[Federal Register: December 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 241)]
[Notices]
[Page 75336-75338]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16de04-67]
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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 and
Possible Plan Amendment 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 (EA) to
evaluate the continued implementation of the oil and gas leasing
decisions in the 1985 Buffalo Resource Management Plan (RMP), as
amended in 2003. This may lead to further amendment of the RMP for the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Buffalo Field Office in Campbell,
Sheridan, and Johnson Counties, Wyoming.
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SUMMARY: This Notice is intended to satisfy the requirements at 43 CFR
1610.2(c) for amending an RMP (if deemed necessary) pursuant to the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and initiates scoping
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The purpose of this EA is to examine land use allocations for oil
and gas leasing and lease stipulations in light of new information,
including new development scenarios since 1985, in the Buffalo Field
Office (BFO). This action has been prompted by recent rulings of the
Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) and the Tenth Circuit Court of
Appeals (the Court) which upheld the IBLA's April 26, 2002,
determination that the 1985 Buffalo RMP/EIS and the Wyodak EIS were
insufficient to support certain leasing decisions because the RMP did
not discuss the impacts to air and water of coal bed natural gas (CBNG)
extraction and production. See Pennaco Energy v. DOI, 377 F.3d 1147
(10th Cir., August 10, 2004).
DATES: The public is invited to comment on this proposed action, the
scope of the EA, alternatives to be considered, and planning criteria.
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 must have the Environmental Assessment number 070-05-070
written
[[Page 75337]]
on the front page of the comments. Written comments, or resource
information, may also be hand-delivered to the BLM Buffalo Field
Office. Comments or questions may also be sent electronically to
BFOPro_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 BFO 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 do 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, 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 recent
rulings of the IBLA and the Court concerning the adequacy of the 1985
Buffalo RMP EIS to support leasing in areas with CBNG potential. The
ruling also considered the adequacy of developmental NEPA documents,
such as the Wyodak EIS, to support leasing decisions since they do not
consider ``not issuing the leases at all'' as leasing alternatives. The
Powder River Basin Oil and Gas EIS Resource Management Plan Amendment
Record of Decision (ROD) was signed on April 30, 2003. That ROD amended
the 1985 Buffalo RMP to expand 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. These restrictions
were designed to be implemented at the development stage through site-
specific Conditions of Approval (COA) on permits. The PRB EIS analyzed
the effects on air, water and other resources of the potential for
development of 51,000 CBNG wells. This EA will substantially
incorporate by reference the impact analysis from the PRB EIS.
This document will also analyze any other new information
pertaining to oil and gas leasing in the BFO area. This analysis will
tier to the 1985 BFO RMP EIS and may amend the current BFO RMP. Should
BLM at any time during the process determine that it will be unable to
make a finding of no significant impact, it will commence preparation
of an environmental impact statement.
During the preparation of this EA, BLM does not intend to offer
parcels in coal bearing areas (generally considered the Fort Union
Formation) for oil and gas leasing, these being the areas currently
productive for CBNG.
In response to the Court's decision, the BLM is initiating a
separate EA to examine its leasing decisions between February 2000 and
August 2004 in the coal bearing areas of the BFO area.
In the PRB EIS, BLM carefully reviewed the 1985 land use objectives
for the BFO and 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 Buffalo RMP objectives, as long as appropriate mitigation measures
are required and applied in site-specific authorizations.
Given the extensive analyses of development stage impacts that have
already been prepared to support the increase in the level of use for
CBNG and establish the necessary protective measures to be applied at
the project level, the purpose of this document will be to take a hard
look at oil and gas land use allocations and lease stipulations. This
EA will consider options open to the BLM prior to lease issuance and
identify those practices that should be applied to leases as
stipulations. The options include closing an area to leasing or
applying lease stipulations beyond the standard lease stipulations
applicable to every lease. Any new restrictions would be applied to the
extent lawful and appropriate through the use of Conditions of Approval
(COAs) on future development for new leases. An interdisciplinary team
approach will be used to develop the EA. At a minimum, the following
key disciplines will be represented: air quality, hydrology and ground
water, and fluid minerals specialist or petroleum engineer (or both).
Existing land use plan decisions that will be evaluated, and may be
amended, include the following:
Areas to be open, closed, or ``open subject to protective
stipulations or restrictions to future oil and gas leasing.''
The necessary level of program constraints, management
intensity, and management practices (such as lease stipulations)
sufficient to mitigate the impacts of CBNG development and ensure that
other resource programs will continue to meet the goals and objectives
in the RMP.
Other decisions as appropriate.
Potential Alternatives: The BLM invites scoping comments on seven
potential alternatives:
1. The No Action alternative: Maintain existing land use
allocations and leasing decisions based on the 1985 RMP, as amended in
2003.
2. Open the entire Field Office area to leasing while applying
standard lease terms and conditions; i.e., standard environmental and
resource protections.
3. Maintain existing land use allocations for areas to be open or
closed to consideration for leasing. Develop and consider a new mix of
management constraints such as protective stipulations (see the
examples below) to be attached as terms of use at lease issuance based
on new information, current development scenarios (i.e., PRB Reasonably
Foreseeable Development scenario) and new technologies. For example:
--Develop stipulations that can be attached to new leases for some
management practices adopted in the 2003 EIS that are currently applied
only on a site-specific basis as COAs on development, such as water
management practices and best available control technology for air
emissions.
--No surface occupancy stipulations on slopes greater than 10 percent
and on highly erosive soils.
--No surface occupancy in six areas proposed as Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACEC) as described in Appendix R to the PRB EIS.
--New stipulations that provide additional protection for greater sage-
grouse from development-related threats, including practices favorable
to the spread of West Nile virus.
4. Modify areas currently designated as open to leasing with a
special lease
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stipulation that precludes development of CBNG until the planned
Buffalo RMP revision, scheduled to begin in FY 2008, is completed. Upon
revision of the Buffalo RMP, lessees subject to this restriction may
seek modification or waiver pursuant to the terms of the revised RMP
following a 30-day public review period.
5. Maintain existing land use allocations and leasing decisions,
but close to leasing areas within the six proposed ACECs.
6. Adopt a moratorium on lease sales until completion of the
Buffalo RMP revision.
7. Close the BFO to oil and gas leasing.
Planning Criteria: Criteria proposed will include:
--Balancing the level of land use restrictions or other management
practices needed at the leasing stage to protect resources, while
keeping the public lands and resources available for public use under
FLPMA principles of multiple use and sustained yield.
--The potential for the occurrence and development of mineral
resources, including conventional oil and gas and coalbed natural gas
production.
--Consistency with the land use plans, programs, and policies of other
Federal agencies, State and local governments, and Native American
tribes.
--Compliance with all Federal laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean
Water Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and the Endangered
Species Act.
--Balancing the requirements of FLPMA and the Mineral Leasing Act.
--Because this effort focuses on planning-level use restrictions such
as stipulations that are applied at the lease issuance stage, the re-
examination of site-specific development stage conditions of approval
for CBNG development and production is beyond the scope of this EA.
Those site-specific mitigation issues were examined in detail in the
PRB EIS which resulted in the 2003 BFO plan amendment.
--Those ACECs proposed for designation in the PRB EIS will not be
designated through this analysis. Only the measures necessary to
protect their eligibility will be considered. Designation will be
deferred until the planned Buffalo RMP revision. BLM projects that this
revision will commence in FY 2008.
Dated: November 30, 2004.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-27579 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P