Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 2. Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action
Visual Resources
• None.
Transportation
• Implement BMPs as described in the mine operations plan.
• Place construction staging areas where they would least interfere with traffic. All vehicles
associated with mine development would be equipped with backing alarms, two-way
radios, and slow moving vehicle signs when appropriate. Ore hauling trucks would be
placarded and covered with tarps.
Human Health and Safety
• Implement company safety manual that outlines training and sets forth policies and
requirements for safe driving procedures such as onsite speed limits and no tolerance of
drug or alcohol use.
• Workers would shower and change clothes before leaving the mine facility, and work
clothes would remain at the facility to be washed.
• All trucks carrying ore materials would be sprayed down before leaving the site at the
vehicle washing station located onsite.
• Implement a detailed SPCC plan to train employees on safety procedures (see the mine
operations plan for details).
• Implement best practices for waste management.
Alternatives Considered but
Eliminated from Detailed Study
Federal agencies are required by NEPA to rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all
reasonable alternatives and to briefly discuss the reasons for eliminating any alternatives that
were not developed in detail (40 CFR 1502.14). Public comments received in response to the
proposed action provided suggestions for alternative methods for achieving the purpose and need.
Some of these alternatives—such as developing renewable resources like wind and solar
instead—were outside the immediate scope of the proposal. The Forest Service’s purpose and
need regarding this project is to respond to the proposal to exercise Roca Honda’s statutory rights
to enter public lands and mine these particular claims.
Renewable Energy Development
Development of renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) on Cibola National Forest or
elsewhere in the region, as an alternative to mining uranium at the Roca Honda site, will not be
considered in this EIS. While such projects may well have merit and be worth pursuing in their
own right—and indeed are being developed in the area, such as the 102 MW Red Mesa Wind
Energy Center in Cibola County (near Bibo)—they do not meet the Forest Service’s purpose and
need as defined above.
58 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest