Notice of Meeting of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group, 77182-77183 [E5-8013]
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wwhite on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
77182
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 249 / Thursday, December 29, 2005 / Notices
regarding surface management of leased
National Forest System lands. The
Caribou-Targhee National Forest
Supervisor makes recommendations to
the BLM concerning surface
management and mitigation on leased
lands within the Caribou-Targhee
National Forest. For this proposal, the
Forest Supervisor will make a decision
whether to authorize off-lease facilities
such as roads and power lines.
As a cooperating agency, the IDEQ has
provided assistance and
recommendations on aspects of the
project pertaining to water quality and
on water quality rules under their
jurisdiction.
The agency Preferred Alternative
would approve mining both leases
described as Panel F and Panel G. The
preferred mining alternative would be
Alternative B—No External Seleniferous
Overburden Fills. BLM would approve
the proposed lease modifications. Based
on analysis of surface and ground water
impacts in Chapter 4, BLM would
require construction of an infiltration
barrier over seleniferous backfill,
Alternative D. A Forest Service decision
would approve power line placement on
poles along the haul road, Alternative E,
eliminating a separate power corridor.
The transportation route between Panel
F and existing mine would be
constructed according to the Proposed
Action. The preferred transportation
route between Panel G and the existing
mine is Alternative 2—East Haul/Access
Road.
The proposed Mine & Reclamation
Plan was submitted by J. R Simplot
Company in April 2003. The proposed
action consists of two open pits (Panel
F on Federal phosphate lease I–27512
and Panel G on Federal phosphate lease
I–01441), topsoil stockpiles, mine
equipment parking and service areas,
access and haul roads, a power line
extension from the existing Smoky
Canyon facilities, permanent external
overburden storage areas, and runoff/
sediment control facilities, electrical
substation, warehouse and storage areas,
repair shop, restrooms, fuel and
lubricant storage. A new haul/access
road to transport ore to the existing
Smoky Canyon mill is proposed to be
constructed from the south end of the
existing Panel E approximately 2.5
miles to the proposed Panel F. As
operations move south to Panel G,
another haul road is proposed to
transport ore 7.8 miles from Panel G
north to Panel F. Much of these
activities are proposed to occur within
the Sage Creek Inventoried Roadless
Area.
Ore would be hauled in trucks to the
existing Smoky Canyon mill facility to
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18:56 Dec 28, 2005
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be concentrated. Ore concentrate from
the mill would be transported to the
existing Simplot fertilizer plant in
Pocatello, Idaho via the existing slurry
pipeline. Mill tailings would continue
to be deposited in the currently
approved and permitted tailings
disposal facility.
Initially, overburden generated from
Panel F would be trucked to the existing
Panel E open pit and used as backfill.
Remaining overburden from Panel F
would then be placed as part of a 38acre external fill and then as backfill in
Panel F as soon as practical. Overburden
generated from mining Panel G would
be permanently placed in 138 acres of
external fills at Panel G as well as
backfill in the Panel G open pit.
Disturbed lands directly resulting
from the proposed activities would total
1,340 acres. Ninety-five percent of the
project disturbance would be fully
reclaimed. This would leave
unreclaimed a total of 71 acres of
highwall, road cuts in steep terrain, pit
bottoms not filled to contour, and mine
roads left as replacements to existing
Forest Service roads. New pits would
disturb approximately 763 acres, roads
would disturb about 284 acres, external
overburden fills would cover 176 acres
and there would be 117 acres of
disturbance for other mine features such
as runoff management facilities, water
monitoring, a power line corridor and
topsoil piles.
Reclamation of mining disturbances
would include: Removal of facilities and
equipment, backfilling pits, regrading
slopes, restoring drainages, covering
seleniferous fills with at least 4 feet of
chert material, spreading 1 to 3 feet of
topsoil, stabilizing surfaces,
revegetation, testing and treatment for
any remaining hydrocarbon
contaminants, and environmental
monitoring.
Simplot has applied for a lease
modification to expand Federal
Phosphate Lease I–27512 for the Panel
F operations. The application includes a
120-acre tract to recover ore and
construct a road from Panel E on the
northern edge of the lease and a larger
400 acre tract on the southern edge of
the lease to recover ore. Subsequent to
BLM’s and Forest Service’s preparation
of the DEIS, Simplot has also applied for
a lease modification to I–01441 to
accommodate 18 acres of off-lease
external overburden fill. The
environmental impacts of mining
operations within the lease
modifications are analyzed in this EIS.
BLM will review the applications, under
the Mineral Leasing Act, and inform the
public in accordance with the
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requirements of NEPA prior to any
decision on these applications.
