The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the effects of the Black Mesa Project.

Black Mesa Project Draft EIS

Newsletter - Black Mesa Project EIS Update  [4.22 MB, ]

NEW Reopened Comment Period Closes on July 7, 2008

The reopened comment period for the Black Mesa Project draft EIS closes on July 7, 2008.  OSMRE has 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 has decided not to suspend or extend the reopened comment period.  OSMRE states the reasons for its decision in the following letter.

If you have any comments on the draft EIS, you should submit them so that they are received by OSMRE by 4 p.m., m.d.t., on July 7, 2008.  (See the OSMRE Federal Register below for instructions on how to submit comments.)  There is no need to resubmit comments previously sent on the draft EIS.  OSMRE will consider these comments as it prepares the final EIS.

OSM is working 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, are 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, has 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 will continue to analyze these project components in the final EIS under alternative A, OSMRE will be designating alternative B as the proposed project and preferred alternative.

As explained in the Federal Register notice below, OSMRE is 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 opens on May 23, 2008, and closes on July 7, 2008.

Peabody Western Coal Company is now funding the remaining work on the EIS.

• 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
  
  

• 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 Mines Life Of Mine Revision, which were also considered as EIS scoping comments.
  

• Council on Environmental Quality Regulations
  (40 CFR Part 1500)
  
• Department of the Interior (DOI) Departmental Manual
  (Go to Part 516 NEPA Implementation)
  
• DOI Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance Environmental Statement Memoranda
  
• OSMRE NEPA Handbook (OSM Directive REG-1) [1.50MB, ]