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BLACK MESA PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is the lead Federal agency for the Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) analyzing the effects of the Black Mesa Project.
Black Mesa Project Final EIS
On November 7, 2008, OSMRE and the U.S. Environmental Protection agency separately announced in the Federal Register availability of the final EIS for the Black Mesa Project.
The proposed project consists of minor modifications of the mining and reclamation plans for Peabody Western Coal Company’s Kayenta Mine at the Black Mesa Complex, which supplies 8.5 million tons of coal per year to the Navajo Generating Station at Page, Arizona, and incorporation of the surface facilities and coal reserves of the adjacent Black Mesa Mine, which previously supplied coal to the Mohave Generating Station at Laughlin, Nevada, into the Kayenta mine permit.
If the project is approved as proposed, the existing facilities and unmined coal reserves within the area where the Black Mesa Mine previously operated would be added to the permit for the Kayenta Mine. In addition, water consumption at the Complex would be reduced from previous levels to an average of 1,236 acre-feet of Navajo aquifer water per year for mining-related and domestic purposes. When the coal-slurry operations were supplying coal to the Mohave Generating Station, about 4,400 acre-feet of Navajo aquifer water were being used each year.
Issuance of the final EIS completes a National Environmental Policy Act process that started 4 years ago. Largely because of concerns about proposed use of ground water for mining and associated operations, OSM received over 18,000 comments on the draft EIS that it issued in November 2006.
The Black Mesa Project, as originally proposed in early 2004 and analyzed in the draft EIS, included those operations associated with supplying coal to both the Navajo Generating Station and the Mohave Generating Station. The operations proposed for supplying coal to the Mohave Generating Station, which had suspended operation in December 2005, included resumption of operations of an existing coal slurry preparation plant at the Black Mesa Mine Complex; reconstruction of an existing 273-mile long coal-slurry pipeline from the coal slurry preparation plant to the Mohave Generating Station; and construction of a new water-supply system and a new 108-mile long water-supply pipeline from a new well field in the Coconino aquifer near Leupp, Arizona, to the mine complex.
Following issuance of the draft EIS, the owners of the Mohave Generating Station suspended attempts to reopen the power plant. Subsequently, Peabody amended its OSM permit application by removing the proposed operations associated with supplying coal to the power plant - specifically, production of 6.35 million tons of coal to feed the power plant, construction of a coal wash plant and coal waste disposal site, construction of a new coal haul road and pumping Navajo aquifer water up to an average of 2,000 acre-feet per year for the coal slurry operation whenever the proposed new Coconino aquifer water-supply system was inoperable for whatever reason.
Federal Register Notices Announcing Availability of the Final EIS
OSMRE
[50KB, ]
Environmental Protection Agency
[47KB, ]
Reopened Comment Period Closed on July 7, 2008
The reopened comment period for the Black Mesa Project draft EIS closed on July 7, 2008. OSMRE received a number of requests to suspend or extend the reopened comment period, including the following June 13, 2008, letter request from the Natural Resources Defense Council and others. In response to these requests, OSM decided not to suspend or extend the reopened comment period. OSMRE states the reasons for its decision in the following letter.
NRDC's and Others' Request
[47 KB,
]
OSM's Response to NRDC's and Others' Request
[80 KB,
]
Newsletter - Black Mesa Project EIS Update
[4.22 MB,
]
Restart of work on EIS
OSM restarting work on the final EIS again after a 1-year delay.
On May 18, 2007, OSMRE suspended work on the final EIS when Southern California Edison terminated funding of the EIS because it had not found new owners for the Mohave Generating Station who would restart the power plant. The power plant has not operated since December 2005.
The Mohave Generating Station itself has never been a part of the proposed Black Mesa Project, but several components of the proposed project as it existed prior to May 18, 2007, were dependent upon the power plant for their existence – the Black Mesa Mine, the coal slurry preparation plant, the coal-slurry pipeline, and proposed Coconino water-supply system.
Peabody Western Coal Company, the sole supplier of coal to the Mohave Generating Station, notified OSMRE that the chances are remote of the power plant ever reopening. Therefore, the chances are also unlikely that the Black Mesa Mine will resume coal production to feed the power plant, the existing coal slurry preparation plant will be permitted, the coal-slurry pipeline will be rebuilt, and the new Coconino water-supply system will be built.
While OSMRE continued to analyze these project components in the final EIS under alternative A, OSMRE designated alternative B as the proposed project and preferred alternative.
As explained in the Federal Register notice below, OSMRE to reopening the comment period on the draft EIS issued November 22, 2006, to allow interested persons the opportunity to comment on the draft EIS, especially alternative B, which is now the proposed project and preferred alternative. The reopened comment period opened on May 23, 2008, and closed on July 7, 2008.
