GENERAL55525

• Permit No: M1983194
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 2/28/1990
• Doc Name: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT WOLF RIDGE CORP MINE PLAN FOR A NAHCOLITE SOLUTION MINE
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

1. PURPOSE AND NEED
1.1 Purpose and Need for the
Proposed Action
Piceance Basin. It is also consistent with state policy and
local land use goals for this area.
Wolf Ridge Corporation (WRC) has submitted a mine
plan to the Bureau of land Managertient pursuant to federal
regulation 43 CFR 3570. This mine plan proposes
construction and operation of a commercial-scale nahcolite
solution mine that will produce a maximum of 125,000
tons per year (tpy) of sodium bicarbonate over a 30-year
period. The proposal is for asite-specific mining operation
initially producing 50,000 tpy, with escalation in the second
or third year to 125,000 tpy. WR(:'s four sodium leases
total approximately 8,222 acres and are located within the
Piceance Basin in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. Please see
Map I-1 for the general location of the sodium project
area within the Piceance Basin Planning Area.
The product, sodium bicarbonatt; would be produced
by mining nahcoli[e (naturally occurring sodium bicarbo-
note). Curtently, all sodium bicarbtmate produced in the
world is synthetically manufactured. WRC officials believe
that they can produce the lowest cost sodium bicarbonate
through solution mining; thus, they could easily penetrate
the existing U.S. market, which utilizes approximately
380,000 tons per year.
1.2 Proposed Action
WRC's proposed action involves construction and
operation of a commercial-scale solution mine to produce
nahcolite at a maximum rate of 125,000 tpy over a 30-
year period. The proposal involves phased-approach
development, with initial production of 50,000 tpy increasing
in the second or third year of operation to 125,000 tpy.
The proposed project includes a well Field for in situ
solution mining of nahcolite; a handling and processing plant;
evaporation ponds; and associated transportation, access, and
support facilities, including natural gt~s and water pipelines,
access roads, and astorage/rail-loading facility at Lacy
Station railhead in Rifle, Colorado.
According to WRC's current schedule, site construction
would begin in early 1987, with the fir,;t production occurring
in the second quarter of 1988.
For a detailed description of W RC's proposal, please refer
to the narrative on the Proposed Action in Chapter 2,
Description o(the Alternatives.
The Proposed Action is in conformance with the current
Management Framework Plan for the While River Resource
Area and the proposed Resource Management Plan For the
1.3 Initiation and Purpose of the EIS
On October 9, 1984, WRC submitted a mine plan to
BLM for acommercial-scale nahcolite solution mine on
Federal sodium leases it holds in Piceance Basin. Initial
internal screening of the mine plan indicated that it
represented a major federal action with the potential (or
significant impacts; therefore, pursuant to Section 102 of
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA),
BLM determined that an EIS would be required in
conjunction with approval of W RC's commercial-scale mine
plan.
The purpose of this EIS is to analyze and define the
potential environmental and socioeconomic effects of
implementing the Proposed Action and a range of reasonable
altematives. In addition, the EIS is intended to identify
necessary mitigation and special stipulations that would be
incorporated into [he approved plan.
1.4 Summary of Scoping Process and
Issues
Pursuant to federal regulation 40 CFR 1501.7, the Scoping
process involves defining significant environmental and
socioeconomic issues that may result from approval of the
Proposed Action. In addition, Scoping helps define a range
of reasonable altematives to be analyzed along with the
Proposed Action in the EIS.
The Scoping process has been formal through a 30-0ay
written comment period and through public meetings held
in Meeker on June 18 and Grand Junction, Colorado, on
June 19, 1985. This formal swping period was initiated
on May 31, 1985, when BLM filed a Notice of Intent in
the Federa/ Regisrer to prepare an EIS and to hold public
Scoping meetings. Formal Scoping ended on July 1, 1985.
Informal Scoping was initiated before formal Scoping. This
involved intemal review of WRC's mine plan (Proposed
Action) and direct contact by the lead BLM office with
other BLM offices, other agencies, state and local government
offices, and private individuals.
As a result of both informal and formal Scoping, a range
of reasonable alternatives was developed and major issues
identified for analysis in this EIS. For a description and