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None of these concerns is valid. Most importantly, the Forest Service has and can <br />overcome any "legal complexities" to implement capture, and economic "concerns" have not <br />stopped numerous other mines in the United States from capturing methane. In any event, the <br />Forest Service's concerns do not make the "capture and use" alternative so unreasonable or <br />speculative that it should be dismissed without detailed analysis in the FEIS. Although <br />uncertainty may exist, the feasibility of a methane-capture alternative - a technology actively in <br />use in the United States and elsewhere - cannot be determined until that alternative is examined <br />in detail. Without such an analysis, the Forest Service's reasons for rejecting methane capture <br />rest on no more than unfounded assumptions. 14 <br />a. `Legal Complexities' Are Not a Significant Barrier to Capturing <br />MPthnna <br />The Forest Service cannot complain that legal and jurisdictional complexities render <br />capture an alternative that should not be analyzed in detail. First, the purported "complexities <br />and legal limitations stemming from the leasing processes" have already been overcome at a <br />mine on Forest Service land just a few hundred miles from West Elk. At the Aberdeen Coal <br />Mine in Utah, BLM fashioned a lease with numerous stipulations to ensure that leasing of <br />methane would not interfere with coal mining. See Lease Serial No. UTU 85441 (June 1, 2007), <br />attached as Exh. 24. For example, the lease states that it "is for mine vent gas, from the <br />Aberdeen Coal Mine ... and for no other purpose." Id. at fax page 10, "Stipulations" page 2. <br />Further, lease stipulations protect the coal mine operator and make clear that methane release <br />occurs "solely at the discretion of the Aberdeen mine operator." Id. ("BI.M will not approve <br />any oil and gas operations which interfere with ... coal mining"). If it was feasible, and in fact <br />implemented, at another mine on federal land, the Forest Service cannot justify its conclusion <br />" For a critical review of the Forest Service's analysis of methane capture and use, see <br />EEI Geophysical Report (Exh. 6). <br />APPEAL OF E SEAM METHANE DRAINAGE WELLS PROJECT, APRIL 28, 2008 PAGE 23