Environmental Impact Statement for the South Porcupine Coal Lease Application WYW176095. Record of Decision.

摘要

On September 29, 2006, BTU Western Resources, Inc. (BTU), a subsidiary of Peabody Energy Corporation (PEC), filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for Federal coal reserves in three maintenance tracts encompassing approximately 5,116.65 acres and 598 million tons of coal as estimated by the applicant. The tracts are located west, northwest, and north of and immediately adjacent to the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Campbell County, Wyoming. The mine is operated by Powder River Coal, LLC (PRC), a subsidiary of PEC. The application was made pursuant to the Leasing on Application regulations found in the Code of Federal Regulations at 43 CFR Subpart 3425.1. On October 12, 2007, BTU filed a request with the BLM to modify its application and increase the lease area and coal volume to approximately 8,981.74 acres and 1,179.1 million tons of coal. BLM reviewed the modified tract configuration and notified the company that their application had been modified. BLM determined that the application would be processed as two separate maintenance tracts and, if decisions were made to lease the tracts, a separate competitive lease sale would be held for each tract. Located approximately 12 miles southeast of Wright, the two nominated tracts on the north side of the mine were combined and are referred to as the North Porcupine Lease By Application (LBA) tract with assigned case file number WYW173408. Located approximately 14 miles southeast of Wright, the remaining nominated tract on the west side of the mine is referred to as the South Porcupine LBA tract with assigned case file number WYW176095.