Sevier Playa potash project gets planning nod

County planning commissioners approved a conditional use permit for the Crystal Peak Minerals Sevier Playa potash mining project last week. Construction on the project is expected to begin sometime next year. Operations are expected to commence three to four years after construction starts, commissioners were told. Potash, or potassium sulfate, is a mineral deposit used in premium fertilizer. The Sevier Playa project is expected to mine the mineral for the next 35 years. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Sawtooth expansion effort gets nod

Millard County commissioners approved changes to the conditional use permit governing development of a natural gas facility on property zoned for industrial use. Sawtooth Caverns, LLC sought permission to alter a previously approved permit to add property for two new underground storage caverns as well as add property to construct a 3.5 mile pipeline connection to the existing UNEV gas pipeline, a 400-mile pipeline that stretches from Woods Cross to Las Vegas.


The company also sought permission for a petroleum right of way as part of the amended permit. Lastly, the company requested that its name be added as the holder of the permit moving forward.


Sawtooth Caverns had previously gone under the name Magnum NGLs. In March 2011 Magnum Solutions, LLC first asked permission to construct a natural gas storage and distribution facility near Intermountain Power Project’s facilities. By November of that year, the project’s developers were looking to add natural gas liquids storage to the list of allowed uses at the site. Construction of the facility was completed in July 2014. By December 2014, the original use permit was split in two, with one covering gas storage and the other covering natural gas liquids storage, the area now operated by Sawtooth. The amended permit allows Sawtooth to store refined liquid products at the site, in addition to the proposed expansion. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Coal port embroiled in second lawsuit

The developer of a controversial shipping terminal being built to export Utah coal is suing Oakland City for a second time after the city revoked the terminal’s 66-year lease last month. In a 50-page complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday, Dec. 4, Phil Tagami, developer of the Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal (OBOT), claimed the city is redoubling efforts to halt construction of the coal port.


The plan for the $250 million port, supported by the Utah Legislature, and county commissions in Sanpete, Sevier, Carbon and Emery counties, is to transport up to 10 million tons of coal mined in central Utah per year by train to Oakland. From there, the coal would be exported to Asia. Sanpete Messenger

BLM seeks public comment ahead of Sevier Playa potash project Environmental Impact Statement

The public can submit comments regarding the proposed Sevier Playa Potash Project to the Bureau of Land Management ahead of a draft Environmental Impact Statement.


The project would be located on 124, 223 acres of public land in Millard County. It would be developed by Crystal Peak Minerals, which seeks to take advantage of rising global demand for sulfate of potash, a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizer. The project could create up to 275 jobs during construction, maintaining 175 full-time employees over the 30-year lifespan of the project. Public comment is being sought as part of the federal agency’s decision-making process. Millard County Chronicle Progress

State funds could help save port but railway plans falter

During the legislative session, Utah lawmakers committed $1.65 million in tax dollars to join in a lawsuit aimed at forcing the City of Oakland in California to permit a seaport where Central Utah coal could be put on ships for export to Asia. But the other half of the project, a new railway linking Central Utah to the Union Pacific line running to the West Coast, may be getting left by the wayside. And abandonment of the rail line could blunt much of the economic benefit Central Utah anticipated from a two-pronged rail-and-port development. The $1.65 million was appropriated to help pay the costs of a lawsuit that Phil Tagami, head of the proposed Oakland seaport, has filed against the City of Oakland. Sanpete Messenger

In case affecting Utah mines, judge orders trial on challenge to Oakland coal ban

In a case with major implications for Utah’s coal producers, a federal judge in California has ordered a trial over the city of Oakland’s prohibition on shipping coal through its ports on the San Francisco Bay. After hearing arguments on motions that could have resolved the costly lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria decided instead to hear testimony on a key claim raised by developer Phil Tagami, who holds contracts with Oakland to build an export terminal on the former Oakland Army Base. The judge has set aside four days to try the developer’s claim the city breached its contracts with him.

The city banned coal in 2016 after word got out that four coal-producing Utah counties were helping finance the project, to the tune of more than $50 million. Although city officials were in the dark about coal’s role, Utah’s largest producer Bowie Resource Partners, with mines in Sevier and Carbon counties, turned out to be the central player in the terminal project, known as Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, or OBOT.

After the project’s coal connection was exposed, Bowie still downplayed its involvement and proponents claimed coal was just one of several commodities that might pass through it. But recent court filings have brought the true extent of Bowie’s role into full focus. The coal producer owns the company, Terminal Logistics Solutions, that would operate OBOT, and is paying the developer’s legal costs, with Utah coal envisioned as the project’s “anchor tenant.” Salt Lake Tribune

Project on state trust lands not subject to local zoning

A state judge has invalidated a conditional-use permit Wayne County officials issued for a gravel pit on state trust lands on the edge of Teasdale, raising new questions on how much say local governments have over projects authorized by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.

The county last year approved a gravel pit on part of a 120-acre SITLA parcel just upwind from Torrey, the artsy gateway to Capitol Reef National Park, in an area zoned for agriculture and low-density residential. The move outraged some residents, who took the dispute to court.

