Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 78349 

similar to those contained in the 

supplemental contract that provided for 

the prepayment of the Jordan Aqueduct 

dated October 28, 1993. The 

prepayment may be provided in several 

installments to reflect substantial 

completion of the delivery facilities 

being prepaid and may not be adjusted 

on the basis of the type of prepayment 

financing utilized by the District.’’ 

In accordance with Public Law 102– 

575, the District prepaid the municipal 

and industrial repayment obligation 

associated with Block Notice 7A–2 from 

the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water 

Delivery System, a component of the 

Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah 

Project. The terms of the prepayment 

were publicly negotiated between the 

District and Interior on September 23, 

2020. 

Reed R. Murray, 

Program Director,Central Utah Project 

Completion Act Office, Department of the 

Interior. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26738 Filed 12–3–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4332–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[DOI–BLM–NV–W010–2020–0012–EIS; 

LLNVW00000.L51100000.GN0000. 

LVEMF1907180.19X .MO# 4500149816] 

Notice of Availability of the Final 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Proposed Thacker Pass Project, 

Two Plans of Operations Submitted by 

Lithium Nevada Corporation for Mining 

and Exploration in Humboldt County, 

Nevada 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended (NEPA), and the 

Federal Land Policy and Management 

Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of 

Land Management (BLM) Humboldt 

River Field Office, Winnemucca, 

Nevada, as the lead agency, has 

prepared the Thacker Pass Lithium 

Mine Project Final Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS), for the proposed 

Lithium Mine Project Proposed Plans of 

Operations and Reclamation Plan 

Permit Applications (the Project) in 

Humboldt County, Nevada, and by this 

notice announces the availability of the 

FEIS. In accordance with the Bald and 

Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act), 

the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is 

a cooperating agency with the BLM on 

the development of this FEIS and has 

used it to analyze the potential impacts 

of approving LNC’s request for an 

incidental take permit for golden eagles. 

FWS has evaluated the LNC’s Eagle 

Conservation Plan (ECP), which 

describes their request for incidental 

take of eagles and a 5-year incidental 

take permit for golden eagles under the 

Eagle Act. 

DATES: The BLM will not issue a final 

decision on the proposal for a minimum 

of 30 days after the Environmental 

Protection Agency publishes its notice 

of availability of the Thacker Pass 

Lithium Mine Project Final EIS DOI– 

BLM–NV–W010–2020–0012–EIS in the 

Federal Register. BLM will coordinate 

with the FWS on impacts to golden 

eagles and the Eagle Act permitting 

process prior to signing a Record of 

Decision. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of North-South 

Exploration and the Thacker Pass Mine 

Plans of Operations and the Thacker 

Pass Project Final EIS are available for 

public inspection on the internet at 

https://bit.ly/2Npgf9l. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions about the proposed Project 

contact Mr. Ken Loda, Lead Geologist, 

Bureau of Land Management Humboldt 

River Field Office telephone: (775) 623– 

1500, address: 5100 East Winnemucca 

Boulevard, Winnemucca, Nevada 89445. 

For questions concerning the Eagle Act 

permitting process, contact Mr. Thomas 

Leeman, Deputy Chief, Migratory Bird 

Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Department of the Interior Region 10, at 

(916) 978–6189. Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Relay 

Service (FRS) at 1–800–877–8339 to 

contact either of the above individuals 

during normal business hours. The FRS 

is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a 

week, to leave a message or question 

with either one of the above individuals. 

You will receive a reply during normal 

business hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

applicant, LNC proposes to construct, 

operate, reclaim, and eventually close 

an open pit lithium mine, processing 

operation, and continued exploration 

activities (the Project), on public lands 

in northern Humboldt County, Nevada. 

LNC currently has two approved 

Plans of Operation, one for exploration 

and one for a specialty clay mine, 

approved within the area proposed for 

the new lithium mine. There are 75 

acres of exploration disturbance 

approved under LNC’s existing 

exploration Plan, and 140 acres of 

existing disturbance approved under 

their clay mine Plan. 

