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2011-11-10_REVISION - C1981022
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2011-11-10_REVISION - C1981022
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Entry Properties
Last modified
8/24/2016 4:44:56 PM
Creation date
11/14/2011 1:35:46 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
DRMS Permit Index
Permit No
C1981022
IBM Index Class Name
Revision
Doc Date
11/10/2011
Doc Name
ARO Response Final (Emailed)
From
Jim Kiger
To
DRMS
Type & Sequence
PR6
Email Name
BFB
SB1
Media Type
D
Archive
No
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Appeal Deciding Officer 3 <br />Appeal Issue I : THE FOREST SUPERVISOR VIOLATED NEPA BY FAILING TO <br />DISCLOSE THE IMPACTS OF THE PROPOSED ACTION FROM MINING A HALF - <br />MILLION TONS OF COAL OUTSIDE THE LEASE MODIFICATION AREA. <br />NEPA requires that agencies analyze in detail the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of a <br />proposed agency action. 40 C.F.R. §§ 1508.7 & 1508.8. This inquiry must include an analysis of <br />"direct effects," which are "caused by the action and occur at the same time and place," as well <br />as "indirect effects," which are "later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still <br />reasonably foreseeable." 40 C.F.R. §§ 1508.08; see Idaho Sporting Cong. v. Rittenhouse, 305 <br />F.3d 957, 963 (9th Cir. 2002) ( "NEPA regulations and caselaw require disclosure of all <br />foreseeable direct and indirect impacts" of a proposed action). In addressing the impacts of a <br />proposed action, both the short-term and long -term effects must be considered. 40 C.F.R. § <br />1508.27(a). <br />In addressing the direct impact of its consent to the Lease Modification, the Forest <br />Service states that the lease will result in the removal 35,000- 235,000 tons of coal over a two -day <br />to three -week period. Forest Service, Environmental Assessment, Federal Coal Lease COC61357 <br />Modification, Tract 5 (August 2011) at 25 (hereafter "EA "). But the EA also states that the <br />proposed action will permit Oxbow Mining LLC to remove an additional 0.52 million tons of <br />coal outside of the lease modification boundary that would likely otherwise be bypassed were it <br />not for the Lease Modification. Id. at 93 ( "BLM's estimate of additional recoverable reserves on <br />the existing lease afforded because of development on the modification would be about 0.52 <br />million tons. "); see also D. Dyer, BLM, Combined Geologic and Engineering Report (GER) and <br />Maximum Economic Recovery Report (MER) for Federal Coal Lease COC61357, Tract 5 (Aug. <br />2010, 2nd Rev. May 2011) ( "GER/MER "), attached to EA at 134 ( "Additional recoverable <br />reserves on the existing lease afforded because of development on the [Lease Modification] <br />would be about 0.52 million tons. "); EA at 25 (characterizing the 0.52 million tons of coal as <br />amounting to "approximately 6 to 7 weeks duration" of additional mining). <br />Despite the fact that the Lease Modification will make directly available up to 0.24 million tons <br />of coal, and will make available another 0.52 million tons of coal outside of the Lease <br />Modification boundary (for a total of up to 0.76 million tons), the EA fails to disclose the several <br />impacts from facilitating Oxbow's mining of the additional 0.52 million tons of coal. <br />The EA contains no discussion of (or map depicting) the location of the additional half ton of <br />coal that will be mined as a result of the Lease Modification. Neither the public nor the <br />decisionmaker is provided information that would enable them to understand where subsidence <br />or other impacts might occur. No acreage figures are provided, and it is unclear to what extent <br />the half - million tons underlies Forest Service and /or private land. <br />The EA states that no roadless lands will be degraded by the Forest Service's action because the <br />Lease Modification area will be covered by a "no surface occupancy" stipulation prohibiting <br />surface disturbance for "for exploration, methane drainage, or ventilation and /or escape shafts in <br />the modification area." EA at 106. See also id. at 65 ( "the proposed action has a no surface <br />occupancy stipulation (for steep slopes, geohazards and for Roadless values); so no surface <br />disturbing activities, other than subsidence, will take place on the lease modification area. "). But <br />
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