pdf. The TIA performed an assessment of eight different haul route options to move coal product from the mine to SH 140. In addition to the transportation alternatives evaluated in the TIA and considered by LPC,there were variations of the TIA alternatives and new alternatives presented by the public and/or via expert testimony that frame the consideration of alternative coal transportation in this EA. These transportation alternatives, listed in Table 2-6,were the focus of 4 years of detailed LPC Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners evaluation whereas 96 technical and/or communication exhibits were generated throughout the public participation and decision-making process. DOI-BLM-CO-S010-2011-0074-EA September 2017 -51-