LNC has submitted two new Plans of 

Operations to develop the Project and to 

provide a description of the proposed 

lithium mining, processing, and 

exploration operations. Each of these 

new Plans of Operation include a 

reclamation plan for the activities 

identified under its respective Plan of 

Operation. The operations proposed 

under the two new Plans of Operation 

would involve a project area of about 

18,000 acres, with an ultimate 

disturbance footprint of approximately 

5,700 acres. The new lithium mine Plan 

of Operation boundary overlaps the 

existing approved Plan boundaries. 

LNC proposes to develop the Project 

in two phases over the estimated 41- 

year mine life. Pending LNC receiving 

the required authorizations and permits 

for Phase 1 of the Project, pre-stripping 

would commence in early 2021, and 

construction in the first quarter of 2021, 

with mining production and ore 

processing estimated to commence in 

late 2022. LNC estimates that it would 

complete mining, processing, and 

concurrent reclamation activities in 

2061, after which, reclamation, site 

closure activities, and post-closure 

monitoring would occur for a minimum 

of five years. 

The proposed activities and facilities 

associated with the Project include 

development of an open pit mine, 

construction and operation of lithium 

processing and production facilities, 

mine facilities to support mining 

operations, two waste rock storage 

facilities, a run-of-mine stockpile, a clay 

tailings filter stack, water supply 

facilities, two power transmission lines 

and substations, and various ancillary 

facilities. Pit dewatering is not expected 

to be required as part of the Project until 

2055, and concurrent backfill of the 

open pit would occur after sufficient 

volume has been excavated to initiate 

direct placement of waste rock. 

Exploration would be conducted under 

both new Plans. In addition, the Project 

would affect golden eagle nests and 

territories by planned blasting within a 

two-mile radius of golden eagle nests; 

therefore, LNC has requested 

authorization from the FWS to disturb 

eagle nests and a 5-year incidental take 

permit for golden eagles under the Eagle 

Act. The permit application includes an 

Eagle Conservation Plan, which 

contains commitments to avoid, 

minimize, and mitigate adverse effects 

on golden eagles resulting from the 

implementation of the Project. Issuance 

of an eagle take permit must comply 

with the Eagle Act and all related 

regulatory requirements (50 CFR 22.26). 

The Final EIS describes and analyzes 

the proposed Project’s direct, indirect, 

78350 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 234 / Friday, December 4, 2020 / Notices 

and cumulative impacts on all affected 

resources. In addition to the Proposed 

Action, Alternative A, the following 

alternatives are also analyzed in the 

document: Alternative B, which is a 

partial backfilling of the pit that would 

result in a small wet area; Alternative C 

which does not backfill the pit and 

would result in three small, and 

probably seasonal, pit lakes; and the No 

Action Alternative. Alternatives A, B 

and C include an application for an 

eagle take permit for loss of productivity 

of three golden eagle breeding pairs. 

Additionally, Alternative C would 

require nest site enhancement as 

compensatory mitigation under the Bald 

and Golden Eagle Protection Act. 

A Notice of Availability (NOA) of the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) for the proposed Project was 

published in the Federal Register on 

July 31, 2020 (85 FR 10460). Two virtual 

public meetings were held during the 

comment period. The BLM received 63 

public comment documents during the 

45-day comment period. The documents 

contained 813 individual substantive 

comments which included concerns on 

potential impacts to groundwater 

quality, potential impacts to springs and 

stream flows in the surrounding area of 

the mine, storage and management of 

waste rock and tailings, grazing 

allotments, and mine closure. These 

comments were considered and 

addressed in Appendix R (Comments 

Responses) of the Final EIS. 

Comments on the Draft EIS received 

from the public and internal BLM 

review were considered and 

incorporated, as appropriate, into the 

Final EIS. Public comments resulted in 

corrections or the addition of clarifying 

text but did not significantly change the 

proposed action. 

The BLM has consulted with the 

Nevada State Historic Preservation 

Office (SHPO) on the Project in 

accordance with the 2014 State Protocol 

Agreement between the BLM and 

Nevada SHPO for Implementing the 

National Historic Preservation Act. The 

BLM has determined that the Project 

would cause adverse effects to 57 

historic properties and the Nevada 

SHPO has concurred. The BLM and 

Nevada SHPO recently executed a 

Memorandum of Agreement to resolve 

adverse effects to the 57 historic 

properties. The specific actions 

necessary to resolve adverse effects to 

historic properties would be carried out 

if the Project is authorized, prior to 

Project implementation. 

