BLM decision on Powder River Basin coal tract under 30-day review
— May 1, 2013
The Record of Decision (ROD) for the Buckskin Mine Hay Creek II Coal Lease Application is now available from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming State Office in Cheyenne and the Wyoming High Plains District Office in Casper.
On March 24, 2006, Kiewit Mining Group Inc, filed an application with BLM for a maintenance tract of federal coal adjacent to the Buckskin Mine in Campbell County, Wyo. This tract, which was applied for as a lease by application (LBA) under the provisions of 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3425.1, is called the Hay Creek II Tract.
The BLM approves Alternative 2, which is the preferred alternative of the Final EIS for the Buckskin Mine Hay Creek II Coal Lease Application. Under Alternative 2, the Hay Creek II Coal LBA area, as modified by the BLM, includes 1,253.27 acres, more or less, and contains 167,001,577 million tons of mineable coal, as estimated by the BLM. The coal in the tract would potentially extend the life of the mine by as many as eight years at the anticipated production rate.
The competitive coal lease sale will be announced in the Federal Register at a later date.
The EIS disclosed to the public direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of issuing a federal coal lease in in the Wyoming portion of the Powder River Basin.
This decision is subject to appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) as provided in 43 CFR 4 within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice of availability in the Federal Register. The ROD contains instructions for filing an appeal with the IBLA.
Copies of the ROD are available for public inspection online. For more information contact Teresa Johnson or Al Elser at (307) 261-7600.