Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 2. Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action
Topic Alternative 1 – No Action
Human Health and
Safety
Human Health and
Safety (cont.)
• Conditions described under the
“Affected Environment” section
for “Human Health and Safety”
would continue for the
foreseeable future.
• Not expected to have any impact
Alternative 2 – Proposed Action
(Two-shaft alternative)
ore hauling trucks, continued delivery of
supplies, and worker commutes.
• Would contribute small changes in
localized traffic patterns.
• Would have no impact on public transit or
air traffic in the area.
• Traffic congestion would increase at and
around the site due to additional heavy
vehicles associated with mine
development.
• Upgrades to roadways accessing the site
would make local road infrastructure
sufficient to support mining activities.
• To haul uranium ore, about 50 truck trips
per 24 hours or about 2.1 trucks per hour
would be expected in each direction.
• Risks from transportation of uranium ore
are dominated by conventional risks
associated with virtually all commercial
transportation and the probability of
accident related fatalities is no different
than those associated with conventional
truck transportation.
• Long-term beneficial effects would be due
to upgrades to roadways.
• No significant cumulative effects
expected.
• May entail direct and indirect effects on
five important pathways related to the
health and safety: traffic safety; noise;
environmental exposure; impacts
stemming from employment; and impacts
stemming from in-migrating workers.
Alternative 3 – One-shaft
Alternative
• Impacts on human health and safety would
be essentially identical to alternative 2.
76 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest