Preface

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Dear Reader:

This Draft EIS/EIR has been jointly prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, as lead agency under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Imperial County, as lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The Imperial Project is a proposal by Glamis Imperial Corporation to develop an open-pit, precious metal mining operation utilizing heap leach processes located on public lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, El Centro Resource Area Office, of the California Desert District. It would consist of three open pits, two waste rock stockpiles, two soil stockpiles, five ephemeral wash diversion channels, an administration office and maintenance facility area, a heap leach facility, a precious metal recovery plant, an electric substation, and internal roads and associated electrical distribution lines. Up to four ground water production wells and 3.7 miles of buried water pipeline and new 92 kV/13.2 kV electrical transmission line would be built adjacent to Indian Pass Road, which would be relocated in two locations. As part of the Proposed Action, the Imperial Irrigation District would also overbuild approximately 16 miles of existing 34.5 kV electric transmission line into a 92 kV/34.5 kV electric transmission line to provide electrical power for the Project. The Proposed Action would create a total of 1,362 acres of disturbance.

This Draft EIS/EIR has been revised from, and either replaces, pursuant to NEPA, or is a recirculation of, pursuant to CEQA, the previous Draft EIS/EIR, dated November 1996, for the Imperial Project. Since November, 1996, substantial revisions have been made in the Proposed Action by Glamis Imperial; additional environmental field data has been collected under the direction of the lead agencies; and additional analyses and assessments of the environmental effects of the Proposed Action have been conducted. Comments submitted on the November 1996 Draft EIS/EIR were treated as scoping comments for this Draft EIS/EIR, and will remain part of the administrative record. However, the lead agencies will not provide a written response to these previous comments, and will only respond to comments submitted in direct response to this Draft EIS/EIR. Copies of Volume I of this Draft EIS/EIR have been sent to every agency, person, and organization that commented directly on the November 1996 Draft EIS/EIR or provided scoping comments for this Draft EIS/EIR. Copies of the technical reports prepared for the project which have been used in the preparation of this Draft EIS/EIR are contained in Volume II of this Draft EIS/EIR and are available for review at the libraries listed herein, the Imperial County Planning/Building Department, and Bureau of Land Management office in El Centro, California. A limited number of copies of Volume II of this Draft EIS/EIR are available through the Bureau of Land Management, El Centro Resource Area.

Comments concerning this Draft EIS/EIR are welcome and will be considered in the preparation of the Final EIS/EIR. A 60-day public review period has been established. To be considered, written comments on this document must be received by 4:30 pm on January 27, 1998 at the following address:

Bureau of Land Management
1661 South 4^th Street
El Centro, California 92243
(760) 697-5237

Public hearings on the Draft EIS/EIR have also been scheduled by the BLM:

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