Public Notice
ADL 421226 Roger Burggraf-Grant Mine Primary Mine Tailings Impoundment Closure
Restricted Use Authorization
DATE: May 1, 2023
Subject to AS 38.05.020 and AS 38.05.035, the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining, Land, and Water, Statewide Abatement of Impaired Land (SAIL) Section is adjudicating a request for land use restrictions.APPLICANT: Roger Burggraf
PROJECT NAME: ADL 421226 –Grant Mine Primary Mine Tailings Impoundment Closure
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION: Grant Mine tailings impoundment, located near Ester Dome on Saint Patrick Road approximately 1.2 miles south of Ester Dome Road (64.8801°N, 147.9601°W).
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Within the SW1/4 SE1/4 of Section 28 of Township 1 North, Range 2 West, Fairbanks Meridian.
REQUESTED ACTIVITY: The applicant requested a Restricted Use Authorization from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) allowing for Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Contaminated Sites Program closure of the Grant Mine tailings impoundment with Activity and Use Limitations (AULs). The Restricted Use Authorization is for closure of the surface tailings facility resulting from past milling and underground mining operations at Grant Mine from 1981 through 1989. No contemporary mining or ore processing has been approved at the site.
The applicant worked closely with DEC and DNR to develop a cleanup plan which includes capping the tailings impoundment and managing the flow of surface water. Proposed AULs could include all or some of the following: maintaining the administrative record for the site in DNR’s publicly available Land Administration System and online map applications, requirements to monitor and maintain the cap and water management controls, and land use restrictions. The proposed AUL’s will be designed to protect human health and the environment and fulfill DEC’s requirements for site closure with institutional controls (ICs).
An Environmental Covenant (EC) will be required and recorded into the appropriate public land records in accordance with the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (UECA), Alaska Statute (AS) 46.04.300 through 46.03.390. Under AS 46.04.300(a) an EC is required if an environmental response project results in an engineered feature or structure that requires monitoring, maintenance, or operation or that will not function as intended if disturbed. Therefore, institutional and land-use controls (IC/LUCs) will be required to manage risks to the public and the environment.
DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: May 30th, 2023.
You are invited to review the enclosed materials. Please direct any questions or comments you may have to Alyssa Millard, alyssa.millard@alaska.gov by the comment deadline. You need not respond if you do not have any comments. The purpose of this notice is to gather input before a decision is made on this activity. Interested parties have the right to comment during the public notice period and the commenters who are aggrieved by the final finding and decision will have the right to appeal it. It should be noted that in order to be able to appeal the final finding and decision, a person must provide written comments during the preliminary decision comment period. A copy of the final decision will be sent to any person who comments on the preliminary decision and will include an explanation of the appeal process.
The DNR-SAIL section will hold a listening session with a brief presentation and time for a Q&A session on May 15th from 6-8 pm. Please join us in person at the Fairbanks office located at 3700 Airport Way or by the Microsoft Teams meeting link below.
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After review and adjudication, DNR may issue a Restricted Use Authorization with stipulations that may be modified during the review and adjudication process.
DNR-DMLW complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Individuals with disabilities who may need auxiliary aids, services or special modifications to comment should contact Alaska Relay at 711 or 800-770-8973 for TTY services.
The Division of Mining, Land and Water reserves the right to waive technical defects in this publication.