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Regulators delay Greens Creek expansion project Final EIS and decision delayed from Oct. 17 release to early November; mine will run out of space for tailings in February 2005 Patricia Jones Petroleum News Contributing Writer
Federal and state regulators missed their Oct. 17 deadline for release of the final environmental impact statement and accompanying record of decision for a tailings storage expansion project proposed at the Greens Creek Mine in southeast Alaska.
To lengthen the life of the underground mine, 18 miles southwest of Juneau on Admiralty Island, operator Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Co. wants to expand the facility’s storage area for tailings, ground rock that minerals have been extracted from in the milling process.
The agencies’ preferred alternative outlined in the draft EIS would increase the tailings footprint from the 29 acres allowed under existing permits to 62.2 acres, allowing an additional 20 years of mine life for the 265 employees who work at Greens Creek.
Part of the proposed expanded area is on land included in the Admiralty Island National Monument, established in 1978 by a presidential proclamation issued by then President Jimmy Carter. Language allowing development of mining claims within that monument was included in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Final editing of errors in the EIS document submitted by contractors and updating of drawings caused the delay from Oct. 17, said Jeff DeFreest, Juneau district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, the lead agency overseeing the permit process. Early November deadline set Now, regulators are shooting for an early November release, he said. “The date we first proposed, Nov. 28, was not well received.”
That could be due to a history of delays for this permitting process. The final EIS and decision making process was previously scheduled for late August.
“There’s a number of contributing factors leading to that delay,” DeFreest said, including comments submitted by other agencies “at the 11th hour.”
Kennecott first submitted plans for the expansion project in January 2001, expecting the regulatory review to be completed before the 2003 construction season, Bill Oelklaus, the mine’s environmental manager, told Petroleum News Oct. 21.
“We originally scheduled this for two years sooner, so we would have two construction seasons,” he said. “Now if we have a significant weather problem, that puts things in a precarious position for us.”
At current processing rates, Greens Creek will run out of room for tailings in February 2005. The mine will be forced to shut down without an expanded tailing disposal area, Oelklaus said.
That would cause a “significant impact to the economy of the city and borough of Juneau,” said Stan Foo, mining section chief for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. “Greens Creek is one of the largest employers in the area, and they provide some of the highest-paying jobs. They certainly contribute to the tax base.”
Appeals period adds to length Even if the Forest Service and other agencies are able to publish the EIS and decision in the Federal Register on Nov. 7, as discussed during a teleconference call Oct. 20, Kennecott likely won’t receive permits and the go-ahead for construction until next February.
A 45-day appeals period must pass, and DeFreest said he “wouldn’t be surprised by an appeal on the project … the Forest Service usually sees appeals on most of its decisions.”
That leaves the mine with a short window to secure construction contracts for the work to begin in April, the planned starting date for the project, Oelklaus said.
Fine sand must be shipped in and the site must be prepared for a geosynthetic liner to be placed at the bottom of the new tailings disposal area.
The construction project “will stretch through the summer,” he said, adding that crews should be able to complete the “critical construction items that require good weather.”
Three years too long Both state and federal regulators admitted that three years to complete an EIS for an existing operation was excessive.
“It usually doesn’t take this long. It shouldn’t,” DeFreest said.
Foo said the state was working with federal agencies to “try to improve that turn-around time.”
“Especially for the operator, it becomes a moving target when you can’t work on something and bank on it being completed,” he added. “If it’s on state land, we have more control over it, but when it’s federal ground involved, we work as closely as we can to maintain a realistic schedule.”
The Greens Creek mine, which produces silver, gold, zinc and lead, was first developed in 1987. Mine operations shut down between 1993 and 1996, due to depressed metal market prices.
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