Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Sevier Playa Potash Project, Utah, 61668-61670 [2018-26076]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 231 (Friday, November 30, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61668-61670]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-26076]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLUTW02000-L51010000-ER0000-LVRWJ18J5120-18X--UTU-90095]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Sevier Playa Potash Project, Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended, the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended, and 
Secretarial Order 3355, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is 
releasing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Crystal 
Peak Minerals Inc.'s (CPM) Sevier Playa Potash Project (Project), and 
by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Project Draft EIS within 45 days following the 
date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will

[[Page 61669]]

announce future meetings or hearings and any other public involvement 
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media 
releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Draft EIS for the 
Project by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (435) 743-3136.
     Mail: Bureau of Land Management Fillmore Field Office, 
Attn: Clara Stevens--Sevier Playa Potash Project Comments, 95 East 500 
North, Fillmore, UT 84631.
    Electronic versions of the Project Draft EIS, appendices, and 
supporting documents can be downloaded from ePlanning at https://bit.ly/2CZPeWy. Paper and digital copies of the Project Draft EIS and 
supporting documents are available for review at:
    (1) The BLM Fillmore Field Office at the above address;
    (2) The BLM West Desert District Office at 2370 South Decker Lake 
Blvd., West Valley City, UT;
    (3) The Fillmore City Library at 75 West Center, Fillmore, UT; and
    (4) The Delta City Library at 76 North 200 West, Delta, UT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clara Stevens, Project Manager, 
telephone (435) 743-3119; address 95 East 500 North, Fillmore, UT 
84631; email [email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 
1-800-877-8339 to contact the above individual during normal business 
hours. The FRS 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 business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 12, 2014, the BLM published a 
Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS in the Federal Register (79 FR 
14078).
    The Project would be located in central Millard County in 
southwestern Utah. The Sevier Playa is a large terminal playa that is 
normally dry on the surface and contains subsurface potassium-bearing 
saline brines. The playa is approximately 26 miles long and averages 8 
miles wide.
    CPM holds or through agreement controls the rights to develop and 
operate potassium mineral leases on 117,814 acres of Federal lands 
administered by the BLM and an additional 6,409 acres of state lands. 
CPM proposes to exercise their lease rights by constructing and 
operating the Project, which would produce at its peak approximately 
372,000 tons per year of potassium sulfate 
(K2SO4), also known as sulfate of potash (SOP), 
and related minerals over the 32-year lifetime of the Project.
    The Project is a potash mine proposed on 124,223 acres of Federal 
and State mineral leases. The proposal includes mining facilities 
located on-lease with off-lease supporting infrastructure. On-lease 
facilities include evaporation ponds; a brine extraction system 
(trenches, wells, and conveyance canals); a recharge system (trenches, 
canals, and Sevier River diversion); a waste product storage area 
(purge brine and tailings); access roads, and processing facilities. 
The off-lease ROW facilities, proposed on approximately 4,135 acres, 
include power and communication lines, a natural gas pipeline, a rail 
loadout facility and rail spur; water supply wells; communication 
towers; preconcentration ponds; segments of recharge canals and the 
playa perimeter road; and access roads. Three gravel pits would also be 
developed.
    Potassium-bearing brines would be extracted from trenches and wells 
on the Sevier Playa, and routed through a series of ponds, using solar 
evaporation to concentrate the brine. The preconcentration ponds would 
concentrate the brine causing halite (NaCl, table salt) and other non-
commercial salts to precipitate. These salts would be stored in the 
preconcentration ponds. The saturated brine would be transferred to the 
production ponds for further evaporation, causing potassium-rich salts 
to precipitate. The production ponds would be harvested year-round, 
with the potassium-rich salts moved directly to a facility for 
processing into SOP. The SOP would be trucked to the rail loadout 
facility for distribution. Purge brine containing primarily magnesium 
