[Federal Register: February 13, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 30)]
[Notices]
[Page 7338-7340]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13fe03-11]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Beech Fork Coal Lease and Project Specific Forest Plan Amendment
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement,
a Land Resource Management Plan (LRMP) amendment, issue a call for coal
and other resource information, and notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) will prepare an environmental
impact statement (EIS) to analyze the environmental impacts of leasing
three federal coal reserve tracts. The three tracts total 1,210.44
acres and underlie lands administered by the USFS. The proposed
development of the three federal coal reserve tracts involves
underground mining of coal using room-and-pillar mining methods. No
surface disturbance related to mine openings, haul roads, or processing
will occur on the federal tracts. The tracts are adjacent to an
existing underground coal mine on private lands.
In conjunction with the EIS, a Land Resource Management Plan
Amendment will be prepared in a cooperative effort between the USFS,
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Office of Surface Mining (OSM).
As part of the initiation of the LRMP Amendment, a Call for Coal and
Other Resource Information is being made. This data request solicits
(1) information on the coal resource development potential of the three
proposed tracts and (2) resources that may be affected by coal
development for lands in the project area.
Authority: The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 (MLS) authorizes the
leasing of federal coal in tracts that permit the mining of all
economically extractable coal. The Daniel Boone National Forest Land
Resource Management Plan provides overall guidance for land management
activities, including extraction of mineral resources. The Forest Plan
provides for the consideration of lease proposals in the project area
and directs that special stipulations be used to protect surface
resources. The LRMP Amendment is being prepared to update the 1985
Forest Plan to address leasing of two of the three tracts, as the
Tennessee Valley Authority previously owned them.
Since the passage of the MLA, the federal government has had the
authority to lease minerals on federal lands. The act requires that the
lands be included in a comprehensive land use plan, and the lease be
compatible with the plan and meet the requirements of
[[Page 7339]]
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
Executive Order 13212, May 18, 2001 is intended to improve the
internal management of the federal government in dealing with
processing energy-related projects in a timely manner to aid the flow
of domestic mineral production. The Forest Plan, as noted previously,
identifies standards and guidelines, some of which are applicable to
minerals activities. The Daniel Boone National Forest is presently
preparing a revision to the Forest Plan that will be accompanied by its
own EIS. However, 42 United States Code (USC) Section 885 does not
permit the Secretary of Agriculture to delay processing of lease
applications pending the completion of the revised Forest Plan. The
current Forest Plan guides management of this national forest until the
revised plan is completed and the administrative appeal process has
ended. The Forest Service is publishing this Notice of Intent pursuant
to the Council on Environmental Quality implementing regulations of the
National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1501.7.
Date Comments Are Due: Comments concerning the scope of this
planning project and responses to the Call for Coal and Other Resource
Information must be received by March 15, 2003. The Draft LRMP
Amendment and EIS is expected to be completed in May 2003 and the Final
LRMP Amendment and EIS is expected to be completed in September 2003.
Send Comments to: Submit written comments to Corey Miller, Daniel
Boone National Forest, 1700 Bypass Road, Winchester, KY 40391. Comments
may also be sent by fax at (859) 744-1568; or by electronically to
cmiller09@fs.fed.us.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Corey Miller is the Interdisciplinary
Team Leader for this proposed action. He can be reached by US mail at
the Daniel Boone National Forest, 1700 Bypass Road, Winchester, KY
40391; by phone at (859) 745-3149; or by e-mail at cmiller09@fs.fed.us.
Lead and Cooperating Agencies: The U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service, Daniel Boone National Forest is the lead agency. There
will be two cooperating agencies associated with this project--U.S.
Department of the Interior (USDI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
Jackson Field Office, Jackson, MS and the USDI Office of Surface Mining
(OSM), Lexington, KY.
Responsible Officials: The Forest Supervisor is the responsible
official from the Forest Service for this project. The District
Manager--Jackson Field Office is the responsible official from the BLM
for this project. The Field Office Director--Lexington, Kentucky is the
responsible OSM official for this project.
Decision To Be Made: The responsible official for the Daniel Boone
National Forest will determine if the leasing of federal coal tracts
underlying these National Forest System lands will occur after the LRMP
Amendment and EIS in prepared and what stipulations should be applied
if a lease are issued.
The Bureau of Land Management has the responsibility to address
coal lease applications (coal lease sales) on federal mineral reserves.
In consultation with the USFS, the responsible official for the BLM
will decide whether or not to offer the tracts for competitive leasing,
and under what terms, conditions and stipulations.
