Northern Arizona Propose Withdrawal: Environmental Impact Statement. Scoping Report

摘要

In March 2008, Congressman Raul Grijalva introduced H.R. 5583, the Grand Canyon Watersheds Protection Act, which called for the withdrawal of approximately 1 million acres from mining activity. In June 2008, a resolution from Congress stated that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Department of the Interior should impose an emergency withdrawal under the authority of Section 204(e) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). Then-Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne did not act on the resolution. Congressman Grijalva then reintroduced the Grand Canyon Watershed Protection Act in January 2009 (H.R. 644). On July 21, 2009, the BLM published a Notice of Proposed Withdrawal and Opportunity for Public Meeting in the Federal Register. The Notice began a 2-year segregation of approximately 633,547 acres of BLM-managed public lands on the Arizona Strip District and 360,002 acres of National Forest System lands on the Kaibab National Forest to allow for studies that would help determine whether a withdrawal for up to 20 years from mineral location and entry under the Mining Law of 1872 should or should not occur. Neither the segregation nor the proposed withdrawal would prohibit ongoing or future mining operations on valid pre-existing mining claims. On August 26, 2009, the BLM published a Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed withdrawal in the Federal Register. The EIS is being prepared to analyze and disclose to the public the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the proposed withdrawal. The EIS will be prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended; Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA; FLPMA; and other associated laws and regulations.