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Show The COUNTY NEWS received word Tuesday, May 3rd, that the BLM, Washington, D. C, had released the final environmental impact statement state-ment on the alunlte project for printing. Printers will have thirty days from May 9th to complete the EIS and then it will be released to the public. Sec. Andrus of the Dept. of Interior could act to approve the project anytime after July 9th, according to COUNTY NEWS information. informa-tion. According to E. B. Eberhardt, who was the team leader for the BLM team who wrote the alunite statement, both Paul Howard, state BLM director, and Morgan Jensen, Cedar City District Manager, are already setting the wheels to turning so that everything will be in order when the prgject is approved. Alumet, the joint venture company made up of National Steel, National Southwire and Earth Sciences, is reportedly ready to begin the pro -ject. Harry Perry, Earth Sciences, Inc., Cedar City, said he had only just heard of the release and had not received any information from Alumet. However, it was reported after the partners met in February that they were anxiously awaiting await-ing the final statement so they could get on with the project. Considerable work must be completed after the EIS is approved, before actual construction can being. A land swap between BLM and the State of Utah is necessary, so the company can purchase land for the plant site and tailing ponds. Certain right of ways and permits must be issued. There is also the problem of meeting Class II air quality standards. When certain natural air inversions occur, the plant would exceed Class n air quality standards. This would only occur three to four times a year, and due to the remoteness of the area involved, would not present a serious problem. The State of Utah has been in the process of reclassifying most of the state, including the west desert to Class III ambient air quality standards. If this is accomplished, no other road blocks to the project are foreseen. The process would require that EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) let Utah set its own classifications. classi-fications. It's felt that EPA standards are not reasonable in the mountain states where air inversions could cause EPA standards to be exceeded for one or two hours at a time. Class m standards would not allow sufficient suffi-cient degradation of the air to be seen or cause odors. There would be no significant impact on air quality. The Alunite project is expected to boost the economy of Western Beaver County. Milford and Miners ville are expected to about triple in population. The initial stages will employ very few, mostly engineers. Construction willprovide employment beginning with about 50 and gradually grad-ually expanding to 1800 jobs about one and a half years after the project begins. It's expected expect-ed to maintain that level and then taper off to a permanent work force of 1000. The project is expected to produce some 500 tons of alumina per year, plus several different dif-ferent fertilizers, which will be made from byproducts by-products of sulfite and sulfuric acid and triple super-sulfates shipped from the firm's Soda Springs, Idaho deposits. Coal for a 70 megawatt plant will be shipped from the company's mines in Emery and Carbon counties. It was determined that the project was economically feasible when the partners met in February. Eberhardt said that the final statement took just over 30 days to receive approval, for printing. Previous delays were attributed to final plans for the plant site, which had to be moved. |