(1) The State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries shall direct staff or shall hire a third party contractor to:
(a) Prepare an environmental evaluation;
(b) Review baseline data submitted by the applicant; and
(c) Review application material if a permitting agency or a cooperating agency lacks the expertise.
(2) The applicant shall pay costs of hiring a third party contractor. If the applicant shows cause why a particular third party contractor should not be allowed to perform a function under subsection (1) of this section, the department shall hire an alternate contractor.
(3) The contents of the environmental evaluation under subsection (1) of this section shall include:
(a) An analysis of the reasonably foreseeable impacts of an activity including catastrophic consequences even if the probability of occurrence is low, if the analysis is supported by credible scientific evidence, is not based on pure conjecture and is within the rule of reason.
(b) An assessment of the total cumulative impact on the environment that results from the incremental impact of an action when added with other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future actions, regardless of the agency or persons that undertake the other action, or whether the actions are on private, state or federal land. To the extent possible, the department shall enter into a memorandum of agreement with federal agencies to insure that information required by the state in evaluating the cumulative impact of a proposed chemical process mine may be used by the applicant to satisfy federal requirements for such an assessment.
(c) A review and analysis of alternatives analyzed by the applicant or a contractor hired by the applicant that:
(A) Rigorously explores and objectively evaluates all reasonable alternatives and briefly discusses alternatives that were eliminated and the reasons the alternatives were eliminated;
(B) Treats each alternative, including the proposed action, in detail so that the permitting agencies, cooperating agencies and the public may evaluate the comparative merits of the alternatives; and
(C) Identifies all alternatives within the authority of each permitting or cooperating agency.
(4) Upon completion of the environmental evaluation, the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries shall provide notice in accordance with ORS 517.959. The notice shall state that the environmental evaluation is complete and that the persons may respond with written comments for a period of two weeks after the notice is given. [1991 c.735 §17]
Section: Previous 517.972 517.973 517.974 517.975 517.976 517.977 517.978 517.979 517.980 517.981 517.982 517.983 517.984 517.985 517.986 NextLast modified: August 7, 2008