The Office of Surface Mining will be responsible for providing
recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior regarding approval,
disapproval, or conditional approval of the mine plan on lands
contained within the federal lease area. If it is determined that there
may be surface impacts resulting from mining in the proposed lease
area, the Office of Surface Mining, with input from the U.S. Forest
Service, will also be responsible for providing recommendations to the
Secretary of the Interior concerning the issuance of findings as to
whether or not the proposed lease and mining areas contain significant
recreational, timber, economic or other values that may be incompatible
with the proposed mining activities.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for the Proposal: The purpose and need for the EIS
is to determine if federal coal will be leased in response to the lease
application submitted for this federal coal. Private coal leases,
permitted by the state, surround the proposed federal coal lease
tracts. The leasing of this coal would allow for the development of the
private and federal coal resources in an economic and efficient manner
and would maximize the recovery of the coal.
Scoping Process: Scoping is the process used to determine the scope
of issues to be addressed and for identifying the significant issues
related to this project. Public involvement is an integral component of
coping. The public will be contacted in several different ways,
provided information about this project, and given an opportunity to
provide input on it. Information will be sent to a mailing list of
individuals, groups, and agencies that are known to have an interest in
this project or have previously expressed an interest in projects of
this nature or general activities in the project area.
In addition to the publication of this Notice of Intent, legal
notices will be published in the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader and the
Manchester (KY) Times.
A Public coping open house meeting will be held at the Leslie
County Extension Office at 22045 Main Street in Hyden, KY on March 10,
2003 from 6 PM to 9 PM.
Additional hearings pursuant to Title 43 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) Section 1610.2 and 43 CFR 3425.4, will be announced
through the Federal Register, local news media and web sites at least
15 days prior to the event.
Preliminary Issues: Preliminary issues of concern include
subsidence, and changes in the local hydrologic regime and water
quality. The potential for surface and ground water resource impacts
will be studied in the EIS.
Preliminary Alternatives: The proposed development of the federal
coal reserve tracts involves an economic and efficient method of mining
the resource. Other preliminary alternatives include the No Action
alternative, which is a rejection of the Proposed Action to mine the
federal coal. The adjoining private coal resource leases that surround
the three federal tracts have been permitted, and the coal underlying
those leases would be mined at a reduced level.
Permits or Licenses Required: A permit is required from the State
Department of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement prior to any
development of coal resources.
Unsuitability Criteria: The information addressing the
Unsuitability Criteria is listed in 43 CFR 3461. Application of the
unsuitability criteria will result in a preliminary review of Daniel
Boone National Forest lands for leasing. The determination relates only
to the specific resources and uses addressed in the 20 unsuitability
criteria. Section 43 CFR 3461.1 provides for an exemption in the
application of the unsuitability criteria. However, in this case the
exemption isn't met, because of the surface impacts resulting from
subsidence from underground mines. The unsuitability criteria will be
addressed in the EIS.
Lands within the project area, which are acceptable for further
leasing consideration after application of the unsuitability criteria
will then be addressed in regards to other resource values and uses
that could be affected by lease issuance.
[[Page 7340]]
Comments Requested: This Notice of Intent initiates the scoping
process that begins the preparation of the EIS. As part of the scoping
process, the USFS is requesting comments on the proposed action.
Comments received will be part of the public record on this project and
will be available for public inspection.
Estimated Dates for DEIS and FEIS: The DEIS is expected to be filed
with the Environmental Protection Agency and to be available for public
review and comment by May 2003. At that time, The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) will publish a Notice of Availability (NOA) of
the DEIS in the Federal Register. The comment period on the DEIS will
be a minimum of 45 days from the date the EPA publishes the NOA in the
Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. Firstly, reviewers
of the draft EIS must structure their participation in the
environmental review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and
alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and concerns (Vermont
Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978)) Also,
environmental objections that could be raised at the draft EIS stage,
but are not raised until after completion of the final EIS, may be
waived or dismissed by the courts (City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris. 490
F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980)). Because of these court rulings,
it is very important that those interested in this project participate
by the close of the scoping comment period, so that substantive
comments are made available to the Forest Service at a time when the
comments can be meaningfully considered and responded to in the final
EIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS should
be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to
specific pages or chapters of the draft EIS. Comments may also address
the adequacy of the draft EIS or the merits of the alternatives
formulated and discussed in the draft EIS. Reviewers may wish to refer
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.
After the comment period ends on the DEIS, the comments will be
analyzed, considered, and responded to by the Forest Service in
preparing the FEIS. The FEIS is scheduled to be completed in September
2003. The responsible official will consider the comments, responses,
environmental consequences discussed in the FEIS, and applicable laws,
regulations, and policies in making a decision regarding this proposed
action.
The responsible official will document the decision and reasons for
the decision in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to
appeal in accordance with 36 CFR part 215.
Dated: February 6, 2003.
Benjamin T. Worthington,
Forest Supervisor, Daniel Boone National Forest.
[FR Doc. 03-3470 Filed 2-12-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M