2020-10-27_PERMIT FILE - C1981035 ‎(23)‎

• Permit No: C1981035
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 10/27/2020
• Section_Exhibit Name: KII Appendix 15 E.A. Dunn Ranch LBA
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Action Description Past Present Reasonably
Foreseeable
Oil & Gas The impacts of oil and gas developments, as well X X X
Development as other resource management actions, were
addressed in the TRFO 2015 RMP/FEIS based on
a reasonably foreseeable development(RFD)
scenario of approximately 2,950 new wells in the
next 15 years. Only 32 new wells have been
approved in the three years since the 2015 RMP
was signed.This represents an average of 0.7
new wells every month,which is only 4 percent
of the RFD's predicted monthly average.
Agricultural and The continuation of agricultural activities on X X X
Livestock Grazing private lands and livestock grazing on private
and federal lands are expected.
Residential Dispersed development would likely continue in X X X
Development Hay Gulch and adjacent areas of La Plata and
Montezuma counties. According to a 2015
Regional Housing Alliance (Iverson 2015) study,
LPC is projected to grow 52 percent over the
next twenty years,generating demand for an
additional 15,700 housing units.That equates to
about 2 percent population growth per year.
Recreation Recreational activities on the private lands are X X X
expected to continue.
CEQ has further advised that "[t]here may be instances when the timeframe of the Project-specific
analysis will need to be expanded to encompass cumulative effects occurring further into the future"
(CEQ,Considering Cumulative Effects Underthe National Environmental Policy Act,January 1997). Forthis
action, the temporal scope of analysis, as well as the geographic scope of cumulative analysis for each
resource, also known as the Cumulative Impacts Analysis Area (CIAA), both depend upon the affected
resource and the extent to which there is a combined effect from the various actions. Consequently,the
CIAA and the duration of the combined effects are described in relation to each relevant resource or group
of resources.
3.2 OVERVIEW OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT
The terrain of the affected area is varied, with lands to the west dominated by mesas and canyons of the
Colorado Plateau and the remaining lands dominated by mountains,foothills, and river valleys of the San
Juan Mountains.The Project Area contains the following habitat/landscape features; rolling pinon-juniper
woodlands along the edges of Hay Gulch Canyon; bottomlands are characterized by irrigated and non-
irrigated pasture lands; there are small areas (less than 0.25 acre) of riparian vegetation along edges of
irrigation channels and numerous gulches; deep, steep canyons that contain patches of Ponderosa pine
and mature spruce-fir woodlands occur throughout the Project Area.
Dunn Ranch Area Coal Lease by Application COC-78825 and Mine Plan Modification EA 3-2