[Federal Register: December 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 241)]
[Notices]
[Page 75338-75339]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16de04-68]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-070-05-1310-EJ]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment
Concerning Oil and Gas Leasing in the Buffalo Field Office, Wyoming
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment that
would evaluate the leasing for oil and gas of 421 identified parcels in
the Buffalo Resource Area leased since February 2000.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is commencing preparation
of an Environmental Assessment (EA) under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). The purpose of the analysis is to examine particular
environmental effects of the oil and gas lease issuance decisions made
since February 2000. This EA responds to rulings of the Interior Board
of Land Appeals (IBLA) and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (the
Court), which held that certain effects of coal bed natural gas (CBNG)
development were not analyzed, or contemplated, in the 1985 Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) Buffalo Resource Management Plan (RMP) Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). See Pennaco Energy v. DOI, 377
F.3d 1147 (10th Cir., filed August 10, 2004).
DATES: The public is invited to comment on this proposed action, the
scope of the EA, and alternatives to be considered. The BLM can best
use comments and resource information that are submitted within 30 days
of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. BLM does not
plan to hold scoping meetings at this time.
ADDRESSES: Please send written comments or questions to the BLM Buffalo
Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82834. Written
comments, or resource information, may also be hand-delivered to the
BLM Buffalo Field Office. Written comments must have the Environmental
Assessment number 070-05-064 written on the front page of the comments.
Comments or questions may also be sent electronically to
BFORet_WYMail@blm.gov. The scoping notice and other information regarding this
project are posted on the Wyoming BLM Web site at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/bfo/.
Members of the public may examine documents
pertinent to this proposal by visiting the Buffalo Field Office during
business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except
holidays.
Your response is important and will be considered in the
environmental analysis process. If you respond, we will keep you
informed of the availability of environmental documents that address
impacts that occur from this proposal. Please note that comments and
information submitted regarding this project, including names, e-mail
addresses, and street addresses of the respondents, will be available
for public review and disclosure at the above address. Individual
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your
name, e-mail address, or street address from public view or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests
will be honored to the extent allowed by the law. All submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Beels, Project Manager, BLM,
Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82401. Mr.
Beels may also be reached by telephone at (307) 684-1168.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action has been prompted by a recent
ruling of the IBLA and the Court concerning the adequacy of the 1985
Buffalo RMP EIS and developmental NEPA documents, such as the Wyodak
EIS, to support certain oil and gas leasing decisions. In August 2004,
the Court reversed a Federal District court and affirmed the decision
of the IBLA that concluded that BLM had insufficient NEPA analysis to
make a decision in February 2000 to issue three leases for oil and gas
in an area where CBNG was likely to be produced. The Court reinstated
IBLA's remand of the issuance of these three leases to BLM for
``additional appropriate action.''
In the course of its opinion, the Court stated that the NEPA
analysis upon which the BLM relied in issuing three leases ``did not
consider pre-leasing options, such as not issuing leases at all.''
Accordingly, the BLM will evaluate whether to affirm, modify, or cancel
the
[[Page 75339]]
leases, which include the right to develop CBNG. Recognizing that the
leases have been issued, the alternatives to be considered in the EA
will analyze whether to modify the leasing decisions in light of the
remedial issue analysis (i.e., after consideration of the appropriate
environmental issues foreseeable at the time the leases were offered
for sale.)
The rationale of the Court ruling requires that BLM consider those
environmental issues found to have been inadequately considered in the
1985 Buffalo RMP EIS. This EA may, however, examine a broader array of
environmental issues associated with CBNG leasing decisions that were
reasonably foreseeable prior to the issuance of these leases. An array
of environmental issues was subject to in-depth re-examination in the
Powder River Basin Oil and Gas Project (PRB) EIS and RMP Amendment
Record of Decision (ROD) that was signed April 30, 2003. The ROD
amended the 1985 Buffalo RMP to raise the anticipated level of use of
the resource area for oil and gas and to develop appropriate resource
use restrictions to mitigate impacts to other resources.
In the PRB EIS, the BLM carefully analyzed the cumulative effects
on air, water, and other resources of the potential development of
51,000 CBNG wells. The BLM determined that with the leasing
stipulations in the 1985 Buffalo RMP and new mitigation measures
approved in the PRB EIS, the 51,000 wells would not result in any
social, environmental, or economic effects that would preclude
accomplishment of one or more of the 1985 Buffalo RMP objectives as
long as appropriate conditions of use are required. This EA may
substantially incorporate by reference impact analyses from the PRB
EIS.
BLM is including in the scope of the EA the three leases that were
the subject of the Court and IBLA's decisions, as well as 418
additional oil and gas leases that have been issued since February 2000
within the Buffalo Field Office administrative area. BLM will take a
``hard look'' at the environmental consequence of each alternative and
has not foreclosed, simply because of the difficulty of implemention,
choosing to implement any of the alternatives under review.
In addition to this EA, BLM is preparing an EA to consider
continued implementation of the leasing decisions in the Buffalo RMP in
future years.
Potential Alternatives: For the purposes of analysis, the BLM has
developed the following reasonable range of comprehensive alternatives,
and will analyze particular environmental issues that were foreseeable
at the time the leases were offered for sale:
1. No Action Alternative: Affirm the issuance of 421 leases on the
terms prescribed in the 1985 RMP, as amended.
2. Modify leases to add stipulations to address issues such as
water disposal, use of diesel engines, slopes, erosive soils, and
proposed Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).
3. Modify leases to subject them to less restrictive stipulations
consistent with the 1985 RMP, as amended.
4. Modify leases to preclude development of CBNG. We believe that
this is what the Court meant by ``not issuing the leases at all,''
since the Court found no problems with the adequacy of existing NEPA
analyses to support leasing for conventional oil and gas.
Dated: November 30, 2004.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-27580 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P