Alternatives
Issues were identified for the
proposed mining of F and G panels by
the agencies and by the public during
the scoping process. They include
potential effects on: ground water,
surface water, geology and minerals, air
quality and noise, soils, vegetation,
wetlands, wildlife, fisheries and aquatic
life, livestock grazing, recreation,
Inventoried Roadless Areas, socioeconomics, visual resources, cultural
resources, and Tribal Treaty Rights.
Alternatives to the proposed action were
developed to address issues.
The EIS analyzes the environmental
and human effects of the Proposed
Action, six different mining alternatives,
one no-action alternative, and eight
different transportation alternatives.
Mining alternatives include mining
without one or any lease modifications,
no external seleniferous overburden
fills, no external overburden fills at all,
construction of an infiltration barrier
over seleniferous material, constructing
the power line only within proposed
disturbance, and using generators in
Panel G instead of a power line. The
transportation alternatives include one
variation on the haul road between
Panel F and the existing Panel E, two
variations of a haul road from Panel G
located east of the project area, a more
direct—middle—haul road from Panel G
to Panel F, a variation of the proposed
West Haul Road, and using a conveyor
system to transport ore from Panel G to
the existing mill. If the conveyor
transportation alternative is chosen then
one of two different variations on
moving people and equipment between
Panel G and the existing mine were
analyzed.
Dated: December 8, 2005.
Joe Kraayenbrink,
District Manager, Idaho Falls District, Bureau
of Land Management.
Larry Timchak,
Forest Supervisor, Caribou-Targhee National
Forest.
[FR Doc. 05–24630 Filed 12–28–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–GG–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY–100–05–1310–DB]
Notice of Meeting of the Pinedale
Anticline Working Group
AGENCY:
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 249 / Thursday, December 29, 2005 / Notices
ACTION:
Notice of public meeting.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act (1976) and the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (1972), the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) Pinedale
Anticline Working Group (PAWG) will
meet in Pinedale, Wyoming, for a
business meeting. Group meetings are
open to the public.
DATES: The PAWG will meet January 31,
2006, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The meeting of the PAWG
will be held in the Lovatt room of the
Pinedale Library, 155 S. Tyler Ave.,
Pinedale, WY.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt
Anderson, BLM/PAWG Liaison, Bureau
of Land Management, Pinedale Field
Office, 432 E. Mills St., PO Box 738,
Pinedale, WY, 82941; 307–367–5328.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Pinedale Anticline Working Group
(PAWG) was authorized and established
with release of the Record of Decision
(ROD) for the Pinedale Anticline Oil
and Gas Exploration and Development
Project on July 27, 2000. The PAWG
advises the BLM on the development
and implementation of monitoring plans
and adaptive management decisions as
development of the Pinedale Anticline
Natural Gas Field proceeds for the life
of the field.
The agenda for this meeting will
include discussions concerning any
modifications task groups may wish to
make to their monitoring
recommendations, a discussion on
monitoring funding sources, and overall
adaptive management implementation
as it applies to the PAWG. At a
minimum, public comments will be
heard prior to lunch and adjournment of
the meeting.
Dated: December 20, 2005.
Priscilla Mecham,
Field Office Manager.
[FR Doc. E5–8013 Filed 12–28–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
wwhite on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
[AZ–110–1430–ES; AZA–33001]
Notice of Realty Action; Recreation
and Public Purposes (R&PP) Act
Classification; Arizona
Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
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SUMMARY: The public lands listed below,
located in Mohave County, Arizona,
near the community of Littlefield have
been examined and found suitable for
classification for lease or conveyance to
the Virgin River Domestic Wastewater
Improvement District (VRDWID) under
provisions of the R&PP Act for use as a
wastewater treatment facility.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
following public lands near the
community of Littlefield, Mohave
County, Arizona, have been examined
and found suitable for classification for
lease or conveyance to the VRDWID
under the provisions of the R&PP Act,
as amended (43 U.S.C. 869 et seq.):
Gila and Salt River Meridian, Arizona
T. 40 N., R. 15 W., sec. 19, N1⁄2NW1⁄4,
SW1⁄4NW1⁄4, NW1⁄4NW1⁄4SW1⁄4.
T. 40 N., R. 16 W., sec. 24, E1⁄2NE1⁄4,
SW1⁄4NE1⁄4, E1⁄2SW1⁄4, SE1⁄4.
(Including only those BLM administered
lands between the southern right-of-way of
Highway 91 and the top edge of the bluff
overlooking the Virgin River.)
Containing 190 acres, more or less.
The lands are not needed for Federal
purposes. Lease or conveyance is
consistent with current BLM land use
planning and would be in the public
interest.
The lease/patent, when issued, will be
subject to the following terms,
conditions, and reservations:
1. Provisions of the R&PP Act and to
all applicable regulations of the
Secretary of the Interior.
