Montanore Project Final EIS released
Proposed copper and silver mine 18 miles south of Libby
by Kootenai National Forest
December 21, 2015
The Kootenai National Forest (KNF) and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have issued a Joint Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) for the Montanore Project, a proposed copper and silver underground mine located about 18 miles south of Libby near the Cabinet Mountains of northwestern Montana.
The Joint Final EIS can be downloaded from the Forest Service’s web page (http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/kootenai/landmanagement/projects) or the DEQ’s web page (http://www.deq.mt.gov/eis.mcpx). The document will be available to view at the KNF Supervisor’s office in Libby, Montana (MT), the DEQ office in Helena, MT, the Mansfield Library (the University of Montana), and local libraries in Libby, Heron, and Thompson Falls, MT, and Sandpoint and Clark Fork, Idaho.
The KNF has identified Mine Alternative 3 and Transmission Line Alternative D-R as its preferred alternatives in the Joint Final EIS. The KNF will set forth its final decision and rationale in its ROD. The KNF will issue its ROD no less than 30 days from the publication of the Notice of Availability of this Joint Final EIS in the Federal Register. Notice of the decision will be published in The Missoulian (Missoula, Montana), the paper of record for the KNF.
DEQ has identified Mine Alternative 3 and Transmission Line Alternative D-R as its preferred alternatives in the Final EIS. DEQ will set forth its final decision and rationale in its ROD. DEQ may issue its ROD no less than 15 days from the transmittal of this Joint Final EIS to the public, the Environmental Quality Council, and the office of the Governor. DEQ has decided to issue its ROD no sooner than January 29, 2016.
Postcards will be sent notifying all those who received the joint Final EIS that the agencies’ RODs are available on the agencies’ websites. For more information or to request a copy of the Final EIS, please contact one of the Project Coordinators, Lynn Hagarty, KNF, 31374 US 2, Libby, MT 59923-3022, 406-293-6211, or Craig Jones, DEQ, 1520 East Sixth Avenue, Helena, MT 59620-0901, 406-444-0514.
|
