The final environmental impact statement on the proposed Navajo-El Paso/Consolidation Coal Lease and Mining Plan on the Navajo Reservation, San Juan County, New Mexico has been completed. Copies of the statement have been filed with the Council on Environmental Quality and a notice of availability published in the Federal Register by the Department of the Interior.
The statement considers the human, economic and physical environmental effects associated with Federal approval of lease and mining and reclamation plans for coal strip mining operations. It is anticipated in the plan that about 678 million tons of low sulphur coal will be taken from 40,287 acres of reservation land in the next 35 years.
The statement was prepared to supplement the environmental statement prepared for a proposed El Paso Gasification Project.
The proposed lease is a renegotiated mining lease for an existing lease covering the same 40,287 acres. It is stronger in stipulating efforts to mitigate ,environmental impacts. It was executed between the Navajo Tribe as lessor and the El Paso Natural Gas Company and the Consolidation Coal Company as lessees. It becomes effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
Single copies of the environmental statement may be obtained from the Navajo Area Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Window Rock, Arizona 86515
