Notice2024-31215
Notice of Termination of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Twin Metals Project in the Superior National Forest, Lake and St. Louis Counties, Minnesota
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 30, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
By this notice, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Northeastern States District, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is announcing the termination of the Twin Metals Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 249 (Monday, December 30, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 249 (Monday, December 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 106561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31215]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[PO #4820000251]
Notice of Termination of the Environmental Impact Statement for
the Twin Metals Project in the Superior National Forest, Lake and St.
Louis Counties, Minnesota
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of termination.
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SUMMARY: By this notice, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
Northeastern States District, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is
announcing the termination of the Twin Metals Project Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS).
DATES: This termination takes effect immediately.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kurt Wadzinski, NSDO Planning and
Environmental Coordinator, at 414-297-4408 or by email to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b9d2ced8ddc3d0d7caf9dbd5d497ded6cf"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="254e5244415f4c4b56654749480b424a53">[email protected]</span></a>. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the
deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339
to contact during normal business hours. The FRS is available 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question. You will receive
a reply during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
NEPA regulations, the BLM published its Notice of Intent (NOI) to
prepare an EIS for the Twin Metals Project in the Federal Register on
June 30, 2020 (85 FR 39206). The EIS would have analyzed the potential
impacts of issuing a proposed new preference right lease (MNES 57965)
and approving a mine plan of operations for that lease and an existing
lease (MNES 1352) held by Twin Metals Minnesota (Twin Metals) in the
Superior National Forest in Lake and St. Louis counties, Minnesota.
In October 2021, the USDA Forest Service submitted an application
to withdraw the lands in question from disposition under the United
States mineral and geothermal leasing laws. The BLM published a notice
of its receipt of that application in the Federal Register (86 FR
58299), which segregated the lands from the operation of the mineral
and geothermal leasing laws, and the BLM subsequently rejected the
preference right lease application submitted by Twin Metals in
accordance with 43 CFR 2310.2(d).
In January 2022, the Department of the Interior cancelled two
hardrock mineral leases held by Twin Metals, including lease MNES 1352,
because the leases were improperly renewed. Because Twin Metals did not
have an underlying land use authorization, the BLM subsequently
rejected the mine plan of operations. On January 31, 2023, the
Secretary of the Interior issued Public Land Order 7917 (88 FR 6308),
which withdrew approximately 225,504 acres of National Forest System
lands in Cook, Lake, and Saint Louis counties, Minnesota, from
disposition under the United States mineral and geothermal leasing laws
for a period of 20 years, subject to valid existing rights. As a
result, new mineral leasing is prohibited for 20 years from the date of
the withdrawal.
Based on BLM environmental policy, the bureau must announce in the
Federal Register when it does not complete previously initiated NEPA
actions.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.9)
Mitchell Leverette,
Eastern States State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-31215 Filed 12-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-18-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 30, 2024.
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