[Federal Register: October 17, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 202)]
[Notices]
[Page 61900-61901]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17oc08-123]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-930-09-1610-DO-015F]
Notice of Intent To Prepare Resource Management Plans and
Associated Environmental Impact Statement, Initiate Public Scoping, and
Call for Coal and Other Resource Information
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent and Call for Coal and Other Resource
Information
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Wyoming Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) intends to prepare (1) a Resource Management Plan
(RMP) for the Cody Field Office and (2) a RMP for the Worland Field
Office. These two actions will require a single Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS). These two RMPs and the associated EIS will be called
the Bighorn Basin Resource Management Plan Revision Project. The
resulting RMPs will replace the Washakie and Grass Creek RMPs, in
Worland, and the Cody RMP. The BLM is also soliciting resource
information for coal and other resources for the planning area.
DATES: The BLM will announce public scoping meetings to identify
relevant issues through local news media, a project newsletter, and the
project Web site http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Planning/RMPs/bighorn at least 15 days prior to the first meeting. The BLM will
provide formal opportunities for public participation upon publication
of the Draft RMP/EIS, currently scheduled for 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by any of the following
methods:
Web Site: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Planning/RMPs/bighorn.
E-mail: BBRMP_WYMail@blm.gov .
Mail: Worland Field Office, Attn: RMP Project Manager, 101 South
23rd, P.O. Box 119, Worland, WY 82401.
In order to reduce the use of paper and control costs, we strongly
encourage the public to submit comments electronically at the project
Web site. Comments submitted to BLM for use in this planning effort,
including names and home addresses of individuals submitting comments,
are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
(5 U.S.C. 522). Written comments received during the public scoping
process may be published as part of the environmental analysis process.
After the close of the public scoping period, public comments
submitted, including names, e-mail addresses, and street addresses of
respondents, will be available for public review at the BLM Worland
Office during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday
through Friday (except federal holidays).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information and/or to have your
name added to the project mailing list, contact Caleb Hiner, RMP
Project Manager, at the Worland Field Office (307) 347-5171.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the public scoping process is
to identify issues and planning criteria that should be considered in
the RMP/EIS and to initiate public participation in the planning
process. BLM personnel will be present at scoping meetings to explain
the planning process and other requirements for preparing a RMP/EIS.
The Planning Area for the project includes lands within the BLM
Worland and Cody Field Offices' administrative boundaries, in all of
Big Horn, Park, and Washakie Counties, and most of Hot Springs County
in north-central Wyoming. The Planning Area includes all lands,
regardless of jurisdiction, totaling 5.6 million acres; however, the
BLM will only make decisions on lands that fall under the BLM's
jurisdiction. Lands within the Planning Area under the BLM's
jurisdiction make up the Decision Area. The Decision Area consists of
BLM-administered surface, totaling 3.2 million acres, and mineral
estate, totaling 4.2 million acres. The Planning Area includes 12
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), nine Areas of Critical Environmental
Concern (ACECs), two areas of Special Designation, and seven Special
Recreation Management Areas.
This planning process will fulfill the needs and obligations set
forth by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and BLM management policies. The BLM
will work collaboratively with interested parties to identify the
management decisions that are best suited to local, regional, and
national needs and concerns.
The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and
EIS alternatives. These issues also guide the planning process. You may
submit comments on issues and planning criteria in writing to the BLM
at any public scoping meeting, or you may submit them to the BLM using
one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section above. To be most
helpful, you
[[Page 61901]]
should submit formal scoping comments during the comment period. Before
including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your
entire comment--including your personal identifying information--may be
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, are available for public inspection in their entirety.
The comments and list of attendees for each scoping meeting will be
available to the public for 30 days after the scoping period to clarify
the views expressed.
Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by
BLM personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals and
user groups. They represent the BLM's knowledge to date regarding the
existing issues and concerns with current land management. The major
issues that will be addressed in this planning effort include: Energy
and minerals management; climate change and greenhouse gas emissions;
management of riparian areas and water quality concerns; livestock
grazing management; recreation/visitor use and safety management;
travel management, including Off Highway Vehicle use; management of
wildlife habitat including protection of sensitive species habitat;
land tenure adjustments, realty leases, and utility corridor rights-of-
way; management of areas with special values, such as ACECs; and visual
resource management.
Comments received during scoping will be placed in one of three
categories: (1) Issues to be resolved in the plan; (2) Issues to be
resolved through policy or administrative action; or (3) Issues beyond
the scope of this plan.
The BLM will provide a rationale for the categorization of
comments. In addition to these major issues, a number of management
questions and concerns will be addressed in the RMPs. The public is
encouraged to help identify these questions and concerns during the
scoping phase. Planning criteria are the constraints or ground rules
that are developed to guide and direct the revision of the RMPs. The
planning criteria serve to: ensure the planning effort is consistent
with and incorporates legal requirements; provide for management of all
resource uses in the planning area; focus on the issues; identify the
scope and parameters of the planning effort; inform the public of what
to expect from the planning effort; and help ensure the RMP revision
process is accomplished efficiently. Planning criteria are based on
laws and regulations, guidance provided by the BLM Wyoming State
Director, results of consultation and coordination with the public,
input from other agencies and governmental entities, and Indian tribes,
analysis of information pertinent to the planning area, public input,
and professional judgment.
Preliminary planning criteria are: (1) This planning effort will
recognize valid existing rights; (2) management actions must comply
with laws, executive orders, policy, and regulations; (3) lands covered
in the RMP/EIS for the planning effort include lands that may affect,
or be affected by, the management occurring on the BLM-administered
public lands in the planning area; (4) within the planning area, there
will be no RMP decisions made on non-federal land surface or mineral
estate, on Federal lands administered by other Federal agencies, or the
Federal mineral estate underlying Federal lands administered by other
Federal agencies; (5) a collaborative and multi-jurisdictional approach
will be used, where possible, to jointly determine the desired future
condition and management direction for the public lands; (6) to the
extent possible and within legal and regulatory parameters, BLM
management and planning decisions will complement the planning and
management decisions of other agencies, State and local governments,
and Native American tribes, with jurisdictions intermingled with and
adjacent to the planning area; (7) planning and management direction
will be focused on the relative values of resources and not the
combination of uses that will give the greatest economic return or
economic output; (8) where practicable and timely for the planning
effort, current scientific information, research, and new technologies
will be considered; (9) Reasonably Foreseeable Action or Activity (RFA)
scenarios for all land and resource uses (including minerals) will be
developed and portrayed based on historical, existing, and projected
levels for all programs; (10) existing endangered species recovery
plans, including plans for reintroduction of endangered and other
species, will be considered. The BLM will use an interdisciplinary
approach to develop the RMPs to ensure consideration of the variety of
resource issues and concerns identified. Specialists with expertise in
the following disciplines will be involved in the planning process:
rangeland management, minerals and geology, renewable energy, forestry,
outdoor recreation, archaeology, paleontology, caves and karsts,
wildlife and fisheries, lands and realty, hydrology, soils, sociology,
special management areas, hazardous materials, wild horses, and
economics.
Parties interested in leasing and development of Federal coal in
the planning area should provide coal resource data for their area(s)
of interest. Specifically, information is requested on the location,
quality, and quantity of Federal coal with development potential, and
on surface resource values related to the 20 coal unsuitability
criteria described in 43 CFR part 3461. This information will be used
for any necessary updating of coal screening determination (43 CFR
3420.1-4) in the Decision Area and in the environmental analysis. In
addition to coal resource data, the BLM seeks resource information and
data for other public land values (e.g., air quality, cultural and
historic resources, fire/fuels, fisheries, forestry, lands and realty,
non-energy minerals and geology, oil and gas (including coal-bed
natural gas), paleontology, rangeland management, recreation, soil,
water, and wildlife) in the planning area. The purpose of this request
is to assure that the planning effort has sufficient information and
data to consider a reasonable range of resource uses, management
options, and alternatives for the public lands.
Proprietary data marked as confidential may be submitted in
response to this call for coal and other resource information. Please
submit all proprietary information submissions to the address listed
above. The BLM will treat submissions marked as ``Confidential'' in
accordance with applicable laws and regulations governing the
confidentiality of such information.
Authority: 43 CFR 1610.2(c) and 3420.1-2.
Dated: September 29, 2008.
Donald A. Simpson,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-23536 Filed 10-16-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P