Judge George Harmond ruled that state-owned land is exempt from county zoning rules, so Wayne County properly declined to "rezone" the parcel in question. At the same time, Harmond said in his ruling the conditional-use permit issued to Brown Brothers Construction to operate the pit is not valid — since such permits are premised on a zoning designation. Salt Lake Tribune

Greens Hollow coal lease finalized

Federal officials have finalized a 55 million-ton coal lease in a deal that ensures continued operations of Utah's oldest and most productive coal mine. The owner of the Sufco mine in Sanpete and Sevier counties delivered the winning bid of nearly $23 million last January in a process billed as competitive even though no other bids were submitted on the 6,175-acre Greens Hollow tract under the Fishlake and Manti-La Sal national forests.

Greens Hollow is one of four major federal coal leases in the pipeline in Utah, including one near Bryce Canyon National Park needed to keep Alton's Coal Hollow mine going. Canyon Fuels Co., now owned by Bowie Resource Partners, proposed the Greens Hollow lease a decade ago so it's Sufco mine could continue its underground longwall operations, extracting high-Btu, low-sulfur coal. This lease is expected to return $194 million in royalties and taxes. Sufco is under contract to supply PacifiCorp's nearby Hunter and Huntington power plants through 2020. Salt Lake Tribune

Greens Hollow coal tract draws sealed bid of nearly $23 million

A huge coal tract in central Utah that survived a federal three-year moratorium on any new coal leasing drew a sealed bid of nearly $23 million in a lease sale. The Greens Hollow tract in Sevier and Sanpete counties is nearly 6,200 acres of national forest land with estimated coal reserves of about 56 million tons. Coal on federal land is administered by the Bureau of Land Management, which held the sale after a federal appeals board rejected a challenge by environmental groups.

The winning bidder was Canyon Fuels Co., which operates the nearby Sufco Mine — Utah's largest coal mine. Canyon Fuels is owned by Bowie Resources. Although the results are preliminary, the successful lease sale of the coal reserves means Sufco, which has other federal leases, can expand and continue operations for years to come. Sufco is one of the nation's longest continuously running longwall mines in the country. An environmental analysis said the Greens Hollow tract will extend the life of the mine by nine years. Deseret News

Conservation groups stall coal lease

A handful of conservation groups have stalled U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to offer a lease on the huge Green Hollows coal tract, located in the far southeast corner of Sanpete County and spilling over into Sevier County.

According to a statement released by the BLM on Sept. 12, Wild Earth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club filed an appeal and petition for stay with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA).

Their appeal is primarily based on concerns regarding sage-grouse habitat and leasing procedure. The primary contender for a Green Hollows lease was Bowie Resources, operator of the nearby SUFCO Mine. If Bowie’s plan to develop Green Hollows were to be realized, coal mining in Sanpete and Sevier counties could increase significantly, creating scores of mining and mining-related jobs. Sanpete Messenger

Oakland City Council votes to ban coal — from Utah or elsewhere — at its new port

Utah's push to export its coal culminated in a raucous Oakland City Council meeting, when officials debated, and ultimately approved, an ordinance banning the chunky fossil fuel from passing through a major deep-water port taking shape on the shores of the Bay Area city.

After months of study and fielding four hours of impassioned public comments, the council passed in a 7-0 vote the ordinance banning the storage and handling of coal and petroleum coke to resounding applause from the residents packing the council chambers. The council also passed a related resolution applying the ordinance to the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (OBOT), which four coal-producing Utah counties want to invest in. The measures come back to the council for a second reading July 9.

 The move exposes the city, its lawyers warned, to hundreds of millions of dollars of liability for breaching its contract authorizing developer Phil Tagami to build what is known as Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center on the city-owned former Oakland Army Base at the foot of the Bay Bridge.

OBOT is a $250 million component of Tagami's project, aimed at moving 10 million tons of bulk freight per year. Under a deal with four Utah counties — Carbon, Emery, Sevier and Sanpete ­— half that capacity would be reserved for Utah products in exchange for $50 million. Salt Lake Tribune

Gravel pit proposal rocks Teasdale

Utah trust lands officials plan to authorize a gravel pit just east of the Wayne County hamlet Teasdale, but many nearby residents contend such a use is a poor fit in an area famed for its bucolic and red-rock vistas, potentially undermining its ability to attract visitors and support agriculture.

The proposal has sparked a lively debate on social media, and critics and supporters of the project are expected to converge at a planning commission hearing Wednesday night in Loa, where commissioners are weighing a zoning change that would allow industrial uses in the scenic area largely devoted to livestock and alfalfa operations.

Brown Brothers Construction Co., which has operated a gravel pit on state land near Loa for decades, recently approached SITLA about leasing an L-shaped 120-acre parcel not far from the river, south of State Route 24. Brown wants to work 30 acres off the Teasdale Bench Road. SITLA would charge annual rent of $1,200 and a royalty of 70 cents per cubic yard of material removed. Salt Lake Tribune

Independent experts to examine Utah coal counties’ plan to invest in California export terminal

State officials are looking for independent consultants to evaluate Utah's proposed investment in a California export terminal — a plan that has sparked controversy in both states from critics who question the environmental impact of shipping coal and future demand for it.