Federal Register Notices Announcing Reopened Comment Period on Draft EIS
OSMRE [54KB, ]
Environmental Protection Agency
[55KB, ]
Federal Register Notices Announcing Extended Comment Period on Draft EIS
OSMRE [52KB, ]
Environmental Protection Agency [58KB, ]
Federal Register Notices Announcing Availability of the Draft EIS for Comment
OSMRE (Original) [53KB, ]
Environmental Protection Agency
[53KB, ]
Public Meetings
Public Meetings Locations, Dates, and Times[12KB,
]
Public Meetings Procedures
[22KB, ]
Black Mesa Project Draft EIS
Black Mesa Project
The
Black Mesa Project, as analyzed in the draft EIS,
[29KB,
]
includes:
- Peabody Western Coal Company’s proposed operation and reclamation plans
for the Black Mesa and Kayenta coal mines
- Black Mesa Pipeline’s proposed operation and reclamation plan for the Coal
Slurry Preparation Plant at the Black Mesa mine
- the reconstruction of Black Mesa Pipelines 273-mile long Coal Slurry
Pipeline across northern Arizona from the Coal Slurry Preparation Plant to
the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada
- the construction and operation of water wells in the Coconino aquifer
northwest of Winslow, Arizona
- the construction and operation of a water supply pipeline running about
120 miles across the Navajo and Hopi Reservations from the wells to the Coal
Slurry Preparation Plant.
PROJECT AREA MAP[416KB, JPG]
The Black Mesa Project Area Map shows the general locations of the mines and
preparation plant, the coal slurry pipeline, the proposed waters wells, and
the proposed water pipeline.
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LIFE OF MINE PERMIT APPLICATION
The permit revision application for the Black Mesa and Kayenta Mines
contains detailed maps and descriptions of the operation and reclamation
plans.
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PREP PLANT PERMIT APPLICATION
[16MB, ]
Black Mesa Pipeline's Preparation Plant Permit Application contains maps and
descriptions of the operation and reclamation plans for the Black Mesa Preparation Plant.
(Very large file)
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Cooperators
The Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of
Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA); U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS),
County of Mohave, Arizona; and City of Kingman, Arizona will cooperate with
OSMRE in the preparation of the EIS. Under applicable laws, OSMRE and the
cooperators would need to make
several decisions
[10KB, ]
on whether to approve various aspects of the Black Mesa and Kayenta Mines
life-of-mine revision, the Coal Slurry Preparation Plant, the Coal Slurry
Pipeline, and the C-aquifer Water Supply System.
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Scoping
OSMRE prepared a
report
[14MB, ]
summarizing the scoping process and public scoping comments.
On December 1, 2004, OSMRE published in the Federal Register (69 FR 69951) a
Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS and to hold public meetings on the scope
of the EIS and significant issues that should be addressed in the EIS. In
the notice, OSMRE announced a public comment period that ended on January 21,
2005. During the first two weeks of January 2005, OSMRE held eight scoping
meetings at the following locations.
- Saint Michaels, Arizona
- Forest Lake, Arizona
- Kayenta, Arizona
- Kykotsmovi, Arizona
- Leupp, Arizona
- Kingman, Arizona
- Laughlin, Nevada
- Flagstaff, Arizona
Due to inclement weather and the inability of some persons to attend the
public meeting at Forest Lake, Arizona, on January 4, 2005, OSMRE on February
4, 2005, published a Federal Register notice (70 FR 6036), extended the
public comment period to March 4, 2005, and held two additional meetings at
Forest Lake on February 18 and 19, 2005.
More than 720 persons attended the public meetings. In addition to the
public meetings, OSMRE met with representatives from the Arizona
Ethnobotanical Research Association, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Indigenous
Environmental Network, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club,
To’Nizhoni Ani, and the Western Navajo Farm Bureau on January 14, 2005, to
answer questions about the proposed project and EIS and permitting
processes, and to obtain their comments about the scope of the EIS. OSMRE also
met with union workers at the Black Mesa and Kayenta Mines on February 17,
2005, to answer questions about the proposed project and EIS and permitting
processes, and to obtain their comments about the scope of the EIS.
During the announced public comment periods, OSMRE received comments in the
form of:
- 351 written submittals (letters, comment forms, and e-mails).
- Oral comments of 237 speakers at the public meetings.
- 2,600 (mostly form-letter) comments on the Kayenta and Black Mesa MinesLife Of Mine Revision,
which were also considered as EIS scoping comments.
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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Requirements and Guidance
The following documents contain requirements and guidance for the
preparation of Environmental Impact Statements:
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1990 Environmental Impact Statement Documents
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Web Page: DATE POSTED October 1, 2008
DATE LAST MODIFIED: November 21, 2008
DATE LAST REVIEWED: November 21, 2008
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