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Show Vernal BLAA activities outlined in newsletter The February issue of "Uintah Basin Public Land News" published by the Vernal District Bureau of Land Management Manage-ment outlined the following local activities. SYNFUELS EIS The final Environmental Impact Statement State-ment for Uintah Basin Synfuels Development Develop-ment is scheduled for publication in latter lat-ter February. Various news media will announce its availability at the District Office. The EIS assesses the environmental impacts of synfuels projects proposed for the Uintah Basin. Site-specific impact analyses are presented to five projects, proposed to-begin construction within the next two years. A regional cumulative analysis is also presented. It considers the cumulative impacts of the five site-specific projects, four more conceptual projects, plus other interrelated projects planned for development in the Uintah Basin during the analysis period. Based on the issues and concerns identified iden-tified during the scoping process, the EIS focuses on socioeconomics, water resources, air quality and wildlife as they would be impacted by development. PHOSPHATE HEARING A public hearing on the Draft Environmental En-vironmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Chevron's proposed phosphate project is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 15 at the conference hall in Dutch John. Chevron's proposed project includes a pipeline from the existing phosphate mine, north of Vernal, to a proposed fertilizer fer-tilizer plant near Rock Srings. The pipeline would carry phosphate in a water slurry. Impacts on six key areas have been identified: Rye Grass Draw, Red Creek Canyon, Red Creek Basin Encampment, Jesse Ewing Canyon, Goslin Mountain, and Willow Creek. The draft EIS was published in January 1983, and copies of it are available at the BLM Vernal Office (telephone 801 789-1362). WARMWATER WELL TRADED FOR WATERFOWL LANDS A state section in the middle of Pariette Waterfowl Management Area, south of Myton, was recently acquired by BLM. In exchange for it, the State of Utah received the Bosch Well, a capped-off capped-off well shown as a hot springs on topographical maps. The well land is located east of Jensen. The Pariette section sec-tion will give BLM a more contiguous block of land for waterfowl management purposes. The State's plans for their new acquisition are not presently known. The exchange has been under consideration for several years, and was completed in January 1983. BOOKCLIFFS PLANNING The number of issues to be addressed in the Bookcliffs Resource Management Plan (RMP) have been reduced from 17 to 9. The revisions resulted from public comments and further analysis by the Planning Team. Planning criteria have been developed to guide the formulation of draft management alternatives for each issue. Copies of the issues and planning criteria will be sent to those on the District mailing list. Others, upon written writ-ten request, can receive copies or have their names added to the mailing list. A public meeting will he held at 7 p.m. April 5 to give concerned citizens a, chance to review and comment upon the draft management alternatives for the Bookcliffs RMP. The alternatives presented will be possible solutions for the land management conflicts that have been identified as issues. The meeting will be held in the Vernal District Conference Con-ference Room. A site-specific call for expression of interest in-terest in mineral leasing within the Bookcliffs Resource Area will be issued in early April. The public will be asked to identify specific areas of interest for leasing oil shale, combined hydrocarbons hydrocar-bons within Special Tar Sand Areas, and other leaseable minerals (excluding oil and gas). The public will also be invited to identify areas which should not be leased due to other important resource values. The official notification. will be made in the Federal Register. The public will have 45 days, following publication of the call, to submit their expression of interest. Any questions or requests for additional addi-tional information should be sent to Curtis Cur-tis Tucker, RMP Team Leader. ' VEHICLE LIMITATIONS IN PARIETTE AND BROWN'S PARK VICINITIES After public review, three parcels of land totalling approximately 49,300 acres have recently been designated by BLM as limited to motorized off-road vehicle use. The limitation confines off-road vehicle vehi-cle use to designated roads and trails. Snowmobile use, however, is open in all areas. This limitation applies to Pariette Waterfowl Managment area south of Myton, the Green River Scenic Corridor in Brown's Park, and Red Creek Watershed Water-shed north of Brown's Park. Some roads will be closed, while others to private and state land and oil and gas operations will remain open. The designation does not affect state and private lands. Exceptions to these limitations would be possible for lawful mineral related activities, ac-tivities, livestock operations, firewood cutting in designated cutting areas, emergency and administrative activities. ac-tivities. These exceptions may be authorized on a specific case by case basis by the area manager. |