The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have authorized the J.R. Simplot Co. to expand its Smoky Canyon phosphate mine on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near the Idaho/Wyoming border. The federal agencies received more than 47,000 comments regarding the controversial project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), issued in October 2007.
Simplot spokesman Rick Phillips said being allowed to expand open pit mining operations into two existing federal phosphate leases – Manning Creek (Panel F) and Deer Creek (Panel G) – will enable Simplot to continue operating the Smoky Canyon Mine and its Don fertilizer plant near Pocatello, which is connected to the mine by a nearly 90-mile-long slurry pipeline. About 200 are employed at the mine, and 375 at the plant. Their annual wages and salaries exceed $52 million. Indirect employment supports an additional estimated 1,450 people.
John Hart, a spokesman for the Caribou Clean Water Partnership, which has campaigned against the expansion in conjunction with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition because of contamination fears, said the Forest Service decision will be appealed within 45 days. BLM on-lease mining operation decisions are the final administrative determination of the U.S. Interior Department and are not subject to appeal.
The leases are administered by the BLM’s Pocatello field office. The proposed expansion will include enlargement of the Manning Creek lease and approval of a mine plan by the BLM. Roads and utilities on national forest system land outside the lease boundaries that are needed for mining operations also will be allowed.
Surface disturbance would total about 1,450 acres, including inventoried roadless areas. The BLM and Forest Service say their authorizations comply with the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and all applicable state and federal water quality standards. Six mining alternatives, eight transportation alternatives, and reclamation plans were considered.
“Both the BLM and Forest Service have considered the resources at stake and have carefully weighed the analysis and public comments,” BLM Idaho Falls District Manager Joe Kraayenbrink said. “The FEIS and this decision incorporate state of the art mitigation, best management practices and thorough analysis.”
Larry Tinchak, Caribou-Targhee National Forest supervisor, said the level of public interest in the phosphate project is unprecedented. “As decision makers, we need to balance the public concerns with the laws and regulations that govern our management to reach a decision that provides for future phosphate mining in an environmentally sound and legal manner. I believe we have done that.”
Phillips said the project’s technical and environmental aspects have been through an extensive process evaluating thousands of pieces of data from the field and using the best science in evaluating the data. “This is tremendous news for the communities and our employees who work at the Smoky Canyon Mine and the Don Plant,” he said, citing high global demand for fertilizer to avert food shortages. Simplot has produced phosphate fertilizer for more than 50 years in Eastern Idaho.
Hart said it is the responsibility of federal agencies to protect public lands and compel Simplot to clean up past selenium contamination and comply with clean water laws. “If today’s Record of Decision is not reversed, it will be a major setback for Idaho and Wyoming water quality,” he said, accusing the BLM of eliminating its normal public appeal process.
The decision requires Simplot to implement an engineered cover system to prevent rain and snow from percolating through selenium-laden waste rock and into groundwater. The company must also implement a test cover prior to installing a cover at Manning Creek, where a proposed road would be allowed. A west haul access road that would bypass private lands near Deer Creek also would be permitted.
The mine’s power line would be required on a road’s right of way rather than going over land as originally proposed. Simplot also must implement stringent monitoring of the engineered cover system, surface water and groundwater quality, fisheries habitat and population, and contaminant concentrations.
Simplot extracts nearly two million tons of phosphate ore from the Smoky Canyon Mine each year. Expansion into the two approved panels would allow Simplot to replace ore reserves depleted from the existing mine, which is in Caribou County about 10 miles west of Afton, Wyo. The mine has been operating since 1984. Phillips estimates 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, he said.