Utah State Office
| Contacts: | Keith Rigtrup, 435-865-3063 |
BLM to issue a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Alton Coal Mine
KANAB, UT – The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Kanab Field Office (KFO) announced that it will issue a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Federal Coal Lease Application from Alton Coal Development LLC. Alton Coal seeks to lease Federal coal on 3,581 acres (more or less) of public and private land near Alton, Utah.
The BLM made a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) available for public review from November 4, 2011 until January 27, 2012. The BLM received approximately 177,000 comments during this time. Additionally, the BLM has worked closely with other agencies through the entire process, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Utah State Office 440 West 200 South, Suite 500 SLC, UT 84101-1345