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,6-27-7599 7:05PM FRC~GIHCMI ASSOCIATES 303 d36 93~ P. 17 GIHON •EFFERT ~.~:. A nEYS AT I,A6' Mr. Chuck Williams Page 10 June 21, 1999 - II. EPA MUST PREPARE AN SEIS BEFORE ISSUING THE UIC PERMIT. "Preparation of [supplemental environmental impact] statements ... is at times necessary to satisfy [NEPA's] 'action-forcing' purpose." Marsh, 490 U.S. at 371. EPA cannot simply restore the "blinders to adverse environmental effects ...prior to completion of agency action simply because the relevant proposal has received initial approval." ]d. Under the CEQ regulations, an agency must prepare a supplement to either a DEIS or a final EIS if "[t]here are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts." 40 C.F.R. § 1502.9. This supplementation requirement means that agencies must "take a 'hard look' at the em•ironmenta] effects of their planned action, even afur a proposal has receiued initial approval." Marsh, 490 U.S. at 374. The agency must make "a reasoned decision based on its evaluation of the significance--0r lack of significance-of the new information." Id, at 378. Thus, an SEIS must be prepared "[i)f there remains major Federal actio[n]' to occur, and if the new information is sufficient to show that the remaining action will 'affec[t] the quality of the human environment' in a significant manner or to a significant extent not already considered." Id. at 374. Since the issuance of the BLM's DEIS, significant new inforration relevant to the environmental concerns regarding the impact of the Yankee Gulch project has or will come to light. New information particularly significant to the issuance of the UIC permit is that American Soda nray have conveniently selected ground water qualify data that indicated that the quality was worse than reality. This ground water quality information was sitilized by BLM in describing baseline conditiorts and in evaluating the environmental impacts of the project. Additionally, following the close of the comments period on the DEIS, the Commercial Mine Plan for the proposed project, American Soda's Subsidence Monitoring Plan, and American Soda's Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring Plan all have been released to the public. The DE1S also indicated that American Soda must prepare a Well Failure Response Plan, see DEIS at 4.16, and a Pipeline Spill Plan, see id. at 4-112, before commencing operations. These plans have not been released to the public, even though they are vita] ro an assessment of the potential environmental impacts of the Yankee Gulch project. Each of these items presents new information regarding the adequacy of the baseline data and assessment of environmental impacts in the DEIS. A. Concerns Rearding Accuracy of Ground Water Data in DEIS. In a letter dated March 5, 1999 and included in the administrative record for this permit process, the Rio 131anco County beparement of Development expressed concern to EPA that American Suda and/or its consultants had selectively chosen ground water data fur use in 10