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• 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1 OPERATOR AND RESOURCE OWNERSHIP This commercial mine plan for the Yankee Gulch Sodium Minerals Project (Yankee Gulch Project) is being submitted by American Soda, L.L.P. (American Soda), 710 Cooper Avenue, P.O. Box 2070, Glenwood Springs, CO 81602 to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) pursuant to 43 CFR 3592. The commercial mine plan proposes a mining operation involving development of vertical solution mining wells for the extrartion of bedded and disseminated nahcolite. The proposed development of the Yankee Gulch Project commercial mining operations would occur on the Yankee Gulch Joint Venture Leases (the Piceance Site), which are located in the BLM's White River Resource Area near Meeker, Colorado, and are controlled by American Soda. Associated processing facilities would be located in the Parachute Creek valley near Parachute, Colorado (the Parachute Site). The preferred Parachute Creek Site is an existing industrial site at the former Unocal Shale Oil Upgrade Facility. The two sites would be connected by a 44-mile-long pipeline corridor, which would contain a product pipeline running from the Piceance Site to the Parachute Site and a parallel return water pipeline running from the Parachute Site to the Piceance Site. • American Soda holds the Yankee Gulch Joint Venture Leases (U.S. Sodium Lease Nos. C-0118328 and C-0118329) for the purpose of developing the sodium resource and, as such, has the right to develop the leases for maximum recovery of sodium. The entire Piceance Site and most of the northern part of the project pipeline corridor are located on BLM lands. Mitigation and enhancement measures offered by American Soda and additional conditions and stipulations developed by the BLM will ensure that project activities carried out on BLM land are consistent with the White River Resource Area Approved Resource Management Plan (July 1997). The southern part of the project pipeline corridor and the Parachute Site would be located on private property. The preferred Parachute Site consists of an existing, inactive industrial facility. Project activities carried out in these areas will be consistent with existing industrial land uses and local zoning requirements. 1.2 PROJECT LOCATION A map of the regional setting of the Yankee Gulch Project, including the Piceance Site, the Parachute Site, and the intervening pipeline route is provided in Figure 1- 1. The Piceance Site is located within the BLM White River Resource Area and is contained within Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, and 29 of Township 1 • South, Range 97 West of the Sixth Prime Meridian (PM), Rio Blanco County, Colorado. It is approximately 63 miles north-northeast of Grand Junction, 22 miles American Soda, L.L.P. 1-1 Commercial Mme Plan August 16, 1998