Red Dog SEIS

Red Dog Mine – Aqqaluk Project Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Red Dog Mine. The Red Dog Mine is operated by Teck Cominco Alaska, Incorporated (Teck), which is proposing to extend the life of the Red Dog Mine operation. The Red Dog Mine is located in northwestern Alaska, approximately 82 miles north of Kotzebue. The Red Dog Mine operation consists of an open pit mine, mill for processing ore, waste rock disposal areas, tailings impoundment, and support facilities. Zinc and lead concentrates produced at the mill are trucked 52 miles to a port site on the Chukchi Sea for shipping to smelters outside of Alaska. The current mine pit will be mined out between 2010 and 2012. Teck proposes to mine an adjacent deposit, called the Aqqaluk Deposit, in order to continue operations until approximately 2031. The draft SEIS serves to support EPA’s proposed decision to reissue the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Red Dog Mine including any changes as a result of mining the Aqqaluk Deposit. The draft SEIS updates the environmental impact statement (EIS) developed in 1984 when the first NPDES permit was issued for discharges from the mine. The SEIS is also intended to support permitting associated with the Aqqaluk deposit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) under Clean Water Act Section 404. Both federal actions the NPDES permit and 404 permits require compliance with NEPA. The EPA is the lead agency for the development of the SEIS. Cooperating agencies include: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service, State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Northwest Arctic Borough, and, as represented by the Maniilaq Association, nine tribal governments (Buckland, Kiana, Kivalina, Kobuk, Kotzebue, Noatak, Noorvik, Selawik, and Shungnak).

EPA selected Tetra Tech to be the third-party contractor to work with EPA and the cooperating agencies to write the SEIS.

This website provides access to the draft SEIS and supporting documents. It also provides information on requesting copies of the document and for submitting public comments on the draft SEIS.

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Bulletins

EPA will host four public meetings/hearings for the Red Dog -Aqqaluk Project Draft SEIS and Draft NPDES permit. The times and locations of the open houses/public meetings are as follows:

Kivalina	January 12, 2009	Kivalina School (3:00 p.m.)
Noatak	January 13, 2009	Noatak School (3:00 p.m.)
Kotzebue	January 14, 2009	Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Chambers (10:00 a.m.)
Anchorage	January 15, 2009	Loussac Library (6:00 p.m.) 3600 Denali Street.

Four public meetings have been scheduled to provide information and answer questions about the DSEIS and draft NPDES permit. The meetings will also include a hearing to formally receive oral comments from the public. Comments may be submitted in writing or verbally during the public hearings, or they may be submitted to EPA in writing, by e-mail, or by fax, until the comment period deadline at the close of business on February 3, 2009.

Below are some frequently requested documents for the Red Dog Project. To save a file to your hard drive, right click on the document and choose Save Target As. To display the file, simply click the link. Note that some of these files are large, so they may take a while to download or display.

Scoping

Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

NPDES Draft Permit and Fact Sheet

Other Information

Cooperating Agency Links

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact the EPA Red Dog Mine SEIS Project Manager, Ms. Patricia McGrath, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 900, OWW-135, Seattle, WA 98101. Phone: (206) 553-0979 or Email: Mcgrath.Patricia@epa.gov.

Public Comments

The comment period for the draft SEIS runs from December 5, 2008 through February 3, 2009. Comments can be submitted on this PDF form and mailed or faxed to the location above. Or, you may save this .DOC comment form, type in your comments, and email it as an attachment to mcgrath.patricia@epa.gov. You can also simply email a comment directly.