Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Project, Pershing County, NV, 9728-9729 [2025-02670]
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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 18, 2025 / Notices
levels.3 This inflicted real economic
injury on Americans at their most
vulnerable moments—when they
needed medical intervention so
substantial that anesthesia was required.
That conduct, the Complaint alleges,
violated section 2 of the Sherman Act
and section 5 of the FTC Act,4 as well
as section 7 of the Clayton Act.5
I concur in today’s Commission action
because it is a routine law-enforcement
matter embodying a traditional
approach to competition law.6 A reader
might reach a different conclusion given
the agency’s rhetoric in connection with
the public announcement of this
settlement. The press release and the
Chair’s statement both suggest that this
case is extraordinary because it involves
‘‘private equity’’ and ‘‘serial
acquisitions,’’ and hint at antipathy
toward private equity.7
I write to pierce through this
breathless rhetoric to make clear that
this case is an ordinary application of
the most elementary antitrust
principles. That Welsh Carson is a
private equity firm is irrelevant; the
antitrust analysis would be the same if
Welsh Carson were, for example, an
individual or institutional investor.
Section 7 prohibits mergers that may
substantially lessen competition or tend
to create a monopoly.8 In most of our
section 7 cases, we are predicting the
likely effects of a transaction before it
takes place.9 Here, however, we did not
¶¶ 1–4, 13–21, 27–31.
¶¶ 33–34, 37.
5 Id. ¶ 35.
6 See Dissenting Statement of Comm’r Andrew N.
Ferguson, Regarding the Telemarketing Sales Rule,
Matter No. R411001 (Nov. 27, 2024) (‘‘The proper
role of this lame-duck Commission is . . . to hold
down the fort, conduct routine law enforcement,
and provide for an orderly transition to the Trump
Administration. I will vote against all new rules not
required by statute, and any enforcement action that
advances an unprecedented theory of liability until
that transition is complete.’’).
7 Statement of Chair Lina M. Khan, Joined by
Comm’rs Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro
Bedoya, In the Matter of Welsh, Carson, Anderson
& Stowe, Matter No. 2010031 (Jan. 17, 2025); Press
Release, FTC, FTC Secures Settlement with Private
Equity Firm in Antitrust Roll-Up Scheme Case (Jan.
17, 2025).
8 15 U.S.C. 18. Similarly, section 2 of the
Sherman Act has long been understood to prohibit
‘‘merging viable competitors to create a monopoly.’’
Phillip E. Areeda & Herbert Hovenkamp, Antitrust
Law, ¶ 701a (rev. ed. 2024); see also United States
v. Grinnell, 384 U.S. 563, 576 (Sherman Act section
2 violation based in part on acquisitions of
competitors in the central station service business
including burglar alarm services, fire alarm
services, and the like because ‘‘[b]y those
acquisitions it perfected the monopoly power to
exclude competitors and fix prices.’’).
9 FTC v. H.J. Heinz Co., 246 F.3d 708, 713, 727
(D.C. Cir. 2001) (preliminarily enjoining a proposed
merger and explaining that ‘‘Congress has
empowered the FTC, inter alia, to weed out those
mergers whose effect ‘may be substantially to lessen
have to predict anything. Welsh Carson
made acquisitions. As alleged in the
Complaint, those acquisitions
demonstrably created monopoly power
and Welsh Carson wielded that power
to raise prices. That is exactly what
section 7 prohibits anyone from doing.
There is thus no reason for the
Commission to single out private equity
for special treatment.
Similarly, the Chair’s reference to the
2023 Merger Guidelines is a red herring.
The Guidelines provide that ‘‘[a] firm
engages in an anticompetitive pattern or
strategy of multiple acquisitions in the
same or related business lines may
violate Section 7.’’ 10 But section 7 does
not prohibit anticompetitive
‘‘pattern[s]’’ or ‘‘strateg[ies].’’ It
prohibits ‘‘acqui[sitions]’’ ‘‘the effect of
[which] may be substantially to lessen
competition or to tend to create a
monopoly.’’ 11 That is what the
Complaint accuses Welsh Carson of
doing—making acquisitions that in fact
tended to create a monopoly and injured
vulnerable Americans. The public
should disregard my Democratic
colleagues’ rather clumsy attempt to
make a run-of-the-mill enforcement
matter seem like an avant-garde
application of novel provisions of the
2023 Guidelines.12
[FR Doc. 2025–02719 Filed 2–14–25; 8:45 am]
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3 Id.
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4 Id.
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competition’ from those that enhance competition.’’
