Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Sevier Playa Potash Project, Utah, 36121-36122 [2019-15903]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 144 (Friday, July 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36121-36122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-15903]



[[Page 36121]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

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


Notice of Availability of the Final 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 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) has 
prepared a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Peak Minerals 
Inc. DBA Crystal Peak Minerals' (CPM) Sevier Playa Potash Project 
(Project), and by this notice is announcing the availability.

DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a 
minimum of 30 days after the date that the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes its Notice of Availability of the Final EIS in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: The Final EIS is available to those parties who participated 
in the process as well as other interested parties. Electronic copies 
of the Final EIS can be acquired from the BLM by any of the following 
methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (435) 743-3136
     Download the document from BLM's ePlanning site at https://bit.ly/2CZPeWy.
     Mail: Bureau of Land Management Fillmore Field Office, 
Attn: Clara Stevens--Sevier Playa Potash Project, 95 East 500 North, 
Fillmore, UT 84631.
    Copies of the Final EIS and supporting documents are available at 
the following locations:
    (1) The BLM Fillmore Field Office at the above address and
    (2) The BLM West Desert District Office at 2370 South Decker Lake 
Blvd., West Valley City, UT 84119.

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 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: The BLM served as the lead agency for the 
preparation of this EIS. The BLM worked with six cooperating agencies 
including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, State of Utah, Beaver 
County, and Millard County.
    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 through an 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 potash leases on State 
lands. CPM proposes to exercise their lease rights by constructing and 
operating the Project, which would produce approximately 372,000 tons 
per year of potassium sulfate (K2SO4), also known 
as sulfate of potash (SOP), and related minerals over the 35-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); water monitoring wells, access roads, and 
processing facilities. The off-lease facilities, proposed on 
approximately 4,283 acres of rights-of-way (ROWs), include power and 
communication lines, a natural gas pipeline, a rail loadout facility 
and rail spur; water supply wells; water monitoring wells; 
communication towers; portions of the preconcentration ponds; segments 
of recharge canals, the brine transfer canal, 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 the processing 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 Final EIS analyzes CPM's Mining Plan, prepared for development 
of Federal potassium mineral leases acquired in 2011 and potash mineral 
leases acquired in 2008 on State lands. These leases were amalgamated 
under BLM casefile number UTU-88387. In addition, the Final EIS 
analyzes CPM's request for 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 Final 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 BLM, the EIS 
analyzes the complete Project including portions located on State and 
private lands.
    This 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; and 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,

[[Page 36122]]

including diversion channel, recharge canal, diversion culvert and 
sump, and perimeter and access roads slightly to the west, within the 
boundary of the playa.
    In selecting the preferred alternative, the BLM considered all 
information that has been received consistent with the Federal Lands 
Policy Management Act (FLPMA), the Mineral Leasing Act, and ROW 
permitting responsibilities. The agency preferred alternative is the 
proposed action, based on CPM's Mining Plan, POD, and Gravel Pit Mining 
Plan. The agency preferred alternative includes design features, 
supplemental plans, and specific mitigation measures BLM has worked 
with CPM to develop an environmentally sound and technically viable 
proposal that addresses comments and suggestions received from the 
cooperating agencies and the public.
    The BLM published a Notice of Intent for the Project on March 12, 
2014 (79 FR 14078). Scoping was extended through August 31, 2015. A 
public scoping meeting was held in Delta, Utah on August 5, 2015. The 
public 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 the following federally 
recognized tribes: Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the 
Hopi Tribe, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Navajo Nation, the 
Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians, 
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, which outlines a process to be used 
to avoid, mitigate, or treat adverse effects to historic properties. 
The BLM reached out to consult with the tribes again on November 19, 
2018, with follow up phone calls and emails. On June 21, 2019, the BLM 
sent an update to the tribes on the project and inviting continued 
consultation on the Project.
    In August 2015, the BLM invited jurisdictional 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 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 Final EIS before 
it was available to the public and their comments have been 
incorporated into the document.
    On November 30, 2018, the BLM published a Notice of Availability of 
the Draft EIS in the Federal Register (83 FR 61668) as did the EPA (83 
FR 61632) which started a 45-day comment period. The Draft EIS comment 
period ran from November 30, 2018, until January 14, 2019. However, any 
comments received by the BLM by January 29, 2019, were considered in 
the Final EIS. During the public comment period on the Draft EIS, the 
BLM Fillmore Field Office received 10 comment letters and emails from 
cooperating agencies, local governments, interested parties, and the 
public. The majority of the concerns which were raised through the 
comments included (1) impacts to water resources and water quality 
including adverse effects to: Surface water, groundwater basins, 
existing water rights holders; (2) adverse effects to air quality in 
the form of fugitive dust and the criteria pollutant NO2 
produced during construction and operation of the mine facilities; (3) 
impacts to migratory bird and bat populations; (4) the socioeconomic 
effects of water right acquisition for recharge water; (5) the NEPA 
process including the range of alternatives and alternatives considered 
but not analyzed in detail; (6) lands with wilderness characteristics; 
and (7) impacts to dark night skies.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your protest, you should be 
aware that your entire protest--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your protest 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.

Edwin L. Roberson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2019-15903 Filed 7-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P