2. A right-of-way for ditches and
canals constructed by the authority of
the United States.
3. All minerals shall be reserved to
the United States, together with the
right to prospect for, mine, and remove
the minerals.
4. Valid existing rights.
5. Terms and conditions identified
through the site-specific environmental
analysis.
6. Those rights for power line and
telephone line purposes granted to Dixie
Escalante Electric under right-of-way
AZA–36027 and Rio Virgin Telephone
Company under rights-of-way AZAR–
035969, AZA–30814, and AZA–17642.
7. The lessee/patentee by entering
into the lease or accepting a patent,
agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold
the United States harmless from any
costs, damages, claims, causes of action,
penalties, fines, liabilities, and
judgments of any kind or nature arising
out of, or in connection with the
lessee’s/patentee’s use, occupancy, or
operations on the leased/patented real
property.
This indemnification and hold
harmless agreement includes, but is not
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77183
limited to, acts or omissions of the
lessee/patentee and its employees,
agents, contractors, lessees, or any thirdparty, arising out of or in connection
with the lessee’s/patentee’s use,
occupancy, or operations on the leased/
patented real property which cause or
give rise to, in whole or in part: (1)
Violations of Federal, State, and local
laws and regulations that are now, or
may in the future become, applicable to
the real property and/or applicable to
the use, occupancy, and/or operations
thereon; (2) Judgments, claims, or
demands of any kind assessed against
the United States; (3) Costs, expenses, or
damages of any kind incurred by the
United States; (4) Releases or threatened
releases of solid or hazardous waste(s)
and/or hazardous substances(s),
pollutant(s) or contaminant(s), and/or
petroleum product or derivative of a
petroleum product, as defined by
Federal and State environmental laws;
off, on, into, or under land, property,
and other interests of the United States;
(5) Other activities by which solid or
hazardous substance(s) or waste(s),
pollutant(s) or contaminant(s), or
petroleum product or derivative of a
petroleum product as defined by
Federal and State environmental laws
are generated, stored, used, or otherwise
disposed of on the leased/patented real
property, and any cleanup response,
remedial action, or other actions related
in any manner to the said solid or
hazardous substance(s) or waste(s),
pollutant(s) or contaminant(s), or
petroleum product or derivative of a
petroleum product; (6) Natural
resources damages as defined by Federal
and State laws. Lessee/patentee shall
stipulate that it will be solely
responsible for compliance with all
applicable Federal, State, and local
environmental laws and regulatory
provisions, throughout the life of the
facility, including any closure and/or
post-closure requirements that may be
imposed with respect to any physical
plant and/or facility upon the real
property under any Federal, State, or
local environmental laws or regulatory
provisions. In the case of a lease being
issued, upon termination of the lease,
lessee agrees to remove, at the request
of BLM, any physical plant and/or
facilities or improvements and restore
the site to a condition acceptable to the
BLM authorized officer. In the case of a
patent being issued, this covenant shall
be construed as running with the
patented real property and may be
enforced by the United States in a court
of competent jurisdiction.
8. Any other rights or reservations
that the authorized officer deems
E:\FR\FM\29DEN1.SGM
29DEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 249 (Thursday, December 29, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77182-77183]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-8013]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-100-05-1310-DB]
Notice of Meeting of the Pinedale Anticline Working Group
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
[[Page 77183]]
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(1976) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (1972), the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Pinedale
Anticline Working Group (PAWG) will meet in Pinedale, Wyoming, for a
business meeting. Group meetings are open to the public.
DATES: The PAWG will meet January 31, 2006, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The meeting of the PAWG will be held in the Lovatt room of
the Pinedale Library, 155 S. Tyler Ave., Pinedale, WY.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Anderson, BLM/PAWG Liaison,
Bureau of Land Management, Pinedale Field Office, 432 E. Mills St., PO
Box 738, Pinedale, WY, 82941; 307-367-5328.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Pinedale Anticline Working Group (PAWG)
was authorized and established with release of the Record of Decision
(ROD) for the Pinedale Anticline Oil and Gas Exploration and
Development Project on July 27, 2000. The PAWG advises the BLM on the
development and implementation of monitoring plans and adaptive
management decisions as development of the Pinedale Anticline Natural
Gas Field proceeds for the life of the field.
The agenda for this meeting will include discussions concerning any
modifications task groups may wish to make to their monitoring
recommendations, a discussion on monitoring funding sources, and
overall adaptive management implementation as it applies to the PAWG.
At a minimum, public comments will be heard prior to lunch and
adjournment of the meeting.
Dated: December 20, 2005.
Priscilla Mecham,
Field Office Manager.
[FR Doc. E5-8013 Filed 12-28-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
