In response to criticism from environmental groups, Joe Kraayenbrink, district manager for the Bureau of Land Management’s Idaho Falls District, defends the BLM’s involvement in signing a Records of Decision (ROD) with the U.S. Forest Service to allow the J.R. Simplot Co. to expand its Smoky Canyon phosphate mine into two existing federal leases on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near the Idaho/Wyoming border.
Groups such as the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Earthjustice have questioned why the BLM does not have a 45-day appeals process like the Forest Service and why the Assistant Secretary of Interior’s Office signed the ROD for the BLM.
In October 2007, the BLM and Forest Service released the Final Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Smoky Canyon mining expansion and received more than 50,500 comments. Public open houses were held in Pocatello, Soda Springs, and Afton, Wyo., after a Draft EIS was issued in December 2005. The process started in 2002.
“During this six-year process, we have provided the public several opportunities to comment and give us feedback on alternative measures. We have listened to those comments and, in a number of cases, have changed our preferred alternative to incorporate the public’s input,” Kraayenbrink said.
“It remains clear that some groups do not agree with the BLM’s management decision regarding the phosphate leases or the decision to expand the mine. Another round of public comment will not likely change their minds.”
Each year the Smoky Canyon Mine supplies nearly two million tons of phosphate ore to Simplot’s Don fertilizer plant near Pocatello via a nearly 90-mile-long slurry pipeline. The mine, which has been operating since 1984, employs approximately 200, with an additional 375 at the plant. Their annual wages and salaries exceed $52 million. Indirect employment supports an estimated additional 1,450 people.
Simplot officials estimate two years of ore remain at the existing site. Expanding into the two leases will provide Simplot with enough phosphate for 15 more years of production, they said.
Kraayenbrink noted the BLM and Forest Service have conducted a number of meetings, briefings, and tours for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Idaho and Wyoming congressional delegates, county commissioners, Idaho and Wyoming fish and game officials, state and federal environmental regulators, the Army Corps of Engineers, and adjacent land owners. Newspaper editorial boards also were briefed about the project.
The BLM district manager said getting to the point of signing the ROD “has been a long, extensive process where multiple agencies have studied, identified, mitigated and developed monitoring plans for the mine expansion.” The Assistant Secretary for Lands & Minerals signed the decision due to the high level of interest and to simplify the process complicated by the involvement of two federal agencies, he said.
The process also eliminated BLM jurisdictional issues with the Forest Service’s roadless rules. BLM appeals typically go to the Interior Board of Land Appeals, which has no jurisdiction over those rules and no defined time frames for decision reviews.
“Therefore, the Department of the Interior decision is a final administrative determination and not subject to appeal, but it still can be challenged by anyone in court,” Kraayenbrink said, noting the Smoky Canyon expansion plan provides for protection of surface and groundwater quality, reclamation and post mining land productivity, reduction of impacts to adjacent land owners, and compliance with roadless management directives.
“Our decision incorporates extensive protection measures and also allows for a continuation of mining activities, production of phosphate and continued employment for mine and processing plant workers. We appreciate the extensive input that the public has provided to review our process,” Kraayenbrink said.