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ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT <br /> CHAPTER 1 PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION <br /> 1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND <br /> GCC Energy, LLC(GCCE), a subsidiary of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), operates the King II Mine, <br /> an underground coal mine located in La Plata County(LPC) in southwestern Colorado (Appendix A, Figure <br /> 1-1) approximately 6 miles west southwest of Hesperus, Colorado and about 14 miles west of Durango, <br /> Colorado. <br /> The King II Mine is a room-and-pillar coal mine utilizing the continuous mining method to mine federal <br /> coal from federal coal lease COC-62920. The coal from the King II Mine is primarily used as an energy <br /> source for GCC-owned cement plants located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,Texas, and Mexico. <br /> On January 10, 2018, GCCE submitted a Lease by Application (LBA)for a proposed new federal coal lease, <br /> COC-78825, to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office, pursuant to regulations at <br /> 43 C.F.R. § 3425. The proposed new lease would contain approximately 2,462 acres located adjacent to <br /> and immediately northwest of the King II Mine and existing federal coal lease COC-62920 (Appendix A, <br /> Figure 1-2).The proposed lease area consists of federal coal beneath surface estate predominantly owned <br /> by the Ute Mountain Ute (UMU)Tribe, along with a smaller amount of other private surface owners and <br /> BLM-administered surface estate. GCCE proposes to access the federal coal reserve within the proposed <br /> LBA area from the King II Mine using underground mining methods from the King II Mine.About 204 acres <br /> of non-federal coal would be mined beneath about 479 acres of UMU Tribe owned surface during <br /> development of access into the new federal coal reserve. <br /> The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 requires federal agencies to make informed <br /> decisions that consider potential environmental impacts of proposed actions and to engage the public in <br /> the review of the environmental analysis prior to finalizing the decision. This environmental assessment <br /> (EA) has been jointly prepared by the BLM Tres Rios Field Office (TRFO) and the Office of Surface Mining, <br /> Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE), Western Region Office (OSMRE) to fulfill the requirements of <br /> NEPA. The EA analyzes the potential effects on the human and natural environment of: 1) issuing a new <br /> federal coal lease for the proposed Dunn Ranch Area LBA; and 2) the proposed modification and permit <br /> revision to GCCE's approved mining plan for underground mining in the new proposed federal lease, in <br /> the event that GCCE is issued the lease. If OSMRE and/or BLM determine that this project would have <br /> significant effects following the analysis in the EA, then an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would <br /> be prepared for the project. If the potential effects are not determined to be "significant", a "Finding of <br /> No Significant Impact" (FONSI) statement would document the reason(s) why implementation of the <br /> selected alternative would not result in significant environmental effects. <br /> Three EAs have been completed for the King II Mine that provide relevant information and analysis for <br /> this EA(Table 1-1). <br /> Dunn Ranch Area Coal Lease by Application COC-78825 and Mine Plan Modification EA 1 1 <br />