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1 <br />' CHAPTERTWO Proposed Action and Alternatives <br />' Commercial Mine Plan. American Soda would post a reclamation bond with the BLM to ensure <br />that BLM lands would be effectively reclaimed at appropriate intervals throughout the life of the <br />project to meet post-mining land use goals. In particulaz, reclamation would be oriented toward <br />the reestablishment of winter deer habitat. The CDMG would likely require additional bonding <br />for other related disturbance as a condition of its Section 112 Reclamation Permit, and the EPA <br />would require bonding for the plugging and abandonment of the solution mining wells. <br />American Soda would negotiate compensation and reclamation requirements with individual <br />landowners for disturbance on private lands. <br />American Soda has developed detailed reclamation and revegetation plans for the Yankee Gulch <br />' Project ground disturbing activities, including the well field, surface facilities, access roads, <br />utility corridors, and the product pipeline condor. Best management practices for soil <br />conservation and erosion control during project construction and operation aze provided in the <br />documents and aze summarized in Appendix A. American Soda is consulting with the BLM [o <br />finalize the reclamation plans. <br />' 2.2.7.1 Well Plugging and Abandonment Procedure <br />' Individual solution mining wells would be plugged and abandoned upon retirement. Plugging <br />and abandonment would take place once it has been determined that there would be no potential <br />further use of a well, either for mining, testing, monitoring, or other purpose. Final <br />' specifications for plugging and abandonment would be developed in consultation with the BLM, <br />CDMG, and EPA. The following is a description of the anticipated plugging and abandonment <br />procedure to be used for the commercial solution mining wells. <br />' Immediately prior to plugging and abandoning, the tubing system would be removed from the <br />intermediate casing. The intermediate casing would be left in the hole permanently. A cast iron <br />bridge plug (CIBP) would be set inside the bottom of the intermediate casing, and a cement plug <br />extending vertically for approximately 25 to 50 feet would be set immediately above the CIBP. <br />If it is not possible to run a CIBP inside the intermediate casing due to wellbore irregularities, a <br />cement basket would be run in the hole to establish a 50- to 100-foot cement plug at the bottom <br />of the intermediate casing. American Soda would tag the bottom plug if required by the BLM. <br />Both the surface and intermediate casings would be cut down to 1 to 3 feet below ground level. <br />A 50-foot cement plug to surface would be established at the top of the intermediate casing. <br />Both the lower and surface cement plugs would be set using one or more of the approved <br />methods described in 40 CFR 146.10 or 43 CFR 3164.1 (Onshore Oil and Gas Orders). The <br />number of sacks requtred to create plugs of the required vertical length would be calculated <br />based on the intermediate casing diameter. Bentonitic gel would be run in the hole between the <br />' surface and bottom plugs. <br />The dry hole mazker would consist of a steel cap welded to the top of the conductor and surface <br />casing and buried below ground level. This dry hole mazker would have the name of the <br />operator, the well number, the lease number, and the legal description (township, range, section, <br />and quarter-quarter section) welded on the surface. Surface facilities associated with the various <br />wells would be removed, and the well pads would be reclaimed as described in Section 2.2.7.2. <br />2-25 <br />