APPCOR13104

• Permit No: C1981071
• IBM Index Class Name: Application Correspondence
• Doc Date: 2/22/1980
• Doc Name: ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• skunks, waterfowl, grouse, amphibians, and reptiles. Two active golden eagle
nests are located on sandstone cliffs less than 1 mile from the permit area.
No threatened or endangered species have been identified on the mine plan
area.
The area adjacent to the permit area (0.25 mile from permit area) is a
critical habitat for sage gouse (strutting ground), and the permit area is a
critical winter habitat for 200 elk (figure 3). The permit area is also a
migration corridor for elk moving south to national forest land in the spring
and returning to the lease site in winter. In addition, there are elk calving
grounds on the lease site and in two additional areas (adjacent to the site
and 2 miles southeast of the site).
Two crushing and loadout facilities are associated with Energy Mines 1 and 2.
Both facilities are located alongside the 12-mile rail spur of the Denver and
Rio Grande Western Railroad. Since 1974, tipple 1 has been used as a standby
facility only, and tipple 2 has been used exclusively for Energy Mines 1 and
2. The tipple 2 complex consists of a dump point for haul trucks, a small raw
coal surge stockpile, and a primary and secondary crushing unit. From the
secondary crusher, coal is transported by an enclosed belt conveyor to the
overhead stacking tube where it is dumped onto the 100,000-ton open stockpile.
The coal is flood loaded onto unit trains from a tunnel facility under the
stockpile.
The company employs 465 workers, making it the largest year-round employer in
• Routt County. Employees live Sn Craig (pop. 10,000), Hayden (pop. 2,000),
Steamboat Springs (pop. 6,000), Oak Creek (pop. 1,200), and Yampa (pop. 350).
Energy Fuels plane to shift workers and equipment employed in the present
mining operation to the proposed expansion area as mining progresses to the
new area; consequently, no additional employees or equipment will be required.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The following information is condensed from environmental impact
analyses reported in OSMs technical analysis (Feb. 1980); the applicant's
mine plan (Sept. 1979); BLMs Northwest Colorado Coal regional and site-
specific EIS (FES 77-1, Jan. 1977 and supplemental environmental report
(Dec. 1978); and BLMa environmental assessment report, "Short-term Coal
Lease Application (C-22644, C-26913, C-2267) Routt County, Colorado"
(Jan. 1979).
Air Quality
Energy Fuels is operating presently under air pollution control permits issued
by the Colorado Department of Health, Air Pollution Control Division. In
addition, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a
conditional Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for the lease
area based on a mining limit of 4 million tons per year.
•
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