Notice of Availability and Notice of Hearing for the Alton Coal Tract Coal Lease by Application Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Utah, 68501-68502 [2011-28506]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management
• Land Management Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 214 (Friday, November 4, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68501-68502]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28506]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-110-1320-EL, UTU 081895]


Notice of Availability and Notice of Hearing for the Alton Coal 
Tract Coal Lease by Application Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 
Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Alton Coal Tract Lease by Application 
(LBA) and by this Notice is announcing a public hearing requesting 
comments on the Draft EIS, the Maximum Economic Recovery (MER), and the 
Fair Market Value (FMV) of the Federal coal resources.

DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Alton Coal Tract LBA Draft EIS, MER, and FMV 
within 60 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes its Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. A public 
hearing will be held at Festival Hall Convention Center, 96 North Main, 
Cedar City, UT on December 6, 2011 at 6 p.m., to receive comments on 
the MER and FMV of the Federal coal resources as well as to provide 
information on the Draft EIS. The BLM will also host public 
informational meetings on the Draft EIS in the following locations: 
Alton, Kanab, Panguitch, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Times and dates of 
these meetings will be announced through the Utah BLM Web site at 
https://www.ut.blm.gov, press releases, local newspapers, and other 
media. At these meetings the public is invited to submit comments and 
meet with BLM specialists. The BLM will announce public meetings at 
least 15 days prior to the event.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Email: UT_Kanab_Altoncoal@blm.gov. Please include 
``Alton Coal Tract LBA Draft EIS--Keith Rigtrup'' in the subject line.
     Fax: (435) 644-4620, Attn: Keith Rigtrup.
     Mail: Kanab Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: 
Keith Rigtrup, 318 North 100 East, Kanab, Utah 84741
     Written comments may also be hand-delivered to the BLM 
Utah Kanab Field Office in Kanab.
    Copies of the Draft EIS are available at the following BLM office 
locations: BLM Utah State Office Public Room, 440 West 200 South, Suite 
500, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101; BLM Kanab Field Office, 318 North 100 
East, Kanab, Utah 84741 during business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. The Draft EIS is available 
electronically at the following Web site: https://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/energy/coal/alton_coal_project.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Keith Rigtrup, BLM Color Country 
District Office, 176 East DL Sargent Drive, Cedar City, Utah 84721 or 
by telephone at (435) 865-3000. Persons who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-(800) 877-8339 to contact the above individual 
during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hour a day, 7 
days a week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. 
You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft EIS analyzes the potential impacts 
of issuing a lease for the Alton Coal Tract, serial number UTU 081895. 
An application to lease Federal coal near the Town of Alton, Utah, was 
filed with the BLM on November 12, 2004, by Alton Coal Development, 
LLC., in accordance with 43 CFR 3425.
    The Alton Coal Tract includes 59.6 million tons of in-place 
bituminous coal. The coal quality in the Smirl coal zone on an ``as 
received basis'' is as follows: 10,019 Btu/lb (British Thermal Units 
per pound), 13 percent moisture, 10 percent ash, 39 percent volatile 
matter, 50 percent fixed carbon and 1.13 percent sulfur underlying the 
following lands in Kane County, Utah:

Salt Lake Meridian

T. 39 S., R. 5 W.,
    Sec. 7, SE\1/4\SW\1/4\ and S\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 18, lots 3 and 4 and E\1/2\, E\1/2\W\1/2\;

[[Page 68502]]

    Sec. 19, lots 1 through 4 inclusive, NE\1/4\, E\1/2\W\1/2\, N\1/
2\SE\1/4\, and SE\1/4\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 20, lots 4 and 5, and N\1/2\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 30, lots 2 through 4 inclusive, SW\1/4\NE\1/4\, SE\1/
4\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\SW\1/4\, and W\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 31, lots 1 through 3 inclusive, NE\1/4\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, 
NE\1/4\SW\1/4\, and N\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    T. 39 S., R. 6 W.,
    Sec. 12, SW\1/4\ and W\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 13, NW\1/4\NE\1/4\, N\1/2\NW\1/4\, SE\1/4\NW\1/4\, and 
SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 24, NE\1/4\, N\1/2\NW\1/4\, SE\1/4\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\SW\1/4\, 
N\1/2\SE\1/4\, and SE\1/4\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 25, E\1/2\NE\1/4\, SW\1/4\NE\1/4\, and SE\1/4\.

    Containing 3,581.27 acres more or less.