(quoting H.R. Rep. No. 1142, at 18–19 (1914))); see
also Concurring Statement of Comm’r Andrew N.
Ferguson, Final Premerger Notification Form and
the Hart-Scott-Rodino Rules, Matter No. P239300, at
2 (Oct. 10, 2024) (describing Congress’s intent to
provide for premerger review with the 1976 HartScott-Rodino Act).
10 U.S. Dep’t of Justice & Fed. Trade Comm’n,
Merger Guidelines, at 3, 23 (Dec. 18, 2023).
11 15 U.S.C. 18.
12 The Chair’s reference to the partisan 2022
section 5 Policy Statement for the proposition that
serial acquisitions can present an incipient
violation of the antitrust laws is equally unavailing.
The Complaint charges section 2 and section 7
violations, which section 5 indisputably reaches
even under the Democrats’ own reading of section
5 jurisprudence. FTC, Policy Statement Regarding
the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition Under
Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, at
12 (Nov. 10, 2022) (‘‘examples of conduct that have
been found to violate Section 5 include: Practices
deemed to violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman
Act or the provisions of the Clayton Act, as
amended (the antitrust laws)’’).
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4540000379]
Notice of Availability of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for
the Proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine
Project, Pershing County, NV
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:
In compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
announces the availability of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
for Solidus Resources, LLC’s (Solidus)
Spring Valley Gold Mine Project
(Project) in Pershing County, Nevada.
DATES: To afford the BLM the
opportunity to consider comments in
the Final EIS, please ensure the BLM
receives your comments within 45 days
following the date the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its
Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft
EIS in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS and
associated documents are available for
review on the BLM project website at
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/
project/2030469/510.
Written comments related to the
Spring Valley Mine Project may be
submitted by any of the following
methods:
• Project website: https://
eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/
project/2030469/510.
• Email: blm_nv_wdo_spring_valley_
gold_mine@blm.gov.
• Mail: BLM Humboldt River Field
Office, Attn: Spring Valley Mine Project,
5100 East Winnemucca Blvd.,
Winnemucca, Nevada 89445.
Documents pertinent to this proposal
may be examined at the Humboldt River
Field Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robert Sevon, Project Manager,
telephone: (775) 623–1500; address:
5100 East Winnemucca Boulevard,
Winnemucca, Nevada 89445; email:
blm_nv_wdo_spring_valley_gold_mine@
blm.gov. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may
dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to
access telecommunications relay
services for contacting Mr. Robert
Sevon, Project Manager. Individuals
outside the United States should use the
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\18FEN1.SGM
18FEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 18, 2025 / Notices
relay services offered within their
country to make international calls to
the point-of-contact in the United
States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for the Proposed
Action
The BLM’s purpose is to respond to
Solidus’s proposal as described in the
Plan of Operations (Plan) and the
applicable rights-of-way (ROWs)
applications and to analyze the
environmental effects associated with
the Proposed Action and alternatives to
the Proposed Action, consider
reasonable alternatives, and develop
and consider mitigation of
environmental impacts.
The BLM’s need for the action is
established by the BLM’s
responsibilities under the surface
management regulations at 43 CFR part
3809 and under section 302(b) of
FLPMA, including title V regarding
ROWs (43 CFR part 2800), to respond to
a request for a surface use authorization
under a Plan of Operations and to take
any action necessary to prevent
unnecessary or undue degradation of
public lands as a result of the actions
taken to prospect, explore, assess,
develop, and process mineral resources
that are subject to disposal under the
mining laws on public lands.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Proposed Action and Alternative
Under the proposed Plan of
Operations, Solidus is proposing to
construct, operate, close, and reclaim a
new surface gold mine within the Buena
Vista Valley along the eastern part of the
Humboldt Range approximately 20
miles northeast of Lovelock, Nevada,
and 70 miles southwest of Winnemucca,
Nevada.
The proposed Spring Valley Gold
Mine Plan boundary would encompass
14,623 acres. The total disturbance
associated with the Proposed Action,
including exploration and the new mine
operation would be 6,232 acres, with
4,123 acres on land administered by the
BLM and 2,109 acres on private land.
