Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 2. Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action
impoundment in late 2003. Consequently, all groundwater corrective actions have been
discontinued, and Rio Algom is finalizing the site tailings reclamation. A portion of the tailings
impoundment is still open for disposal of Atomic Energy Act, Section 11e.(2) byproduct material.
A final soil DP entitled, “Closure Plan - Lined Evaporation Ponds” (relocation plan) was
submitted to the NRC in November of 2004, and partially approved. A portion of the report,
pertinent to the “Section 4” and Pond 9 evaporation pond sediment material has been reviewed
and approved. The final licensing action will be the approval of a redesigned channel. The cost
for decommissioning is estimated to be approximately $18 million (USNRC, 2012a).
Other Past, Present, Future, and Ongoing Actions
Other cumulative impacts on environmental resources from actions occurring on and near the Mt.
Taylor Ranger District—and Cibola and McKinley Counties more broadly—during and after the
projected 2-decade life of the Roca Honda Mine may occur from a variety of other ongoing
actions. These include:
• Timber projects – includes use of heavy equipment in timber harvesting, log skidding,
use of existing access roads, and construction and reclamation of temporary access.
• Wildlife habitat improvements – includes vegetation treatments such as forest thinning,
prescribed burning, seeding of grasses, and water source development.
• Firewood gathering – includes permitted collection of dead-and-down and greenwood
trees using hand-held equipment and existing access.
• Piñon nut gathering – includes the gathering of piñon nuts on foot.
• Wildland fire management – includes wildland fire suppression, fuel management,
prescribed fire, involving the use of hand-held firefighting equipment and heavy
machinery such as planes and dozers. Wildland fires are unpredictable in location, size,
and severity of impact. These activities occur at a low level because there is very little
fire frequency in the area and a long natural fire return interval.
• Livestock grazing – includes permittees using the area for grazing cattle, water
development (e.g., earthen or fiberglass tanks,well drilling, pipelines), fencing, and
scheduled movement of cattle from one grazing area to another.
• Recreation – includes hunting, hiking, camping, mountain biking, ATV/dirt bike use, 4wheel
drive use, and winter sports on Mt. Taylor (e.g., cross-country skiing,
snowshoeing, snowmobiling). Specific activities and facilities include the Mt. Taylor 50kilometer
running race, use and maintenance of the Continetal Divide Trail, the annual
winter quadrathalon on Mt. Taylor. Ongoing activities include maintenance and
improvement of trails, campgrounds, and picnic areas.
• Road and utility corridor maintenance – includes mechanical clearing and use of
herbicides to control vegetation along power line and pipeline rights-of-way, as well as
use of heavy equipment like graders, snowplows, backhoes, trucks, and bulldozers.
• Construction and maintenance of communication sites – includes maintenance of
communication sites on Mt. Taylor, involving making use of existing access.
• Renewable energy projects – includes developments off the Cibola National Forest,
such as the wind farm northeast of Bibo, in Cibola County, New Mexico.
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 89