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j. Conformance with Federal, state, regional, <br />and /or local land use plans, programs, and <br />policies <br />Approval of the permit for the Yoast Mine <br />would conform with the Little Snake Resource <br />Area Resource Management Plan, which provides <br />for new mining operations at the Yoast Mine. <br />2. Cumulative Impacts <br />The Northwest Colorado Coal Supplemental Report <br />(BLM, 1978) examined the impacts from anticipated <br />coal development in the region. Included in this <br />analysis were four proposed coal mines in <br />northwestern Colorado. The projected disturbed <br />area for these four mines, resulting from mining <br />operations, totalled about 8,012.8 ha (19,800 ac). <br />The combined production from the four mines <br />totalled about 69.04 million t (76.1 million tons) <br />of coal. <br />Under the proposed permit for the Yoast Mine, the <br />disturbed area would be about 182.1 ha (450 ac), <br />and total coal production would be about 7.80 <br />million metric tons (t) (8.6 million tons) . The <br />total disturbance at the Yoast Mine reflects about <br />two percent of the projected disturbed area, and <br />the coal production for the mine reflects about 11 <br />percent of the projected coal production in the <br />region. <br />Approval of the proposed permit would not increase <br />the magnitude of any of the cumulative impacts <br />described in the EIS. <br />B.. Alternative 2: Disapproval of the Proposed Mining Plan <br />(the "No Action" Alternative) <br />If the mining plan is disapproved, the impacts described <br />for alternative 1 would not occur. About 6.26 million t <br />(6.9 million tons) of Federal coal would not be mined <br />unless an alternative plan were later developed and <br />approved by the Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals <br />Management. Disapproval of the mining plan would also <br />have a negative effect on the local economy, with a loss <br />of employment for people employed by the mining company <br />and in associated industries. <br />12 <br />