    Consistent with Federal regulations under NEPA and the Mineral 
Leasing Act of 1920, as amended, the BLM must prepare an environmental 
analysis prior to holding a competitive Federal coal lease sale. The 
Draft EIS analyzes and discloses to the public the direct, indirect, 
and cumulative environmental impacts of issuing a Federal coal lease on 
the Alton Coal Tract, including mining and transportation of coal to a 
railhead near Cedar City, Utah. A copy of the Draft EIS has been sent 
to affected Federal, State, tribal, and local government agencies; 
persons and entities identified as potentially being affected by a 
decision to lease the Federal coal in this tract; and persons who 
indicated to the BLM that they wished to receive a copy of the Draft 
EIS. The purpose of the public hearing is to solicit comments on the 
Draft EIS, for the proposed competitive lease sale of the Alton Coal 
Tract, and on the FMV and MER of the Federal coal.
    The Draft EIS analyzes leasing the Alton Coal Tract as the Proposed 
Action. Under the Proposed Action, a competitive sale would be held and 
a lease issued for Federal coal in the tract. As part of the coal 
leasing process, the BLM is evaluating an additional alternative that 
would remove 394 acres and 6.8 million tons of Federal coal in the 
tract to minimize impacts in close proximity to the Town of Alton and 
preserve seasonal Greater sage-grouse habitat. The alternate tract 
configuration that the BLM is evaluating is described and analyzed as 
Alternative C in the Draft EIS. Under this alternative, a competitive 
sale would be held and a lease issued for Federal coal lands included 
in a tract modified by the BLM. The Draft EIS also analyzes the 
alternative of rejecting the application to lease Federal coal as the 
No Action Alternative. The Proposed Action and alternatives being 
considered in the Draft EIS are in conformance with the Kanab Field 
Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan (2008).
    Requests to be included on the mailing list for this project, for 
copies of the Draft EIS, or to be notified of the dates of the comment 
period and public hearing may be sent by mail, facsimile, or 
electronically to the addresses listed in the ADDRESSES section above. 
For those submitting comments on the Draft EIS, please make the 
comments as specific as possible with reference to page numbers and 
sections of the document. Comments that contain only opinions or 
preferences will not receive a formal response; however, they may be 
considered and included as part of the BLM decision-making process.
    The public hearing is being held on the proposed lease sale to 
allow public comment on, and discussion of, the potential effects of 
the proposed lease sale and mining and transportation of the coal. The 
BLM must make determinations of the FMV of the coal in the tract(s) and 
whether MER of the coal in the tract can be accomplished. Proprietary 
data marked as confidential may be submitted to the BLM in response to 
FMV and MER in this solicitation of public comments. Data so marked 
shall be treated in accordance with the laws and regulations governing 
confidentiality of such information. A copy of the comments submitted 
by the public on FMV and MER, except those portions identified as 
proprietary by the author and meeting exemptions stated in the Freedom 
of Information Act, will be available for public inspection at the 
Bureau of Land Management, Utah State Office during regular business 
hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, excluding 
Federal holidays. Comments on the FMV and MER should be sent to the BLM 
and should address, but not necessarily be limited to, the following 
information:
    1. The quality of the coal resource;
    2. The mining methods or methods which would achieve MER of the 
coal, including specifications of seams to be mined and the most 
desirable timing and rate of production;
    3. Whether this tract is likely to be mined as part of an existing 
mine and therefore should be evaluated on a realistic incremental 
basis, in relation to the existing mine to which it has the greatest 
value;
    4. Whether the tract should be evaluated as part of a potential 
larger mining unit and revaluated as a portion of a new potential mine 
(i.e., a tract which does not in itself form a logical mining unit);
    5. Restrictions to mining that may affect coal recovery;
    6. The price that the mined coal would bring when sold;
    7. Costs, including mining and reclamation, of producing the coal 
and the time of production;
    8. The percentage rate at which anticipated income streams should 
be discounted, either with inflation or in the absence of inflation, in 
which case the anticipated rate of inflation should be given;
    9. Depreciation, depletion, amortization, and other tax accounting 
factors;
    10. The value of any surface estate where held privately;
    11. Documented information on the terms and conditions of recent 
and similar coal land transactions in the lease sale area; and
    12. Any comparable sales data of similar coal lands; and coal 
quantities and the FMV of the coal developed by the BLM may or may not 
change as a result of comments received from the public and changes in 
the market conditions between now and when final economic evaluations 
are completed.
    Please note that comments and information submitted, including 
names, street addresses, and email addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review and disclosure at the Kanab Field Office 
(address listed above) during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

 Juan Palma,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-28506 Filed 11-3-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P