Laserfiche WebLink
Request for Hearing on TR-I I I for the West Elk Mine (Permit No. C-1980-0007) Page 2 <br />June 20, 2008 <br />combustion. US Forest Service, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Deer Creek Shaft and E <br />Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project (Aug 2007) at 60 ("West Elk Final EIS"), excerpts <br />attached as Exh. 1. <br />The below named organizations will be adversely affected if the proposed decision is <br />approved. In addition to specific interests described below, members of each of the <br />organizations listed use lands in the vicinity of the West Elk Mine - including the area proposed <br />for the drilling of dozens of methane venting wells and road construction - for hiking, <br />photography, wildlife viewing, and other recreational, aesthetic, and educational purposes and <br />intend to continue to do so. Members of the organizations are also residents of Colorado, <br />consumers of electricity and natural gas in the state, and individuals who are and will be <br />impacted by global warming, which is predicted to impact weather, wildlife, surface water <br />availability, and vegetation on public and private lands used by the groups and their members. <br />Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting <br />clean air for healthy children and healthy communities in Colorado and the surrounding region. <br />Rocky Mountain Clean Action and its more than 100 members depend on clean air for a safe <br />climate, to maintain their health, and to sustain their quality of life. <br />Colorado Wild is a non-profit environmental conservation organization based in <br />Durango, Colorado whose primary interests and goals are the protection and restoration of <br />forested wildlife habitat throughout the Southern Rocky Mountains, including the GMUG <br />National Forest. Colorado Wild's more than 800 members have a great interest in the <br />management of the GMUG National Forest for this reason. <br />Our specific concerns with the proposed decision are discussed briefly below. <br />1. The USFS's E Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project Environmental Impact <br />Statement and Record of Decision Failed to Comply with the Standards of the <br />National Environmental Policy Act. <br />While the Forest Service prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) concerning <br />the impacts of the Mine expansion, that document failed to comply with the National <br />Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Forest Service's consent for the use and occupancy of <br />its land is therefore unlawful and subject to challenge and reversal in federal court. This Board <br />should not approve TR-1 I I unless and until the Forest Service provides the Board with a legal <br />decision. <br />The Forest Service violated NEPA because, among other things, the agency: (1) failed to <br />analyze properly the project's cumulative effects on global warming; (2) failed to analyze <br />reasonable alternatives (including flaring and/or capture) that would reduce the potential <br />greenhouse gas emissions of the project; and (3) failed to include "a reasonably complete <br />discussion" of mitigation measures. See Appeal of the Record of Decision for the E Seam <br />Methane Drainage Wells Project (March 7, 2008), attached as Exh. 2. Until these deficiencies <br />are cured, any federal approval of the project violates NEPA.