The U.S. Forest Service issued a new environmental review of a proposed coal lease that could extend by nine years the life of the Sufco coal mine in Sevier County, UT.

The mine is the oldest coal mine in Utah and could stop production at the end of this year if not allowed to mine the additional 51 Mt (56 million st) of coal northwest of the current mine.

The lease in question lies under the Fishlake National Forest, about 30 miles southeast of Salina.

The Fishlake National Forest has released a draft supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the 6,175-acre project. The public has until April 28 to submit comments to the forest service.

The Greens Hollow lease is needed to feed the mine’s future operations, which could otherwise run out of coal to mine as early as next year, according to the 415-page draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

"It’s an extension of what we’ve been doing versus shutting down," Ken May, the mine’s general manager, told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It’s perpetuating energy development and protecting jobs."

The EIS looks favorably on pulling more coal from under Fishlake and Manti-LaSal national forests, but it proposes requiring the mine to take steps protect sage grouse habitat, water, roadless lands and other non-energy resources. It also proposes allowing only room-and-pillar mining over part of the lease area to protect perennial streams from subsidence associated with longwall mining, according to Marianne Orton, environmental coordinator for Fishlake National Forest.

Two years ago the Forest Service approved the lease, which would be administered by the Bureau of Land Management. But after environmentalists appealed, Fishlake’s Forest Supervisor Allen Rowley withdrew the decision and initiated the supplemental review. Critics argued the first decision failed to adequately protect sage grouse, a candidate for listing as an endangered species, and roadless areas.
Operations had already permanently reduced North Fork Box Creek, according to the Grand Canyon Trust’s Mary O’Brien.

But May said his underground mine results in few surface impacts.

"We are more concerned about the environment than anyone from outside the area," May said. "We live here and recreate here. We don’t want to do anything to disrupt the local environment."

A rich but dwindling seam » Sufco would access Greens Hollow coal from existing underground longwall operations that mine coal in sliced panels, tapping in new ventilation shafts as they progress.

But May cautioned the lease would be subject to competitive bidding and another operator could win it.

Sufco produces low-sulphur bituminous coal, most of which is burned in the 1,138-megawatt Hunter power plant in Castle Dale and two other plants in Carbon and Emery counties. Rocky Mountain Power has contracted to purchase up to 4.5 million tons of Sufco coal a year through 2020, according to utility spokesman Dave Eskelsen.

Over the past seven decades the mine has yielded 170 million tons from the Hiawatha coal bed. The seam, up to 14 ft thick, is part of the Blackhawk Formation,