Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement March 17, 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is publishing this notice to announce that, consistent with direction from the U.S. District Court of Montana, it will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Navajo Transitional Energy Company's (NTEC) Federal mining plan modification for Federal Coal Lease MTM-94378 (the Project). With this notice, OSMRE also announces that it will hold a public scoping meeting, including a 30-day public scoping period to receive comments on the environmental issues that OSMRE should analyze in this EIS. The Spring Creek Mine (SCM) is located in Big Horn County, Montana, approximately 32 miles from Sheridan, Wyoming. The SCM started operation in 1974 and is expected to continue to operate until at least 2025 under the current approved mining plan. The proposed Project would allow 184.1 acres of additional surface disturbance and recovery of an additional 51.5 million tons (Mt) of Federal coal. Under the proposed Project, SCM would continue to mine approximately 13-18 million tons per year (Mtpy) and the production would extend for an additional 3-4 years, depending on production rates. OSMRE plans to analyze the environmental effects of an annual production rate of 18 Mtpy for 4 additional years of production, which is the maximum estimated future annual production rate. This rate is below the maximum permitted production rate of 30 Mtpy established by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)-Air Quality Division (AQD) Air Quality Permit MAQP #1120-12.