The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comment on a “revised” plan for a proposed phosphate mine. The Caldwell Canyon mine would sit on 1,830-acres in southwest Idaho. An earlier plan, which had been approved by BLM, was vacated by a federal judge this past June (GM June 9, p. 1).
In the current plan, P4 Production LLC, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, proposes to build the mine on a combination of public, state, and private land. The site includes approximately 420 acres of land that is already developed on Schmid Ridge about 13 miles east-northeast of Soda Springs, Idaho.
The mine proposal includes modifying existing lease boundaries, two new open mine pits, haul and access roads, various utility lines, water management features, monitoring wells, a shop, and office facilities.
BLM estimates that roughly 25% of domestically produced phosphate is mined in southeastern Idaho.
As part of the scoping process, BLM will hold a virtual public meeting on Dec. 7, 2023. Participants can register at: https://tinyurl.com/36z73b6d. Registrants will receive a link to join the meeting. BLM will also announce the public meeting information via newspaper notice, the project planning webpage, and email.
BLM is seeking public input during a 30-day comment period to help identify issues to be analyzed during a future environmental review. The public comment period opened on Nov. 22 with publication of a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register, and closes on Dec. 22, 2023.
Interested parties can submit input using one of the following methods: Through the BLM National NEPA Register; Email to BLM_ID_CaldwellRevisedMRP_EIS@blm.gov; and delivered to Caldwell Canyon Revised Mine EIS, c/o Stantec Consulting Services Inc., 2890 East Cottonwood Parkway, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, Utah 84121.
The “revised” plan comes after a federal judge in June vacated BLM’s 2019 approval of the project. The US District Court for the District of Idaho had ruled in January that the BLM violated the National Environmental Protection Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act when it issued a final environmental impact statement and 2019 Record of Decision for the Caldwell Canyon Mine Project (GM Jan. 27, p. 1).
Environmental groups argued that BLM did not take a hard look at potential selenium pollution from the mine (GM May 20, 2022), nor did it consider the mine’s impacts on the threatened greater sage grouse.
On June 2, Judge B. Lynn Winmill agreed with the plaintiffs that the statement and record should be vacated. He said the standard the BLM applied when assessing the project’s impact on the habitat of the greater sage grouse population wasn’t as strict as the currently applicable standard, which calls into question whether the BLM can reach the same decision on remand. The BLM also did not take a requisite hard look at the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the project on the sage grouse, Winmill said.
The judge also ruled that BLM failed to consider the indirect effects to public health by sending the phosphate rock to be processed at the Soda Springs plant, which would produce the herbicide glyphosate for use in Roundup products. The plant was listed as a Superfund site in 1990.
According to Winmill, the BLM tried to avoid the seriousness of its violation by attributing the concerns about human health and environmental impacts to historic processing activities at the plant and not to current operations. But “simply stating that no further analysis is necessary because the harm is from historic practices ignores the problem contained with the FEIS,” Winmill said.
P4 Production argued as intervenor that vacating the BLM’s approval would cost its parent company more than $3 billion. But P4 failed to establish that those are concrete losses, Winmill said, adding that the calculations were “vague and conclusory.”
The BLM and P4 also failed to demonstrate that equity demanded a more tailored remedy than vacating the earlier decisions, Winmill said.
P4 argued that the mine is crucial and is needed for the company’s elemental phosphorus plant operations near Soda Springs, formerly owned by Monsanto Inc. Company officials have said the Caldwell Canyon Mine would sustain about 185 mining jobs and 585 plant jobs for about 40 years, and would aid the region by providing $47 million annually in payroll, taxes, royalties, and purchases, as well as sustaining support and service jobs.
P4 would use mining methods at the Caldwell Canyon Mine similar to those used at the company’s Blackfoot Bridge Mine. Work would begin in time to transition from the Blackfoot Bridge Mine near the Blackfoot River, where ore is projected to be depleted in less than seven years.