2008-06-12_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1980007 (3)

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underground development and production of federal coal reserves, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including terms and conditions for protecting non-coal resources. 'The lands for which consent to lease is being given are shown on the map attached as Exhibit 1. My consent decision includes conditions for the protection of non-coal resources as listed in the Coal Lease Stipulations in Appendix A of this document. These stipulations will be included on the federal coal lease, along with the Notice for Lands under the Jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the BLM Standard Lease Terms. The approved Coal Lease Stipulations are derived from restrictions developed from the Coil Unsuitability Analysis Report (EIS, Appendix A) the environmental consequences analysis in the EIS (Chapter 3), and recommendations from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in their Biological Opinion (see Section D). The Stipulations are consistent with those attached to other coal ]eases in the area, and also contain some stipulations for protecting site-specific resources based on the outcome of the environmental analysis. It must also be noted that this consent decision by the USDA-FS to the USDI-BLM to lease these lands, is not the final decision. The USDI- BLM will make the actual decision on whether or not to offer these lands for lease. To that end, my decision will be implemented through issuance of this Record of Decision (ROD), and through the federal coal leasing and permitting process described in Section 1.3 of the EIS. In brief, if BLM decides to offer the tract for lease, then the Dry Fork LBA tract will be offered at a competitive lease sale. The successful bidder (if any) at the lease sale will then be required to incorporate the lands in the lease into a coal mining permit approved by the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology with oversight from the OSM. The Forest Service has a S consent and concurrence role during the mine permitting process. Because the Dry Fork LBA contains federal lands and minerals, the mine permitting action may ultimately require approval from the Undersecretary of Interior for Lands and Minerals. The lessee will also be required to secure any additional Local, State or Federal permits as applicable and required by law (EIS, Appendix D). In the event of any contradiction or conflict between descriptions or depictions of authorized actions, my decision is to be taken from the project documents in the following order of' precedence: first the description in this ROD, second the representations on the Decision Map and legal descriptions (Exhibit 1.), third the representation in Appendix A of this ROD, and finally descriptions in the EIS. When compared to the other alternatives, the selected alternative will allow for the most recovery of federal coal reserves, and will help mect the nations need for energy resources and availability Of Clean Air Act compliant coal resources. The selected alternative best meets the purpose and neecl to lease additional federal coal reserves for economic production. This alternative fulfills the Federal government's ongoing policy for mineral resource management to "roster and encourage private enterprise in the development of economically sound and stable domestic mining minerals and mineral reclamation industries, ... (and) the orderly and economic development cif domestic mineral resources..." The selection of this alternative also satisfies the Forest Service minerals program objective to ensure that production of cner??y resources are conducted in environmentally sensitive ways. This alternative vvith inclusion of Coal Lease Stipulations to protect the non-coal resources allows for economic development of domestic mineral resources while. safeguarding the scnface resources. To the best of my knovvkdpe. ull