GREEN RIVER — The Bureau of Land Management has approved Pacific Soda’s proposed $5 billion Dry Creek Trona Mine Project south of Green River in Sweetwater County.
The approval, issued Friday, also offers remedies to environmental concerns raised by federal agencies and state wildlife officials during the public comment period.
The approved project allows Pacific Soda to build mining facilities and employ solution mining to extract trona 2,300 feet below the surface for processing into soda ash and baking soda. The project is expected to create up to 2,000 construction jobs and about 300 full-time, high-paying jobs over its 23-year operational life, according to the BLM.
The project could become a more than $5 billion investment, the company reported in filings submitted last year with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Council.
Pacific Soda estimates the project area contains about 117 million tons of recoverable trona that could produce approximately six million metric tons of marketable soda ash and 440,900 metric tons of baking soda annually. The development aligns with federal efforts to increase domestic mineral production, stated the BLM in a May 2 press release.
“I applaud this action taken by Bureau of Land Management-Wyoming,” said U.S. Rep. Harriett Hageman, R-Wyoming, in a Monday statement. “The Cowboy State plays a key role in the new administration's mission to ramp up American manufacturing and our trona miners are at the forefront. Mine baby, mine!”
Public Comments
In September during the public comment period for the Dry Creek Trona Mine Project, federal and state agencies raised environmental concerns.
The National Park Service warned that the project could result in air quality impacts at Dinosaur National Monument, which sits to the southeast of the Dry Creek area.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department commented on the project's impacts to crucial wildlife habitats.
"Protection of crucial ranges, maintaining permeability across the landscape, and minimizing pronghorn mortality are of utmost importance for maintaining, if not increasing, the population," wrote Will Schultz, habitat protections supervisor.
Pacific Soda welcomed the approval decision while defending its environmental analysis.
"Pacific is supportive of the BLM's decision to name Alternative D as the preferred alternative in the (draft environmental impact statement) and looks forward to moving ahead with construction of the project upon completion of the NEPA (National Environmental Police Act) process," stated Erhan Korkmaz, program director for Pacific Soda, in a Sept. 23 letter.
That time has come, according to Jacqueline Alderman, public affairs specialist with the BLM’s High Desert District.
“The BLM released the final environmental impact statement for a 30-day public comment (period), before making this final,” said Alderman.
In the final Record of Decision released Friday, the BLM spelled out its decision to support Alternative D.
“Implementation of Alternative D would result in a larger overall disturbance footprint as compared to Alternative B and Alternative C; however, this alternative limit impacts to sensitive resources,” stated the BLM. “The total surface disturbance would be approximately 7,015 acres, of which approximately 3,593 acres would be on private land, 3,329 acres would be on BLM-administered lands, and the remaining 93 acres would be on lands administered by the State of Wyoming.”
U.S. Forest Service land will not be impacted by the Alternative D footprint, according to the Record of Decision.
Where It’s Happening
The proposed mining area is south of Interstate 80 and west of Wyoming Highway 530, south of the city of Green River. The main facility is slated for an area west of Flaming Gorge Reservoir near Big Dry Creek north of Black Mountain.
“Proposed project facilities include processing facilities, comprising a solution mining pump station, refinery, a co-generation facility, and storage ponds and tailings piles. Utility infrastructure would include a water supply pipeline, overhead transmission line, and natural gas pipeline,” according to the BLM.
“Transportation infrastructure includes a rail line, one existing access road, and one constructed access road; these facilities would be located north of the mining area, on the north side of I-80,” continued the BLM in its Record of Decision.
BLM Remedies
When considering input from federal and state agencies as it moved toward approving Alternative D, the BLM told Cowboy State Daily Monday that, “In areas of high wildlife migration, new fence wires will have flagging during construction to be conspicuous or be constructed,” as recommended by the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish.
“Wire spacing and type will comply with BLM specifications, using a smooth lower wire and sufficient clearance to allow passage of pronghorn. Pacific Soda will use metal fence posts with white tips for visibility,” continued a follow up statement from the BLM’s Alderman.
As for visibility concerns at Dinosaur National Monument, the air quality modeling results “demonstrated that project-only air quality impacts would not cause violations of any air quality standards.”
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality will continue to monitor air quality from the mine’s operations.
When it comes to next steps on the ground, “The BLM approves a mining plan that addresses the BLM mineral interests, and the BLM issues rights-of-way for the features of the project on public lands that are not on the mineral leases.”
Alderman at the BLM added, “Currently, Pacific Soda is working with WDEQ to obtain their mining permit. The mining permit must be approved before any work can begin as all of the features are included in the mine permit boundary.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
