2020-10-27_PERMIT FILE - C1981035 (20)

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Biological Assessment Federal Coal Lease Modification(COC-62920)and Federal Mine Permit(CO-0106A)Revision and Renewal 3. Project and Action Areas The Proposed Action is located 13 miles west of Durango, in La Plata County, Colorado in Section 36, Township 35, Range 12, NMPM. The existing lease and lease modification occur adjacent to and just north of CR 120 in Hay Gulch, approximately 6.5 miles west of Colorado SH 140 (Appendix A, Maps A-1 and A-2). The Action Area(AA)is defined as all areas that may be affected directly or indirectly by the federal action (50 § CFR 402.02), and not merely the immediate area involved in the action. It encompasses the geographic extent of environmental changes (i.e., the physical, chemical, and biotic effects) that would result directly and indirectly from the action. Direct effects are caused by the action, and occur at the same time and place as the action. Indirect effects are those caused by or resulting from the action, and are later in time, but still reasonably certain to occur. Map A-3 in Appendix A depicts the analyzed AA associated with the anticipated direct and indirect impacts of King II mine operations and the associated road improvements along CR 120. The AA includes an approximately 2-mile buffer around the existing mine facilities, around the proposed lease modification area, and along CR 120 to SH 140. The 2-mile buffer is established based on possible noise, traffic, human activity, and dust generated by development of the Proposed Action. Also analyzed in this BA is the combustion of King 11-produced coal where the end use of the coal is consistent and known. Combustion of coal in the cement-manufacturing process releases sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide. Of these contaminants, mercury is of greatest concern for endangered fish and is discussed further in Section 6, Effects Analysis of this BA. The indirect impacts of coal combustion, and specifically releases of mercury to receiving waters with federally listed fish present, resulted in the extension of AAs around the GCC-owned cement plants in Pueblo, Colorado and Tij eras, New Mexico (Appendix A, Map A-4)to include the receiving waters nearest to those facilities with a listed fish species potentially present. The GCC Tij eras Cement Plant is approximately 15 miles east of the Rio Grande, where the federally threatened Rio Grande silvery minnow is known to occur and designated critical habitat for the species is also present. The nearest known occurrence of a sensitive aquatic species to the GCC Pueblo Cement Plant is 30 miles southwest in the San Isabela National Forest where the federally endangered greenback cutthroat trout is known to occur in Little Graneros Creek and Apache Creek. In addition to the GCC-owned cement plant emissions, small amounts of King 11 coal is burned by the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (DSNGRR) and by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Chama, New Mexico. These two mobile emission sources release very small amounts of mercury (less than 0.25 pound per year)that are described in Section 6, Effects Analysis of this BA. These emission sources are so small that an AA cannot reasonably be established to measure or predict the potential contribution to background concentrations of July 2017 10