The BLM has consulted and continues 

to consult with Indian tribes on a 

government-to-government basis in 

accordance with Executive Order 13175 

and other policies. Tribal concerns, 

including impacts to Indian trust assets 

and potential impacts to cultural 

resources have been analyzed in the 

Final EIS. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 

1506.10) 

Ester M. McCullough, 

Winnemucca District Manager. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26599 Filed 12–3–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[21X.LLAK930000 L16100000.PN0000] 

Notice of Availability of the Proposed 

Resource Management Plan and Final 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Bering Sea-Western Interior 

Planning Area, Alaska 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended, and the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act of 1976, as 

amended, the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), Anchorage Field 

Office, Anchorage, Alaska, prepared a 

Proposed Resource Management Plan 

(RMP)/Final Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) for the Bering Sea– 

Western Interior region of Alaska and by 

this notice is announcing its 

availability. 

DATES: BLM planning regulations state 

that any person who meets the 

conditions as described in the 

regulations at 43 CFR 1610.5–2 may 

protest the BLM’s Proposed RMP/Final 

EIS. A person who meets the conditions 

must file or postmark their protest no 

later than 30 days from the date of the 

Final EIS Notice of Availability 

published by the Environmental 

Protection Agency. 

ADDRESSES: Copies or notification of the 

electronic availability of the RMP for the 

Bering Sea–Western Interior Proposed 

RMP/Final EIS are being sent to affected 

federal, State, tribal, and local 

government agencies and to other 

stakeholders. The electronic Proposed 

RMP/Final EIS is available on the BLM’s 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) Register (https://

eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/36665/510 [please use Chrome]) 

and at https://www.blm.gov/programs/ 

planning-and-nepa/plans-indevelopment/alaska/BSWI. On the 

project summary page, click on 

‘‘Documents’’ on the left side of the 

screen to find the electronic version of 

this material. Hard copies of the 

Proposed RMP/Final EIS are also 

available for public inspection. Please 

contact each of the following facilities 

prior to visiting to determine the 

specific COVID–19 protocols in place, 

such as needing an appointment and 

face mask to enter: 

BLM Anchorage Field Office, 4700 BLM 

Road, Anchorage, AK 99507, (907) 

261–1246. 

BLM Fairbanks District Office, 222 

University Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 

99709, (907) 474–2200. 

BLM Alaska Public Information Center, 

James M. Fitzgerald Federal Building, 

222 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK 

99513 (907) 271–5960. 

Alaska Resources Library & Information 

Services, 3211 Providence Drive, 

Suite 111, Anchorage, AK 99508, 

(907) 272–7547. 

All protests must be in writing and 

filed with the BLM Director, either as a 

hard copy or electronically via BLM’s 

National NEPA Register by the close of 

the protest period. The only electronic 

protests the BLM will accept are those 

filed through BLM’s National NEPA 

Register. All protest letters sent to the 

BLM via fax or email will be considered 

invalid unless a properly filed protest is 

also submitted. 

Instructions for filing a protest may be 

found in the ‘‘Dear Reader’’ Letter of the 

Bering Sea–Western Interior Proposed 

RMP/Final EIS, at 43 CFR 1610.5–2, and 

online at https://www.blm.gov/ 

programs/ planning-and-nepa/publicparticipation/filing-a-plan-protest. If 

you do not have the ability to file your 

protest electronically, hard copy 

protests must be mailed to one of the 

following addresses: 

• Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), 

Attention: Protest Coordinator, P.O. Box 

261117, Lakewood, CO 80226 

• Overnight Delivery: BLM Director 

(210), Attention: Protest Coordinator, 

2850 Youngfield Street, Lakewood, CO 

80215. 

Before including your phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your protest, 

you should be aware that your entire 

protest—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you can ask us in your protest to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jorjena Barringer, BLM Anchorage Field 

Office, telephone: (907) 267–1317,