The proposed loan is a new approach for the Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB), which decides how to spend millions the state reaps every year from federal mineral royalties and leases. SB246 bypasses restrictions on CIB funding, allowing the board to create a new revolving loan program designed to help move rural Utah's natural resources to distant markets.

First up is the $53 million loan sought by four coal-producing counties that want to invest in a proposed deep-water terminal under development in Oakland. Other proposals that could seek access to the new fund are a transmission line, oil pipeline and rail line serving the Uinta Basin's oil patch and a 48-mile rail spur connecting Salina to the coal load-out on the Union Pacific line at Levan. Salt Lake Tribune

Central Utah rail line project faces controversy, opposition

Political pressure and scrutiny from the public and press may be poised to create problems for a 43-mile Central Utah rail line project and an associated export terminal in Oakland, Calif., facilities designed to give a shot in the arm to the area economy.

Sanpete County, in conjunction with Sevier, Carbon and Emery counties, and with the help of a $53 million loan from the Utah Community Impact Board (CIB), is an investor in the two-pronged project. The goal is to bring rail service to the four counties. That could permit coal mined in Sevier and Emery counties, and other local cargo such as hay and farm products, to be shipped to Oakland by rail, loaded on ships and sold overseas, mainly in Asia. The entire rail/terminal project will cost over $250 million to make a reality, most of it to come from private investment. But the $53 million state loan could be important seed money to get project going.

Port proposal under review

A proposal to invest some $53 million in the form of a loan into the construction of a port in Oakland, Calif., came under fire last week by environmentalist groups in and out of the state of Utah. The proposed port project would allow four counties — Sevier, Sanpete, Carbon and Emery — the ability to ship goods internationally. The Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board approved the $53 million loan in April. The project would give the four counties a right to use 49 percent of the port’s capacity for trans-Pacific shipping. This could include shipping of salt, potash, agricultural goods and other products.

However, since one of the key factors in all four counties is the coal industry, the proposal has drawn the ire of environmental activists. A letter signed by representatives of the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice last week urged Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes to invalidate the proposed loan. Richfield Reaper

Project could transform local coal market to international

The Utah Permanent Community Impact Fund Board approved some $53 million in loan funding for a project that would allow four counties — Sevier, Sanpete, Carbon and Emery — to purchase an interest in a port that is under development in Oakland, Calif. The funding was approved during a CIB meeting hosted in Salt Lake City Thursday in an 8-2 vote.

The proposal is for the CIB’s $50 million to be used to pay for a portion of the construction of a $250 million shipping port in Oakland. While CIB money would be used to fund the infrastructure, the four participating counties wouldn’t own the facility. Instead, they would own the right to use 49 percent of the port’s capacity for trans-Pacific shipping. Richfield Reaper

Feds to lease 100,000 acres in southern Utah for oil, gas drilling

Oil and gas leases on more than 100,000 federal acres across southern Utah are to be sold at auction at the Bureau of Land Management’s state office in Salt Lake City.

Parcels administered by the bureau’s Color Country district to be sold include many clustered outside Salina, a large block straddling Interstate 70 west of the San Rafael Swell and several scattered around Sanpete County. The agency is taking public comment through June 16 on its next auction, slated for Aug. 19, when another 22 parcels go on the block covering 39,287 acres managed by its Salt Lake and Fillmore field offices. After conducting an environmental assessment, BLM pulled about 27,000 acres from this sale. Salt Lake Tribune

SUFCO hopes to extend life of mine

After two years of "supplemental" study, the U.S. Forest Service has issued a new environmental review of a proposed coal lease that could keep Utah’s oldest and most productive mine operating for an additional nine years.

The Sufco Mine has been pulling high-quality coal from under the southern Wasatch Plateau since 1941 and has been a crucial economic driver for Sevier and Emery counties. The mine operates on the Sevier side of the county line, about 30 miles southeast of Salina.

BLM seeks input on Millard County potash project

The Bureau of Land Management Utah Fillmore Field Office is seeking public input on a proposed 124,000-acre potash development project in Millard County. Peak Minerals Inc. is proposing to construct, operate, and maintain the facilities required to extract and process potash from brine solution found on potash leases in central Millard County's Sevier Playa. Proposed project infrastructure includes ponds, wells, power and gas lines, a rail facility and access roads. Deseret News

Forest Service reverses OK on SUFCO coal mine expansion

A federal appeals officer has reversed a U.S. Forest Service decision that would have enabled the latest Sufco mine expansion proposed by Utah’s largest coal producer. Operator Ark Land Co., a subsidiary of Arch Coal, is seeking permission to expand its lease by 20 acres to extract up to 400,000 tons that would otherwise be inaccessible at its mine east of Salina.

But underground operations would have caused subsidence over a much wider area, according to the Utah Environmental Congress, the Salt Lake City group that challenged the January decision by Fishlake National Forest Supervisor Allen Rowley. The group contends the forest failed to study impacts beyond the 20 acres covered in the lease modification. Salt Lake Tribune