Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C, the BLM would lease the coal contained within the LBA tract as reconfigured to exclude Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake. An estimated 2.59 million tons of recoverable coal are present on the 940-acre tract under this alternative. At an annual production rate of 200,000 to 400,000 tons of coal per year this equates to a mine life of approximately six to 12 years. Mining methods and elements of coal haulage would be the same under this alternative as under the Proposed Action. The property value and quality of life related impacts of Alternative C would be the same as those discussed in the analysis of impacts of the Proposed Action. The discussion above, particularly in Table 3-11, accounts for the differences between the action alternatives.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C, the BLM would lease the coal contained within the LBA tract as reconfigured to exclude Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake. An estimated 2.59 million tons of recoverable coal are present on the tract under this alternative. At an annual production rate of 200,000 to 400,000 tons of coal per year this equates to a mine life of approximately six to 12 years. Mining methods and elements of coal haulage would be the same under this alternative as under the Proposed Action. As a result, the qualitative nature of impacts under Alternative C are the same as under the Proposed Action. However, estimated GHG emissions would be reduced under Alternative C because the total estimated recoverable coal and the mine life would be reduced compared to the Proposed Action. Table 3-3 reports mine-site GHG emissions, coal haulage GHG emissions via truck, barge and bulk cargo shipping GHG emissions, and end-use coal combustion GHG emissions under Alternative C. Alternative C would add a net amount of 7.8 to 8.4 million metric tons of CO2e to the atmosphere depending on the final destination of the coal. Leasing and mining the LBA tract under Alternative C would contribute well under 1% to state, national, and global emissions.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C the BLM would lease the coal contained within the tract as reconfigured to exclude Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake. Under this alternative, the tract would be mined using room and pillar mining methods, possibly including pillar removal (retreat) mining. The tract under this alternative spans an area approximately 940 acres in extent. The qualitative nature of impacts under Alternative C would be the same as the Proposed Action because the same mining methods would be used to extract coal from the tract. However, the areal extent of the tract under this alternative is 330 acres smaller than under the Proposed Action. In addition, whereas subsidence is not anticipated under Club Lake under the Proposed Action as a result of the need to comply with applicable requirements listed above and in Table 2-1, there is no possibility (even remotely) that subsidence under Club Lake would occur under this alternative. This is because no underground mining under Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake would occur under Alternative C.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C the BLM would lease the coal contained within the tract as reconfigured to exclude Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake. Under this alternative, the tract would be mined using room and pillar mining methods, possibly including pillar removal (retreat) mining. The tract under this alternative spans an area approximately 940 acres in extent. By excluding the coal under Club Lake from the lease tract, the elevation and topography of the lake bottom would not change from its present state because there would be no possibility (even remotely) of subsidence. Furthermore, there would be no mine void below the lake that might possibly drain water from the lake. Mining operations conducted under Alternative C would preserve the integrity of Club Lake but otherwise affect surface water across the LBA tract in the same way as mining operations conducted under the Proposed Action.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C the BLM would lease the coal contained within the tract as reconfigured to exclude Club Lake and the dwellings surrounding Club Lake. Under this alternative, the tract would be mined using room and pillar mining methods, possibly including pillar removal (retreat) mining. The tract under this alternative spans an area approximately 940 acres in extent. Under this alternative, federal coal under Club Lake would remain un-mined, so there would be no mine void, either open or rubble-filled, into which the aquifer (or aquifers) tapped by Club Lake xxxxx might drain. The hydrogeologic setting is such that aquifers beneath the LBA tract and adjacent land are probably isolated. Consequently underground mining outside the Club Lake area is unlikely to affect Club Lake xxxxx. Mining operations conducted under Alternative C would otherwise affect groundwater across the LBA tract and adjacent areas in the same way as mining operations conducted under the Proposed Action.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. The economic impacts of Alternative C would be the same as Alternative B because annual production from the LBA tract is anticipated to be the same under both alternatives. However, the life of mining on the LBA tract would be less under Alternative C because fewer tons of recoverable coal (2.59 million tons versus 3.28 million tons) would be leased under this alternative. This would result in a shorter duration of economic contributions to local economies. The life of mining on the LBA tract under Alternative C would be 6-12 years, compared to 8-16 years for Alternative B. Under Alternative C, annualized economic impacts to Xxxxxxx and Le Flore counties would be positive, but for a shorter length of time, relative to Alternative B.
Impacts of Alternative C – Reduced Tract Acreage. Under Alternative C, the LBA tract would be leased and underground mining methods would be used to produce an estimated 200,000-400,000 tons of bituminous (metallurgical) coal annually. Total recoverable coal from the LBA tract under Alternative C is estimated to be 2,592,000 tons which, depending on the level of annual production, translates to approximately 6-12 years of mining activity associated with the LBA tract as configured under this alternative. On an annual basis the effects of Alternative C would be the same as Alternative B, because annual production from the LBA tract is anticipated to remain constant over the production life of the LBA tract regardless of the alternative (Table 3-13). However, because there is less total available recoverable coal under Alternative C, the production life of the LBA tract would decrease by 2-4 years compared with the Proposed Action.
