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Coal Met/faxe Drainage Project - Paxe4 16-24 Wut Elk Mixe • Pagc 2-3 more than doubled, lazgely due to human-related, or anthropogenic, activities. Coat mines release methane, as do other human activities like landfills, natural gas production and transportation systems, and livestock operations. Global warming refers to the increase in the earth's atmospheric temperature. Observations show that the earth's average temperature has risen 0.8-1.0° F in the last century, and scientists predict that it will continue to rise as human activities produce greater quantities of greenhouse gases. These gases trap heat by preventing it Erom radiating out of the atmosphere. If the trend towazd increased temperatures continues, it will cause climatic changes that could have global, social and economic impacts (www.epa.gov/globalwarminv~. In 1999, U.S. coal mines liberated approximately 19G Bcf (billion cubic Eeet) of methane (www.e a ov/globahvarming). Coal mine methane emissions account for approximately 10 percent of total U.S. methane emissions (Source: U.S. Inventory 1990-1999). Globally, coal mines account for 8 percent of all methane emissions (Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1996). Currently, the mine is releasing 16.5 million cubic feet (mcf) of methane per day. Approximately half of this amount is vented through MDWs. The wells that release this amount were approved through a Decision Notice last summer. The proposal studied in this EA is to construct 70 more methane drainage wells in the next 5 or 6 yeazs, and operate 12 to 18 of them at one time. Liberated methane is expected to vary between ]2 and 20 mcf per day, (73 billion cubic feet per yeaz) depending on the variable gassiness of the strata. Therefore, the West Elk Mine's percent of national coalbed methane emissions would be about 4 percent, depending on fluctuations in the amount of national emissions over the G- to 8-yeaz life of this project. The West Elk Mine's contribution to total U.S. methane emissions would be 0.4 percent. The eazth's climate is predicted to change because human activities aze altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases -primarily cazbon dioxide, methane, and oxides of nitrogen. The heat-trapping properties of these gases is undisputed. Although uncertainty exists about exactly how eazth's climate responds to these gases, global temperatures aze rising. The amount of methane expected to be vented from the West Elk Mine has been quantified. Because of the uncertainty about climate responses to greenhouse gases, however, there is no information or methodology available that could lead the USFS to quantify the global impacts of venting the proposed amount of methane Erom the West Elk Mine. The Council of Environmental Quality regulations provide guidance if the information relevant to reasonable foreseeable adverse impacts cannot be obtained because the overall costs of obtaining it aze exorbitant or the means to obtain it are not known (Title 40 CFR Pazt ] 502.22). The issue of this project's potential effect on global warming is dismissed from further study in this Environmental Assessment. The information relevant to evaluate reasonable foreseeable significant impacts cannot be obtained because the costs aze exorbitant and the means to obtain it aze not known. 1n pazticular: 1) The information needed to quantify the global effects of venting methane from the West Elk Mine is unavailable 2) If this information was available, the West Elk Mine's potential contribution to global warming would be quantified and displayed in this environmental assessment 3) A summary of existing credible evidence concerning global warnung is available on the web at www~a.eov/¢lobahvarming ExviroxmrxtalArr<umcxt IP.IVF/M.ov~fr'G/FiU D..¢VVn}E~ UJFJ f/1/OI aL