Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment and Notice of Public Hearing for Federal Coal Lease Application, UTU-88953, UT, 41077-41078 [2013-16486]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41077-41078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16486]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLUT92230-13-L51100000-GA0000-LVEMJ12CJ580, UTU-88953]


Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment and Notice 
of Public Hearing for Federal Coal Lease Application, UTU-88953, UT

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Public Hearing.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with Federal coal management regulations, the 
Wasatch Natural Resources, LLC, Federal Coal Lease-By-Application (LBA) 
Environmental Assessment (EA) is available for public review and 
comment. The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) Price Field Office will hold a public hearing to 
receive comments on the EA, Fair Market Value (FMV), and Maximum 
Economic Recovery (MER) of the coal resources for the Long Canyon Coal 
Lease Tract, serial number UTU-88953.

DATES: The public hearing will be held at the Price Field Office on 
July 31, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. Written comments should be received no later 
than August 8, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the BLM Price Field 
Office, 125 South 600 West, Price, Utah 84501. Copies of the EA and the 
unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are available at the 
Price Field Office. The hearing will be advertised in the Sun Advocate 
located in Price, Utah. Written comments on the EA should be sent to: 
Steve Rigby at the Price Field Office address above. Written comments 
on the FMV and MER should be sent to Jeff McKenzie, BLM, Utah State 
Office, Division of Lands and Minerals, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, 
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. Please note ``Coal Lease By Application 
UTU-88953'' in the subject line for all emails or mailing envelops.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff McKenzie at 801-539-4038, 
jmckenzi@blm.gov or Mr. Steve Rigby, 435-636-3604, swrigby@blm.gov. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339 to contact 
the above individual(s) during normal business hours. The FIRS is 
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question 
with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal 
hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Wasatch Natural Resources, LLC, submitted 
the coal lease application. The EA addresses the cultural, 
socioeconomic, environmental and cumulative impacts that would likely 
result from leasing these coal lands. The lands included in the Long 
Canyon Coal Lease Tract are located in Carbon County, Utah, 
approximately 1 mile north and east of Scofield, Utah, on private 
surface with federally-administered minerals and are described as 
follows:

Salt Lake Meridian

T. 12 S., R 7 E.,
    Sec. 28, E\1/2\E\1/2\;
    Sec. 33, E\1/2\NE\1/4\;
T. 13 S., R 7 E.,
    Sec. 1, SW\1/4\NW\1/4\;
    Sec. 2;
    Sec. 3, lots 1, 2, and 5 to 10, inclusive, and SE\1/4\NE\1/4\, 
N\1/2\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 9, NE\1/4\, S\1/2\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\SW\1/4\, E\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 10, and 11;
    Sec. 12, W\1/2\W\1/2\;
    Sec. 13, W\1/2\W\1/2\;
    Sec. 14, and 15;
    Sec. 16, E\1/2\E\1/2\;
    Sec. 23;
    Sec. 24, W\1/2\NW\1/4\, NW\1/4\SW\1/4\.

    The areas described containing approximately 5,586.90 acres.

    The Long Canyon Coal Lease Tract has two minable coal beds; the 
Hiawatha and the UP beds. The minable portions of the coal beds in this 
area average 10\1/2\ feet in thickness for the Hiawatha and average six 
feet in thickness for the UP. The applicant has proposed to mine the 
underground coal reserves with continuous mining equipment. The tract 
is estimated to contain around 40.5 million tons of recoverable high-
volatile B bituminous coal. The average coal quality, on an ``as 
received basis,'' in the (1) Hiawatha coal bed is as follows: 12,056 
Btu/lb., 9.50 percent moisture, 6.10 percent ash, 40.80 percent 
volatile matter, 46.00 percent fixed carbon and 0.65 percent sulfur, 
and (2) UP coal bed is as follows: 12,200 Btu/lb., 9.50 percent 
moisture, 5.90 percent ash, 40.40 percent volatile matter, 45.60 
percent fixed carbon and 0.60 percent sulfur. The public is invited to 
make public and/or written comments on the environmental implications 
of leasing the proposed tract, and also to submit comments on the FMV 
and the MER of the tract.
    Proprietary data marked as confidential may be submitted to the BLM 
in response to the 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 the EA, 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 BLM, Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, Salt Lake 
City, Utah, during regular business hours (7:45 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday.
    Substantive comments, whether written or oral, will receive equal 
consideration prior to any lease offering. 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.
    Comments on the FMV and MER should address, but not necessarily be 
limited to, the following information:
    1. The quality of the coal resource;
    2. The method of mining to be employed to obtain MER of the coal, 
including specifications of seams to be mined, and 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

[[Page 41078]]

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;
    8. The timing and annual production tonnage(s);
    9. 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;
    10. Depreciation, depletion, amortization and other tax accounting 
factors;
    11. The value of any surface estate where held privately;
    12. Documented information on the terms and conditions of recent 
and similar coal land transactions in the lease sale area; and,
    13. Any comparable sales data of similar coal lands, mining 
conditions, and coal quantities.

    Authority: 43 CFR parts 3422 and 3425.

Jenna Whitlock,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2013-16486 Filed 7-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P