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<br />CNAPTERTWO <br />Proposed Action and ARernatiues <br />2.2 PROPOSED ACTION <br />The Proposed Action includes development and operation of three major components: 1) a <br />solution mining well field and initial processing facilities referred to as the Piceance Site; 2) final <br />processing facilities located at the Pazachute Site; and 3) a pair of approximate]} 43.4-mile-long <br />pazallel pipelines to transport sodium cazbonate/sodium bicazbonate solutions from the Piceance <br />Site to the Pazachute Site and to transport process retain water and additional make-up water <br />from the Pazachute Site to the solution mining wells at the Piceance Site (Figure 2-la through <br />2-lh). Table 2-1 provides an overview of the major components of the Proposed Action. Table <br />2-2 shows the sources and extent of projected disturbance for each of the three major components <br />of the Yankee Gulch Project as proposed. Following is a summary description of each project <br />component; additional construction and mining details can be found in American Soda's <br />Commercial Mine Plan for the Yankee Gulch Project (Steigers 1998). America~t Soda's <br />proposed monitoring, site protection, and reclamation plans aze discussed at the end of this <br />section. <br />In general, solution mining of bedded and disseminated nahcolite deposits at the Piceance Site <br />would be accomplished by injecting pressurized hot water into wells approximately 2,000 feet <br />deep. The recovered sodium bicarbonate solutions would initially be processed at the Piceance <br />Site into predominantly sodium cazbonate (soda ash) solutions. The solution would be <br />transported via the product pipeline to the final processing operations at the Parachute Site, <br />where the sodium solutions would be further processed to produce commercial-€~ade sodium <br />bicarbonate and soda ash. Bulk products would be transported by a dedicated rail spur to an <br />interstate rail connection at the town of Pazachute, and packaged sodium bicarbonate would be <br />shipped by truck from the Pazachute Site. <br />2.2.1 Piceance Site <br />The Piceance Site would include facilities related to extracting sodium bicazbonate solution from <br />a series of solution mining wells and would also house initial processing facilities to prepare and <br />concentrate the solutions prior to pipeline transportation to the Pazachute Site for final <br />processing. <br />The Piceance Site would support the following project features: <br />Well field -The solution mining well field would include solution production wells, various <br />groundwater monitoring wells, utilities, and associated facilities. A network ofabove-ground <br />pipelines would transport unprocessed brine from the active solution mining wells to the <br />initial processing plant, and a system of access roads would serve the site. <br />Processingplant -The initial processing plant area would include a process t~uilding, an <br />evaporation pond, storage buildings, an administration and laboratory building, and other <br />associated facilities. <br />Of the 1,030 acres, it is anticipated that development of the Piceance Site, as described, would <br />result in the total incremental disturbance of approximately 555.2 acres of surface lands over 30 <br />years of mining operations (483 acres within the mine panels and 72.2 acres for associated <br />facilities). Refer to Table 2-2. <br />2-2 <br />