The proposed surface mining activities
for the Spring Valley Gold Mine would
include:
• One open pit and associated haul
roads;
• Three waste rock facilities;
• A heap leach facility including a
lined pad, process solution ponds,
carbon processing and refining facilities;
• Ancillary facilities including pit
dewatering facilities with a rapid
infiltration basin system, crushing
circuit and an ore stockpiles, secondary
roads, stormwater controls and
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diversions, mine fleet shop, explosives
storage, truck shop, refueling area, mine
offices, parking areas, yards, storage
areas, an aggregate plant, power
distribution, a used materials pad,
freshwater distribution, potable water
system, fire water system, sewage
system, communications facilities, fuel
storage and distribution facilities,
monitoring wells, water pipelines,
laydown yards, wildlife and range
fencing, growth media stockpiles, and
livestock water developments.
• Exploration activities of up to 50
acres would occur anywhere within the
proposed Plan boundary.
In addition to the Plan, two Plans of
Development (POD) are connected to
the proposed action. One POD has been
submitted by NV Energy and the other
POD was submitted by the Pershing
County Road Department (Pershing
County) that are required to support the
Plan. The Pershing County POD
proposes to modify the existing Spring
Valley Road with removal of a portion
of the road, realignment around the
proposed mining operation, and
improvement of portions of the existing
road. The NV Energy POD proposes to
realign portions of two 345 kilovolt (kV)
transmission lines, and to construct a
new 120-kV transmission line. These
two PODs combined would disturb an
additional 164 acres, with 102 acres on
land administered by the BLM and 62
acres on private land.
The project would employ a
workforce of approximately 130
employees during the initial two-year
construction period and approximately
250 full-time employees for the
operations period. The proposed Project
would operate 24 hours per day, 365
days per year. The total life of the
Project would be 29 years, including
two years of construction, 11 years of
mining, three additional years of ore
processing, and 13 years of reclamation
and closure activities. Reclamation of
disturbed areas resulting from mining
operations would be completed in
accordance with BLM and Nevada
Division of Environmental Protection
regulations. Concurrent reclamation
would take place where practicable and
safe.
Under the No Action Alternative, the
development of the Spring Valley Mine
Plan and associated ROWs would not be
authorized and Solidus would not
construct a new surface mine.
Public Participation
Public meetings to discuss the Draft
EIS will be announced, including when
and where, and will be posted on the
BLM’s Spring Valley Gold Mine Project
website.
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9729
The purpose of public review of the
Draft EIS is to provide an opportunity
for meaningful collaborative public
engagement and for the public to
provide substantive comments, such as
identification of factual errors, data
gaps, relevant methods, or scientific
studies. The BLM will respond to
substantive comments by making
appropriate revisions to the Draft EIS or
explaining why a comment did not
warrant a change.
The BLM will continue to use and
coordinate the Draft EIS review process
to help fulfill the public involvement
requirements under the National
Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C.
306108) as provided in 36 CFR
800.2(d)(3). The information about
historic and cultural resources within
the area potentially affected by the
Proposed Action will assist the BLM in
identifying and evaluating impacts to
such resources.
Tribal concerns, including impacts on
Indian trust assets and treaty rights and
potential impacts to cultural resources,
will be given due consideration.
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 1501.9 and 1501.10, 40
CFR 1506.10)
Cara Lee Macdonald,
Chief of Staff, exercising the delegated
authority of the Assistant Secretary, Land and
Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2025–02670 Filed 2–14–25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331–21–P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
Notice of Receipt of Complaint;
Solicitation of Comments Relating to
the Public Interest
U.S. International Trade
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. International Trade
Commission has received a complaint
entitled Certain Glow Fish Tape
Systems, Safety Helmet Systems, and
Components Thereof, DN 3806; the
Commission is soliciting comments on
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\18FEN1.SGM
18FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9728-9729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02670]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4540000379]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Project, Pershing
County, NV
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) for Solidus Resources, LLC's (Solidus) Spring Valley Gold Mine
Project (Project) in Pershing County, Nevada.
DATES: To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the
Final EIS, please ensure the BLM receives your comments within 45 days
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes
its Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft EIS in the Federal
Register.
ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS and associated documents are available for
review on the BLM project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510.
Written comments related to the Spring Valley Mine Project may be
submitted by any of the following methods:
Project website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2030469/510.
Email: [email protected].
Mail: BLM Humboldt River Field Office, Attn: Spring Valley
Mine Project, 5100 East Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, Nevada 89445.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the
Humboldt River Field Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Sevon, Project Manager,
telephone: (775) 623-1500; address: 5100 East Winnemucca Boulevard,
Winnemucca, Nevada 89445; email:
[email protected]. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech
disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services for contacting Mr. Robert Sevon,
Project Manager. Individuals outside the United States should use the
[[Page 9729]]
relay services offered within their country to make international calls
to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The BLM's purpose is to respond to Solidus's proposal as described
in the Plan of Operations (Plan) and the applicable rights-of-way
(ROWs) applications and to analyze the environmental effects associated
with the Proposed Action and alternatives to the Proposed Action,
consider reasonable alternatives, and develop and consider mitigation
of environmental impacts.
