GILLETTE - Details of a series of coal deals that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars and lead to mining 1.5 billion tons of coal in the southern Powder River Basin were released this week by the Bureau of Land Management.

The leases ultimately will provide substantial revenues to the state of Wyoming when the federal government pays the state its share of the lease payments.

The final Powder River Basin Coal Environmental Impact Statement analyzing the impacts of leasing five federal coal tracts in the southern Powder River Basin has been issued for public comment.

Under the Bureau of Land Management's preferred alternatives, five coal leases would make available a total of 1.5 billion tons of federally-owned coal. Four separate companies nominated the five tracts for competitive leasing. The companies operate existing mines that correlate with the lease tracts.

The EIS represents the first time the BLM has grouped several tracts together under one analysis. By preparing one document rather than a single EIS for each tract, the BLM will avoid creating a delay, according to those involved in the process.

"It became very evident early on that there was going to be a group of them that all needed (a new coal lease) within a year or two of each other, which couldn't be done by doing individual environmental impact statements," said Greg Schaefer, spokesman for Arch Coal.

The BLM will also consider, separately, federal tracts being nominated in the middle Powder River Basin and northern Powder River Basin.

The five tracts under consideration in the southern portion of the basin are believed to be worth hundred of millions of dollars, according to those in the industry. Just two years ago, Kennecott Energy's Jacobs Ranch mine paid $379.5 million for a tract containing 537 million tons of federal coal.

That deal netted the state of Wyoming a total of $189.7 million and extended the life of the Jacobs Ranch mine by 18 years, according to Kennecott Energy.

Schaefer noted that each tract in the Southern PRB EIS would be sold in a competitive bid, meaning any qualified bidder in the U.S. could submit a bid for any of the tracts.

In four of five of the lease nominations, the BLM's preferred alternatives would actually make more tons of coal available than was originally nominated. For example, Arch Coal's subsidiary land company, Ark Land Co., applied for 479 million tons in the Little Thunder tract, but the BLM's preferred alternatives would include 553 tons of recoverable coal.

Schaefer explained that the BLM is responsible for considering the best use of the federal coal resource and it often re-draws the boundaries in proposed leases.

"The BLM looks at what is the optimum configuration that benefits the United States government," Schaefer said. "So they have the ability to add lands or take off lands to make sure they get the maximum recovery of coal."

For a copy of the final Southern Powder River Basin Coal Environmental Impact Statement, contact Nancy Doelger at the BLM Casper Field Office, (307) 261-7627.

A 30-day public comment period began when the notice of the EIS was made available on the Federal Register on Wednesday. Comments received by Jan. 23 will be considered in preparing a Record of Decision, according to the BLM.

To comment on the final EIS, send written comments to Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, Attn: Nancy Doelger, 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604. Written comments may also be emailed to the attention of Nancy Doelger at casper_wymail@blm.gov.