Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
impacts, there is moderate confidence in the accuracy of the predictions as to the types, extent,
and likelihood of impacts. Impacts to tax revenue, for example, are dependent on the global price
of uranium.
With regard to socioeconomics, although the proposed action would yield tangible, significant
economic benefits for the region during its approximately 2 decades of construction, operation,
and reclamation, the economic impact of this mine remains controversial due to the historical
uranium boom and bust cycles that have occurred in the region and elsewhere.
Alternative 3
Socioeconomic impacts of the one shaft alternative would be virtually identical to those of the
proposed action (i.e., two shaft alternative).
Cumulative Effects
The action alternatives would have major beneficial socioeconomic effects over the medium to
long term, though not permanently. Provided the global price of uranium remains favorable,
several of the other reasonably foreseeable projects listed in chapter 2 are also likely to occur.
Under this scenario, the projects in combination would support several billion dollars in economic
activity, which would represent a significantly beneficial cumulative economic impact for the
ROI over the coming decades, though perhaps not a source of permanent prosperity.
Cultural and Historic Resources
Affected Environment
Definitions and Descriptions
Cultural resources are manifestations of culture, specifically archaeological sites, architectural
properties, ethnographic resources, and other historical resources relating to human activities,
society, and cultural institutions that hold communities together and link them to their
surroundings. They include past and present expressions of human culture and history in the
physical environment, such as prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, buildings, structures,
objects, and districts, which are considered important to a culture, subculture, or community.
Cultural resources can also include aspects of the natural and physical environment, such as
natural features of the land or biota, which are part of traditional lifeways and practices. Such
resources identified for this analysis include prehistoric and historic archaeological resources, as
well as ethnographic resources.
Prehistoric and historic archaeological resources are the tangible remains of past activities that
show use or modification by people. They can include artifacts, features such as hearths, rock
alignments, trails, rock art, cairns, landscape alterations, or architecture. These are sometimes
grouped in distinct geographic areas that represent broad cultural styles and traditions. Prehistoric
and historic archaeological resources are the loci of purposeful human activity that has resulted in
the deposition of cultural materials or tangible modification of the natural environment. In
general, prehistoric resources are those that originate from cultural activities prior to the
establishment of a European presence in northern New Mexico in the early 17 th century. Historic
resources are those that date from the period of written records, which began with the arrival of
Europeans in the region.
296 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest