295.53 Environmental impact statement.

(1) Consultants. The department may enter into contracts for environmental consultant services under s. 23.41 to assist in the preparation of an environmental impact statement or to provide assistance to applicants.

(2) Notice. After the department receives an application for a mining permit, it shall notify the public and affected agencies that an environmental impact statement will be prepared for the proposed mine and that the process of identifying major issues under s. NR 150.30 (1) (f), Wis. Adm. Code, is beginning.

(3) Environmental impact report.

(a) An applicant shall prepare an environmental impact report for the mining project. In the environmental impact report, the applicant shall provide a description of the proposed mining project, the present environmental conditions in the area and the anticipated environmental impacts of the proposed mining project, the present socioeconomic conditions in the area and the anticipated socioeconomic impacts of the proposed mining project, details of any wetlands mitigation program under s. 295.60 (8), any measures for navigable waters under s. 295.605 (4), any proposed changes to the forest designations specified in sub. (4) (c), and the alternatives to the proposed mining project. As the applicant provides more information or makes modifications to the proposed mining project, the department may revise the requirements it specified under s. 295.465 (1) (b) to ensure the potential environmental effects can be identified in the department's environmental impact statement.

(b) The department shall assist the applicant in meeting the deadlines for ultimate submission and review of any scientific analyses consistent with this subchapter. If a particular scientific analysis is not completed as of the date the environmental impact report is required to be submitted, the applicant shall identify in the environmental impact report the scope of the analysis and anticipated date that it will be submitted.

(c)

1. The applicant shall submit the environmental impact report with the application for the mining permit.

3. Upon receipt of the environmental impact report, the department shall review the environmental impact report and, if the department finds that the environmental impact report does not contain information reasonably necessary for the department to evaluate the proposed mining project and its environmental effects, the department may request additional information from the applicant.

(d) The department shall accept original data from an environmental impact report for use in the environmental impact statement and need not verify all original data provided by the applicant to accept the data as accurate. The department shall use original data from an environmental impact report in the environmental impact statement if the data contains the information identified under s. 295.465 (1) (b) and any of the following conditions is met:

1. The department, its consultant, or a cooperating state or federal agency collects sufficient data to perform a limited statistical comparison with data from the environmental impact report that demonstrates that the data sets are statistically similar within a reasonable confidence limit.

2. An expert who is employed by, or is a consultant to, the department or is employed by, or is a consultant to, a cooperating state or federal agency determines that the data is within the range of expected results.

3. The department, its consultant or a cooperating state or federal agency determines that the methodology used in the environmental impact report is scientifically and technically adequate for the tests being performed.

(4) Procedure for environmental impact statement.

(a) The department shall prepare an environmental impact statement for every application for a mining permit. In preparing the environmental impact statement, the department shall comply with s. 1.11 (2) and s. NR 150.30 (2), Wis. Adm. Code.

(b) The department shall include in the environmental impact statement a description of the significant long-term and short-term impacts, including impacts after the mining has ended, on all of the following:

1. Tourism.

2. Employment.

3. Schools and medical care facilities.

4. Private and public social services.

5. The tax base.

6. The local economy.

7. Archaeological sites.

(c) The department and other state agencies shall address the application for a mining permit, for any approval, and for any action relating to the mining project involving other state agencies in one comprehensive analysis in the environmental impact statement prepared by the department, including any environmental analysis required by the department with regard to any of the following:

1. The withdrawal of land entered as county forest land under s. 28.11 and any modification of, or amendment to, a county forest land use plan necessitated by the withdrawal of the land.

2. The withdrawal of land entered as forest cropland under s. 77.10.

3. The withdrawal of land designated as managed forest land under subch. VI of ch. 77 and any modification of, or amendment to, a managed forest land management plan necessitated by the withdrawal of the land.

4. The transfer of land for which amounts were awarded by the department, including under s. 23.09 (17m), 26.38, 28.11 (5r), or 77.895, to fund the acquisition of, or to fund activities conducted on, forest land and any modification of, or amendment to, a forest stewardship management plan or other plan necessitated by the transfer of the land.

(d) The public notice, informational hearing, and comment provisions in s. 295.57, the provision concerning the effective date of approvals in s. 295.58 (6), and the provisions for review in s. 295.77 (1) and (2) apply to an environmental impact statement prepared under this subsection. If the department revises and redistributes an environmental impact statement or portion of an environmental impact statement prepared under this subsection, the department shall distribute the environmental impact statement or portion of the environmental impact statement as provided in s. 295.57, but the period for public comment is 30 days, rather than 45 days.

(e) The department shall conduct its environmental review process jointly with any federal or local agency that consents to a joint environmental review process. The department may adopt any environmental analysis prepared by another state agency or by a federal or local agency. The department may enter into a written agreement with any of those agencies that have a major responsibility related to or that are significantly affected by the proposed mining. In the written agreement, the parties shall define the responsibility of each agency in the development of a single environmental impact statement on the proposed mining and outline the procedures to be used in the regulatory process. The department shall be the lead agency for any environmental review process involving other state agencies. To the extent that any federal or local agency's environmental review process conflicts with the provisions of this section or s. 295.57, the department shall follow the provisions of this section and s. 295.57 and may only coordinate its environmental review to the extent consistent with the provisions of this section and s. 295.57. The department shall comment on any federal agency's environmental assessment or environmental impact statement associated with a mining project in accordance with s. NR 150.40, Wis. Adm. Code.

(5) Relationship to other laws. This section and s. 295.57 govern the department's obligations under ss. 1.11 and 1.12 with respect to a mining project. Sections 23.11 (5) and 23.40 and ss. NR 2.085, 2.09, and 2.157, Wis. Adm. Code, do not apply with respect to a mining project. The rest of ch. NR 2, Wis. Adm. Code, only applies with respect to a mining project to the extent that it does not conflict with this section and s. 295.57. Sections NR 150.30 (1) (g) and 150.35, Wis. Adm. Code, do not apply with respect to a mining project. The rest of ch. NR 150, Wis. Adm. Code, only applies with respect to a mining project to the extent that it does not conflict with this section and s. 295.57.

History: 2013 a. 1; 2013 a. 168 s. 21; 2015 a. 195.