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The locations of the NFS lands for which consent to lease are given appear on Map 1. <br />My consent decision rs conditioned on application of dte Coa] Lease Stipulations for the National Forest System <br />Lands in COC-67011 (West Flatiron Federal Coal Lease Tract) included in this document as Appendix A, as <br />modified by the Forest Service Interdisciplinary Team after review of public comments. The approved Coal Lease <br />Stipulations are derived firm the EA (Chapter 3} and from restrictions developed from the Unsuitability Analysis <br />Report (EA, Appendix A). The Stipulations are consistent with stipulations attached to other coal leases in the azea, <br />and also contain some stipulations for protecting site-specific resources. Both major and minor changes were made <br />to the nutigation measures as a result of IDT discussion, public comment, and tailoring to the recommended <br />decision. <br />This decision will be implemented through issuance of this Decision Notice (DN), BLM issuing a decision to lease <br />and offering the lease tract for sale, and the Forest Service providing concurrence to a mining and reclamation plan <br />approved through [he Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology and OSM process (EA, Section 1.3). The lessee <br />will be required to secure any additional Local, State or Federal permits as applicable and required by law. <br />In the event of any contradiction or conflict between descriptions or depictions of authorized actions, my decision is <br />to be taken from the project documents in the following order of precedence: first the description in this DN, second <br />the representations on the Decision Map, third the representation in Appendix A of this DN, and finally descriptions <br />in the EA. <br />The BLM, Colorado Slate Duector will make a separate decision for leasing the BLM public lands and the coal <br />reserves in the LBA area. It must also be noted that this consent decision by the USDA-FS to [he USDI-BLM to <br />lease these lands, is not the final decision. The USDI-BLM will make the actual decision on whether or not to offer <br />these ]ands for lease (See also Section VIII of this document). <br />• III. REASONS FOR THE DECISION <br />Applicable Laws, Regulations, and Policy <br />This decision is consistent with applicable taws, regulations, and policies (refer to Section VII of this document and <br />EA, Section 1.3). <br />How Issues Were Considered <br />The general issue of concem is the potential for subsidence to impact sm~face resources. This overarching concern <br />was described in the Issues (EA, Section 2.3.1) [hat were analyzed in die EA. Potential impacts will be mitigated or <br />reduced to a very low level by the application of the revised Coal Lease Stipulations, displayed in Appendix A of <br />this document. <br />Other' concerns raised focused on the potential for future surface disturbance to affect the roadless character of the <br />area, and suggested implementing a no surface occupancy stipulation for the lease. The West Flatiron federal cog] <br />lease tract lies within the West Elk Inventoried Roadless Atea (IRA). The EA analyzed this potential for coal leasing <br />to alter the roadless character of the IRA (EA, Section 3.7). The roadless character of the West Elk IRA was <br />evaluated during the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE) I and II in the 1970s. The portion of the IRA in <br />which the Wes[ Flatiron lease tract is located was not recommended for wilderness designation, or identified as a <br />°further planning area". The Colorado Wilderness Act of 1980 released the portions of the West Elk IRA not having <br />been added to the West Elk Wilderness and all other GMUG NFS lands for non-wildemess management. The area <br />in which the West Flatiron lease tract lies is designated in [Ite Forest Plan for primary management focus on <br />livestock grazing and riparian area management (EA, Section 1.4.1). The West Elk IRA was also evaluated for <br />roadless chazacter in the GMUG Oil and Gas Leasing Environmental Impact Statement (1993). The associated <br />Record of Decision states that the portion of the West Elk IRA west of Coal Creek (Coal Creek lies about 3 miles <br />east for the West Flatiron lease tract) has existing coal leases, and that exploration activities and existing roads have <br />compromised roadless character values. <br />Page 3 <br />