The BLM's need for the action is established by the BLM's
responsibilities under the surface management regulations at 43 CFR
part 3809 and under section 302(b) of FLPMA, including title V
regarding ROWs (43 CFR part 2800), to respond to a request for a
surface use authorization under a Plan of Operations and to take any
action necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of public
lands as a result of the actions taken to prospect, explore, assess,
develop, and process mineral resources that are subject to disposal
under the mining laws on public lands.
Proposed Action and Alternative
Under the proposed Plan of Operations, Solidus is proposing to
construct, operate, close, and reclaim a new surface gold mine within
the Buena Vista Valley along the eastern part of the Humboldt Range
approximately 20 miles northeast of Lovelock, Nevada, and 70 miles
southwest of Winnemucca, Nevada.
The proposed Spring Valley Gold Mine Plan boundary would encompass
14,623 acres. The total disturbance associated with the Proposed
Action, including exploration and the new mine operation would be 6,232
acres, with 4,123 acres on land administered by the BLM and 2,109 acres
on private land. The proposed surface mining activities for the Spring
Valley Gold Mine would include:
One open pit and associated haul roads;
Three waste rock facilities;
A heap leach facility including a lined pad, process
solution ponds, carbon processing and refining facilities;
Ancillary facilities including pit dewatering facilities
with a rapid infiltration basin system, crushing circuit and an ore
stockpiles, secondary roads, stormwater controls and diversions, mine
fleet shop, explosives storage, truck shop, refueling area, mine
offices, parking areas, yards, storage areas, an aggregate plant, power
distribution, a used materials pad, freshwater distribution, potable
water system, fire water system, sewage system, communications
facilities, fuel storage and distribution facilities, monitoring wells,
water pipelines, laydown yards, wildlife and range fencing, growth
media stockpiles, and livestock water developments.
Exploration activities of up to 50 acres would occur
anywhere within the proposed Plan boundary.
In addition to the Plan, two Plans of Development (POD) are
connected to the proposed action. One POD has been submitted by NV
Energy and the other POD was submitted by the Pershing County Road
Department (Pershing County) that are required to support the Plan. The
Pershing County POD proposes to modify the existing Spring Valley Road
with removal of a portion of the road, realignment around the proposed
mining operation, and improvement of portions of the existing road. The
NV Energy POD proposes to realign portions of two 345 kilovolt (kV)
transmission lines, and to construct a new 120-kV transmission line.
These two PODs combined would disturb an additional 164 acres, with 102
acres on land administered by the BLM and 62 acres on private land.
The project would employ a workforce of approximately 130 employees
during the initial two-year construction period and approximately 250
full-time employees for the operations period. The proposed Project
would operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The total life of
the Project would be 29 years, including two years of construction, 11
years of mining, three additional years of ore processing, and 13 years
of reclamation and closure activities. Reclamation of disturbed areas
resulting from mining operations would be completed in accordance with
BLM and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection regulations.
Concurrent reclamation would take place where practicable and safe.
Under the No Action Alternative, the development of the Spring
Valley Mine Plan and associated ROWs would not be authorized and
Solidus would not construct a new surface mine.
Public Participation
Public meetings to discuss the Draft EIS will be announced,
including when and where, and will be posted on the BLM's Spring Valley
Gold Mine Project website.
The purpose of public review of the Draft EIS is to provide an
opportunity for meaningful collaborative public engagement and for the
public to provide substantive comments, such as identification of
factual errors, data gaps, relevant methods, or scientific studies. The
BLM will respond to substantive comments by making appropriate
revisions to the Draft EIS or explaining why a comment did not warrant
a change.
The BLM will continue to use and coordinate the Draft EIS review
process to help fulfill the public involvement requirements under the
National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 306108) as provided in 36
CFR 800.2(d)(3). The information about historic and cultural resources
within the area potentially affected by the Proposed Action will assist
the BLM in identifying and evaluating impacts to such resources.
Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and
treaty rights and potential impacts to cultural resources, will be
given due consideration.
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 1501.9 and 1501.10, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Cara Lee Macdonald,
Chief of Staff, exercising the delegated authority of the Assistant
Secretary, Land and Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 2025-02670 Filed 2-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-21-P
