The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service (FS) will direct preparation of a third-party Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to document the analysis and disclose the environmental effects of proposed actions to offer the Iron Point and Elk Creek Coal Lease Tracts for competitive bidding and the Iron Point Coal Exploration license for exploration drilling in accordance with 43 CFR parts 3425 and part 3410. The BLM will be the lead agency for preparation of the EIS and the FS will be a joint lead agency. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) will participate as a cooperating agency. The original application for coal lease was filed in August 1997 by Bowie Resources Limited (Bowie) requesting the BLM to offer for competitive lease for approximately 3,403.27 acres of federal coal in Delta County, Colorado. It was designated the Iron Point Tract. In December 1997, the BLM received a competitive lease application from Oxbow Mining, Inc. (Oxbow), requesting for competitive lease approximately 3,702.81 acres of federal coal in Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado. The Tract delineation by the Uncompahgre Field Office resulted in the addition of 160 acres of federal coal for a total of 3,862.81 acres. This tract was designated the Elk Creek Tract. In addition, Bowie Resources, LTD submitted an application for a coal exploration license on unleased lands adjacent to the above coal lease application areas. The exploration lands contain approximately 6,053.00 acres. Lands affected by these applications are managed by both the BLM and Forest Service. Separate Environmental Assessments (EA) were completed on the two lease applications, but not on the exploration license. As part of the NEPA public process, the BLM and USFS subsequently determined that the requirements of NEPA would be best served by preparing a single EIS for these coal applications.
Knowledge graph centered on Notice of Intent with 61 nodes and 60 connections. Top connected: Bureau of Land Management (implied via Federal Register), United States Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service (Uncompahgre National Forest), United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), U.S. Forest Service (Taylor River District).
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