2011-11-10_REVISION - C1981022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Appeal Deciding Officer Discussion: Also, see Appeal Issue II. 22 Oxbow Mining, LLC (OMLLC) operates the Elk Creek Mine under a construction permit that was issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) on July 29, 2009. The permit is valid for a period of 5 years until July 29, 2014. The permit sets limits on the following: PM io , nitrogen oxides (NO and carbon monoxide (CO). Colorado does not regulate PM 2.5 in permits. A detailed air quality assessment, including modeling, of the original lease was conducted as part of the environmental analysis for the Elk Creek Coal Lease Tract in 2000 (North Fork Coal FEIS, Tab 4). In this FEIS, an air quality assessment was completed for the original Oxbow mine, which was permitted by the State to produce up to 4.8 million tons of coal annually (Section 3.1 and Appendix M, North Fork Coal FEIS, Tab 4). This section of the FEIS identifies the permitted mining processes at Oxbow Mining and the emission increases included in the modeling (Section 3.1.3). The Appellant suggested mitigation measures during the comment period that included methane flaring, capturing methane and putting to beneficial use or ventilation air methane oxidation. All of these would be effective in reducing GHG emissions. However, none of these potential mitigations can occur on the lease modification area, and it is extremely unlikely that these would occur on leases already analyzed under the North Fork Coal EIS and ROD issued in March 2000 for the parent lease COC -61357 (March 2001). The North Fork Coal EIS addressed surface methane venting through gob vent boreholes. The agencies incorporated and accounted for GHG emissions changes in a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of potential contributing factors that would incrementally contribute to climate change. Based on the cumulative effects analysis (EA, page 53), GHG emissions associated with continued mining in the North Fork are negligible relative to any potential impacts on the global scale. Locally, the trend is a decrease in GHG emissions associated with the coal mining activities in the North Fork Valley. The USFS does not authorize mining by consenting to BLM to issue a lease for federal coal. The impacts of mining coal were considered in the EA because it is a logical consequence of a lease modification being issued to the existing mine. The use of the coal after it is mined is also not determined at the time of leasing or mining; the use is determined by the purchaser and the end user. Almost all of the coal mined in this region is used by coal -fired power plants to generate electricity. A discussion of emissions and by- products that are generated by burning coal to produce electricity or transport coal from the mine was included in Section 3.2 of the EA. The USFS and BLM do not govern GHG emissions, air quality standards, or pollutants. Further, the USFS and BLM do not permit or authorize mining operations and do not have the authority to regulate mining operations or the burning of coal at utility plants. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate air pollutants and develop regulations, rules, and standards for industries that emit one or more pollutants in significant quantities. The EA addressed climate change comments that were received in a timely manner.