SWEETWATER COUNTY — The Bureau of Land Management Kemmerer Field Office kicked off the public comment period on an environmental assessment for support features for the Project West trona mine being proposed between Green River and Granger.
The public comment period, known as the public scoping period, ends April 19. During this time, the BLM seeks public input about the potential impacts development of features supporting the trona mine and processing facility will have. After the deadline, the agency will review the comments and identify potential issues that will need to be addressed in the environmental assessment it will draft. The field office anticipates that draft will be prepared in May, which will start a second 30-day public comment period for the environmental assessment. Following that, the agency will review the comments and issue a Finding of No Significant Impacts or an Environmental Impact Statement based on the findings in the environmental assessment and the public comments.
The mine will use a solution mining process to dissolve trona and pump the resulting brine back to the surface for processing at a plant that will be located west of Little America and near the Granger Junction. According to BLM documents, the mine will have a 20-inch water pipeline to the Green River to provide water to the facility and used to create the injection fluid. There will be two 32-inch fluid transportation pipelines used for fluid injection and brine transportation, with possible pipeline extensions at corner crossings within the mining area. There will be a primary access road to the facility, and a rail spur from the plant to the main Union Pacific line.
Wildlife impacts are a concern for the BLM as the support features needed for the mine are near known sage grouse leks and fall within known winter migration routes. Lamborn said the BLM is working with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to address potential impacts to wildlife and said wildlife surveys have already been completed.
Much of the land involved with the Project West proposal is within the Kemmerer Field Office’s jurisdiction, but some falls within the Rock Springs Field Office’s jurisdiction. Kelly Lamborn, the project manager for the Kemmerer Field Office, said the proposal would adhere to the existing resource management plan, but if the proposed management plan and the BLM’s preferred management alternative is enacted during the environmental assessment process for Project West, that will be the guideline used by the field office.
“We’re all kind of waiting to see what happens there,” Lamborn said.
Brandon Teppo, the acting BLM field manager in Kemmerer, said a comment shouldn’t be considered a vote for or against the proposal and comments should be as detailed as possible. A guide to making a substantive BLM comment can be found here. Public comments can be submitted to the BLM through its Eplanning page.