chloride (MgCl2) would be removed from the production ponds 
before harvesting begins and would be piped to an on-playa purge brine 
storage pond. Process by-products (solid tailings) from the processing 
facility would be trucked to the on-playa tailings storage area.
    The Draft EIS analyzes CPM's Mining Plan, prepared for development 
of Federal potassium mineral leases acquired in 2011 and potash mineral 
leases acquired on State lands. These leases were amalgamated under BLM 
casefile number UTU-88387. In addition, the Draft EIS analyzes CPM's 
request for rights-of-way (ROWs) to construct various ancillary 
facilities on public lands in the vicinity of the mineral leases, but 
outside the lease boundary. CPM prepared a Plan of Development (POD) 
for the ROWs that they have requested. The Draft EIS also analyzes 
CPM's request to purchase mineral materials for gravel to support 
construction and operation of the Project. Although the BLM may only 
make decisions pertaining to public lands managed by the BLM, the EIS 
analyzes the complete Project including portions located on state and 
private lands.
    This Draft EIS evaluates, in detail, the no action alternative, the 
proposed action, and five action alternatives. Alternative 1 would 
route a cross-country segment of the off-lease 69-kV power and 
communication line to an alignment along existing roads, including SR 
257 and SR-257 Cutoff Road. Alternative 2 would route a cross-country 
segment of the off-lease 69-kV power and communication line to a more 
southern orientation along existing roads, including Crystal Peak Road 
and Crystal Peak Spur Road. Alternative 3 would route a segment of the 
off-lease natural gas pipeline entirely on BLM land to avoid crossing 
private lands. Alternative 4 would route a cross-country segment of the 
off-lease natural gas pipeline to a similar alignment as Alternative 2 
along existing roads, including Crystal Peak Road and Crystal Peak Spur 
Road. Alternative 5 is an alternative method of diverting flows from 
the Sevier River into the recharge system. This alternative would 
relocate the on-lease Sevier River diversion facilities, including 
diversion channel, recharge canal, diversion culvert and sump, and 
perimeter and access roads slightly to the west, within the boundary of 
the playa.
    Based on public scoping and internal review, the principal issues 
analyzed in the Draft EIS include: (1) Impacts to water resources and 
water quality including adverse effects to surface water and 
groundwater basins, as well as impacts to existing water rights 
holders; (2) adverse effects to air quality in the form of fugitive 
dust produced during construction and operation of the mine facilities; 
(3) impacts to cultural resources and historic properties, including 
rock art and subsurface features; (4) impacts to migratory bird 
populations; and (5) the socioeconomic effects of water right 
acquisition for recharge water. Analysis also includes impacts to the 
following resources: Visual, wildlife, access, range management, 
recreation, and soils.
    The BLM published a Notice of Intent for the Project on March 12, 
2014. Scoping was extended through August 31, 2015, due to Project 
delays. A public scoping meeting was held in Delta, Utah, on August 5, 
2015. The public

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was offered the opportunity to provide written comments throughout the 
scoping process.
    In 2015, pursuant to Executive Order 13175, the BLM initiated 
government-to-government consultation with interested tribes, including 
the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the Hopi Tribe, the 
Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Kanosh Band of Paiute Indians, the 
Navajo Nation, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Skull Valley Band 
of Goshute, and the Ute Indian Tribe. Beginning in 2015, the BLM 
coordinated with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office and seven 
other consulting parties that requested to participate in the Section 
106 process, to develop a Programmatic Agreement to outline a process 
to be used to avoid, mitigate, or treat adverse effects to historic 
properties.
    In August 2015, the BLM invited agencies to participate as 
Cooperating Agencies in the Project. The following agencies accepted 
the invitation: The U.S. Department of Defense (Utah Test and Training 
Range), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, the State of Utah, and Millard and Beaver Counties. 
These agencies and governments reviewed the Draft EIS before it was 
available to the public and their comments have been incorporated into 
the document.
    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.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.

Anita Bilbao,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2018-26076 Filed 11-29-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P