Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
potentially negative impacts on health, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease (WHO,
2009).
Because the routes that trucks would travel on outside of the project area have not yet been
determined, it is not possible to know which people would be potentially impacted by truckrelated
noise. It has also not been determined whether trucks would be traveling at night to and
from the project site. Once project routes and transportation schedules are finalized it will be
important to assess noise levels at receptors along the transportation corridors and to establish
complaint resolution communication channels for residents who may be impacted. Limiting
nighttime travel would limit negative health impacts experienced by people living along
transportation corridors.
The impacts to health from project-related noise could be minimized by implementing the
following strategies:
• Restricting all heavy truck transportation to day-time hours.
• Landowners could be consulted to identify any roads to be avoided at night to prevent
sleep disturbance of nearby residents.
• Any complaints raised by local residents related to noise in the communities should be
followed up by project personnel and if relevant, government agencies. A phone number
and/or email address should be made easily available so that they can easily report any
concerns.
The impacts to noise from construction, operation and decommissioning for the proposed action
are expected to be of minor magnitude, to have a medium geographic extent, and to be of
medium-term duration. There is a probable likelihood of these impacts occurring and the
precedence or uniqueness is slight. Therefore the overall significance of the impacts from the
proposed action related to noise would be adverse but less than significant.
Health Effects Associated with Environmental Exposures
Figure 78 depicts potential links between the proposed action and environmental health
outcomes.
Activities associated with underground uranium mining can affect human health via changes to
environmental conditions. This section reviews three potential pathways: health changes that
could arise from potential exposure to contaminants; health changes that could arise from the
perception of exposure; and health changes that could result via alterations to land and water.
408 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest