[Federal Register: November 1, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 211)]
[Notices]
[Page 61871-61872]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01no07-45]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
for Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation's Solar Evaporation Pond
Expansion Project Within the Great Salt Lake, Box Elder County, UT
AGENCY: Department of the Army; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Sacramento District,
will prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Corps
authorization actions for the proposed Great Salt Lake Minerals Solar
Evaporation Ponds Expansion project. The overall project purpose is to
expand extraction capability for potassium at the Great Salt Lake
Mineral Corporation's facilities. The proposed expansion would add
approximately 33,000 acres of solar evaporative ponds, impacting
approximately 30,713.75 acres of waters of the United States, and
reducing the need to import raw potassium from other sources. The DEIS
will address impacts such as wildlife habitat, water quality, Great
Salt Lake water elevations, wetlands, hydrology, cultural resources,
transportation, endangered species and industry.
DATES: The projected date for public release of the DEIS is October
2008. Three public scoping meetings will be held. The first scoping
meeting will be held on November 7, 2007 from 5-9 p.m. The second
public meeting will be on November 8, 2007 from 5-9 p.m. The third
meeting will be held on November 14, 2007 from 5-9 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The November 7 meeting will be held at South Davis Junior
High School, 298 West 2600 South, Bountiful, Utah. The November 8
meeting will be held at the Ogden Nature Center, 966 W.
[[Page 61872]]
12th Street, Ogden, Utah. The November 14 meeting will be held at the
Airport Inn Hotel, 2333 W. North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Written comments may be mailed to Mr. Jason Gipson, 533 West 2600
South, Suite 150, Bountiful, Utah 84010. All comments must be received
on or before December 2, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposed action
and the DEIS should be directed to the Corps project manager, Mr. Jason
Gipson at 801-295-8380 x14, or e-mail at jason.a.gipson@usace.army.mil.
Please refer to identification number 200700121.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation (GSLM)
has applied for Department of the Army authorization under Section 404
of the Clean Water Act. The project as proposed may also require other
Federal, State and local authorizations including Utah State Public
Lands Lease Agreements.
Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation currently operates
approximately 43,000 acres of evaporative ponds located on the east and
west shores of the Great Salt Lake. A 21,000-acre evaporation facility
is located on the west shore of the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake
and a 22,000-acre evaporation facility is located on the east shore of
the Bear River Bay. The existing solar evaporation ponds facilities are
located within the Great Salt Lake, i.e., the ponds are located below
4205 mean sea level, which is below the high water mark of the Great
Salt Lake. These facilities allow the Corporation to extract about one-
half of the potassium needed in their production of potassium sulfate.
The company draws naturally occurring brine from the lake into shallow
ponds and allows solar evaporation to produce sulfate of potash, as
well as salt and magnesium chloride minerals. Sulfate of potash is a
specialty fertilizer that improves the yield and quality of high-value
crops such as fruits, vegetables, tea, tree nuts and turf grasses. The
Great Salt Lake facility has operated on the lake for 40 years. At
present, the remainder of the potassium is imported from other sources.
The proposed expansion of the solar ponds will allow Great Salt Lake
Minerals to reduce or discontinue their reliance on imported potassium.
The applicant is proposing to construct three additional solar
evaporation ponds totaling approximately 33,000 acres. The proposed
project includes an 8,000-acre pond on the east side of the Great Salt
Lake in the Bear River Bay. Brine would be pumped to and from the new
pond with existing pump stations; however, the capacity of these pump
stations would be increased proportional to the new pond acreage.
Additional feed brine for this new pond would come from the North Arm
of the Great Salt Lake (Gunnison Bay), flowing through existing east
side ponds.
In addition, on the west side of the lake, two new solar ponds
would be added to the existing west side complex, an 18,000-acre
Dolphin Island expansion pond and a 7,000-acre pond at the southern end
of Clyman Bay between the Union Pacific Railway and several existing
ponds. A new feed canal into the lake and a new pump station would be
constructed on the north end of the proposed Dolphin Island pond.
Diesel driven pumps, similar to those currently in use, would pump
brine from the new feed canal to the new pond. Existing pumps would be
used to pump brine from the new pond to an existing pond. The total
25,000-acre pond expansion on the west side would increase the
concentration of brine transferred to an existing gravity-flow trench
for transport to the east ponds in the Bear River Bay.
Dikes would be built to accommodate the pond expansion and impound
the waters of the respective areas. On the east side of the lake
approximately 540,000 cubic yards of fill would be discharged into Bear
River Bay to create the dikes. On the west side of the lake, dike
construction would require approximately 900,000 cubic yards of fill to
be discharged into open water in the vicinity of Clyman Bay.
The proposed project areas currently include saline open water,
sporadically inundated playa lakebed, seasonally flooded playa, saline
wetlands, rip-rapped dikes and sandy upland habitats. These areas are
located adjacent to the existing evaporation pond facilities. The Corps
of Engineers verified a delineation on October 10, 2007 which
identified approximately 34,180.08 acres of waters of the United
States, including 21.4 acres of saline wet meadow wetlands, 1,102.94
acres of seasonally inundated playa above the high water mark of the
western side of the Great Salt Lake and 33,055.74 acres of seasonally
or sporadically inundated playa lake bed below the high water mark of
the Lake. The applicant asserts that approximately 30,713.75 acres of
waters would be lost due to project construction under the proposed
alternative.
The applicant has not proposed compensatory mitigation for project
impacts. The determination of appropriate compensatory mitigation will
be determined through public scoping and impact analysis of the EIS
process.
The proposed project will not affect any Federally-listed
threatened or endangered species, however, it may affect state-listed
special status species. Once a habitat assessment of the areas has been
completed, the Corps will consult with state and Federal wildlife
agencies. The Corps will also consult with the State Historic
Preservation Officer under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act for properties listed or potentially eligible for
listing on the National Register of Historic Places, as appropriate.
A number of on-site and off-site alternatives, including the no
action alternative, will be evaluated in the DEIS in accordance with
NEPA and the Section 404(b)(1) guidelines.
As part of the Corps 404 permitting process, three pre-application
interagency meetings were held to provide information and identify
issues and concerns. In addition, a meeting was held with local
environmental organizations for the same purposes. Preliminary issues
identified as part of this process include: Water quality, heavy
metals, nutrient loading, fresh water exchange, changes in salinity,
and brine shrimp habitat and economic issues. Additionally, potential
avian impacts were identified to waterfowl, shorebirds, and raptors
including the American white pelican, snowy plover, Canada goose, and
others.
The above determinations are based on information provided by the
applicant and upon the Corps' preliminary review. The Corps is
soliciting verbal and written comments from the public, Federal, States
and local agencies and officials, Native American tribes, and other
interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of
this proposed activity. The Corps' public involvement program includes
multiple opportunities for interested parties to provide written and
oral comments. Affected Federal, State, local agencies, Indian tribes,
and other interested private organizations and the general public are
invited to participate.
Dated: October 24, 2007.
Michael S. Jewell,
Chief, Regulatory Branch, Sacramento District, Corps of Engineers.
[FR Doc. 07-5437 Filed 10-31-07; 8:45 am]
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