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<br />Colorado HLRD enforces the state and federal environmental performance <br />standards and permit requirements during the mine's operation and has <br />primary authority in environmental emergencies. OSHRE oversees this <br />enforcement. BLH has authority in emergencies where Colorado HLRD or <br />OSHRE inspectors cannot act before significant environmental harm or <br />damage occurs. <br />Interrelationship With Other Proiects <br />Western Fuels Deserado Coal Hine surface facilities are located about 1 <br />1/2 miles west of the bypass lease application area. The underground mine <br />lies immediately to the west and adjacent to the lease application tract. <br />This mine is expected to produce approximately 1.2 million tons of coal <br />per year and is the fuel supply portion of the Bonanza Power Plant <br />Project. The Deserado Hine is an ongoing operation with a reserve base <br />sufficient for production until approximately the year 2010. Impacts <br />resulting from mining operations, surface facilities, and railroad routes <br />were addressed in the April 1981 Final Environmental Impact Statement on <br />the Hoon Lake Power Plant Project, Units One and Two. <br />Total surface disturbance associated with the Deserado Hine will be about <br />900 acres by 1995, and will reach a maximum of 1,000 acres by 2005. Water <br />use for the mine is 367 acre-feet/year, derived from four alluvial wells <br />drilled adjacent to the White River. <br />A major assumption put forth in regards to oil shale is that none of the <br />considered oil shale projects will be commercially producing shale oil at <br />a sustained rate, until the year 2000. This is based primarily upon <br />current and projected economics in the world oil market, in addition to <br />necessary capital costs and lead time for project development, if <br />conditions were to become favorable for commercial shale oil. <br />Oil and gas production and development has slowed in the region, resulting <br />in only 6 to 11 wells being drilled annually at depths ranging from 4,000 <br />to 20,000 feet. <br />Wolf Ridge Corporation (WRC) has proposed construction and operation of a <br />commercial scale nahcolite solution mine to produce sodium bicarbonate at <br />a maximum rate of 125,000 tons per year over a 30-year period. This <br />proposal is located approximately 22 miles south and east of the Emergency <br />Bypass Lease application area. The WRC proposal and three alternatives <br />were analyzed in a draft environmental impact statement published in July <br />1986. <br />II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ALTERNATIVES _ .__ <br />Two alternatives have been considered for analysis in the Environmental <br />Assessment: Proposed Action and No Action. A detailed discussion of the <br />alternatives follows. <br />The proposed action has been selected as the preferred alternative for this <br />action. <br /> <br />3 <br />