Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
However, because this would be an underground uranium mine with state-of-the-art procedures
and BMPs to handle and manage uranium ore, and a water treatment plant to treat and eliminate
contaminants from mine water brought to the surface during depressurization/dewatering,
problems with unchecked migration or transport of uranium particles above ground and offsite
are not expected to occur at the Roca Honda Mine. Thus, direct and indirect adverse impacts to
wildlife from exposure to radiation or chemical exposure to uranium and other radionuclides are
expected to be minor, long term, limited, unlikely or possible, and of slight precedence. Wildlife
and humans alike are exposed to background levels of ionizing radiation from a variety of natural
and manmade sources on a daily and annual basis; the Roca Honda Mine might raise exposures of
nearby wildlife to a limited extent, but not sufficient so as to substantially impair the health and
affect the size of nearby wildlife populations.
Alternative 2
This section analyzes the impacts of the proposed action on general wildlife, State listed
threatened and endangered species, Forest Service sensitive species, MIS, and high priority
migratory birds.
General Wildlife
Under alternative 2, approximately 218 acres would be disturbed during construction and mine
operation activities within the permit area. As noted in chapter 1, Sections 9 and 10 are located on
Cibola National Forest land and Section 16 is located on New Mexico State land. The RHR
proposed mine permit area would encompass all three of these sections (1,920 acres) and 48 acres
of additional land for haul roads, a utility corridor, and mine dewater discharge pipeline corridor.
Of these 48 acres, 35 would occur outside of Sections 9, 10, and 16. Surface disturbance within
Sections 9, 10, and 16 is expected to be 12 acres (1.9 percent) in Section 9, 71 acres (11.1
percent) in Section 10, and 100 acres (15.6 percent) in Section 16. Within these three sections, 83
acres of vegetation on Cibola National Forest (Sections 9 and 10) would be adversely affected.
Additional vegetation disturbance on Cibola National Forest land would occur on 8 acres in
Section 11 and 2.5 acres along the pipeline. A total of approximately 93.5 acres would be
disturbed on Cibola National Forest land. Most of the impacted acreage in Section 9 would be
piñon-juniper woodland; most of the impacted acreage in Section 10 would be desert
grassland/shrubland; and most of the impacted acreage in Section 16 would be juniper savanna
and desert grassland/ shrubland. Most of the impacted acreage on Section 11 and the pipeline
corridor would be desert grassland/shrubland and piñon-juniper woodland.
Additional surface disturbance of 35 acres would occur outside of the permit area from haul
roads, utility corridor, and the mine water discharge pipeline. Upgrades and rerouting of mine
haul roads would occur to existing roads in Sections 11, 17, and 20. The haul roads would be 60feet
wide and have a gravel surface. New power lines would also be constructed and a portion of
the utility corridor would be located on private land in Section 15 totaling approximately 4 acres
of disturbance. Approximately 5.5 miles of pipeline carrying treated water off of the project site
for discharge and use on a private rancher’s property and would disturb an additional 13.3 acres.
This pipeline would be positioned next to the haul road and the utility corridor in Sections 16, 15,
10, and 11. The pipeline would turn north along the road at the junction with the Section11 haul
road and proceed north. Approximately 2.5 acres would be on national forest lands and 10.8 acres
would be disturbed on private land.
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 237