[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 236 (Friday, December 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73049-73050]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-29614]
[[Page 73049]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWYD03000L131100000.DM0000]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development
Project, Wyoming
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed
Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development Project, and by this
notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.
DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas
Development Project Draft EIS within 45 days following the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of Availability in
the Federal Register. The BLM will announce future meetings or hearings
and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance
through public notices, media releases, and/or mailings.
ADDRESSES: Comments related to the Continental Divide-Creston Natural
Gas Development Project may be submitted by any of the following
methods:
Email: [email protected].
Please reference ``CD-C Project'' in the subject line.
Fax: 307-328-4224.
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Continental Divide-
Creston Natural Gas Development Project Draft EIS, Attention: Dave
Simons, Project Manager, P.O. Box 2407, 1300 N. Third Street, Rawlins,
Wyoming 82301.
Copies of the Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development
Project Draft EIS are available in the BLM Rawlins Field Office, at the
address indicated above, the BLM High Desert District Office, 280
Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901; the BLM Wyoming State
Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009; and the Carbon
County Public Library, 215 West Buffalo Street, 117, Rawlins,
Wyoming 82301; and at the following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/rfo/cd_creston.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Simons, Project Manager, at the
BLM Rawlins Field Office, telephone: 307-328-4200; address: 1300 N.
Third Street, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301, email:
[email protected]. Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above
individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, to leave a message or question with the above
named individual. You will receive a reply during normal business
hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant is BP America Production
Company (BP), representing itself and more than 20 other companies. BP
has filed a plan of operations pursuant to 43 CFR subpart 3809 to
expand development of natural gas resources within the existing
Continental Divide/Wamsutter II and Creston/Blue Gap natural gas
fields. The BLM has named the project the Continental Divide-Creston
(CD-C) Natural Gas Development Project. The project proposal is to
drill and develop 8,950 additional natural gas wells, including 100 to
500 coal bed natural gas wells, using a combination of both vertical
and directional drilling techniques, during the next 15 years with a
30-40 year project life. Planned facilities would include well pads,
gas and water collection pipelines, compressor stations, water disposal
systems, an access road network and an electrical distribution system.
All surface facilities would be removed when the project is completed
and the land re-contoured to near predisturbance condition and re-
vegetated. More than 4,000 wells have been drilled in the project area,
which has been undergoing natural gas development since the 1950s.
Existing surface disturbance in the project area as of September
2012, is roughly 49,218 acres, including nearly 8,500 acres of long-
term disturbance. Under the proposed plan, the BLM would be approving
an additional 47,200 acres of surface disturbance. The combined total
surface disturbance would represent approximately 10 percent of the
project area.
The project is located in the following area:
Sixth Principal Meridian
T. 14 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 6, 7, secs. 17 to 20, inclusive, and secs. 29 to 32,
inclusive.
T. 18 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 3 to 10, inclusive, secs. 15 to 21, inclusive, and secs.
28 to 32, inclusive.
T. 19 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 1 to 23, inclusive, and secs. 26 to 34, inclusive.
T. 20 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, and 31.
T. 21 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28
to 33, inclusive.
T. 22 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs. 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28
to 33, inclusive.
T. 23 N., R. 91 W.,
Secs 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28
to 33, inclusive.
T. 14 N., R. 92 W.
T. 15 N., R. 92 W.,
Secs. 3 to 10, inclusive, secs. 14 to 23, inclusive, and secs.
25 to 36, inclusive.
T. 16 N., R. 92 W.,
Secs. 4 to 8, inclusive, secs. 18, 19, and secs. 29 to 33,
inclusive.
T. 17 N., R. 92 W.,
Secs. 1 to 23, inclusive, and secs. 27 to 34, inclusive.
Tps. 18 to 23 N., R. 92 W.
T. 14 N., R. 93 W.,
Secs. 1, 2, secs. 11 to 14, inclusive, secs. 23 to 26,
inclusive, secs. 35 and 36.
T. 15 N., R. 93 W.,
Secs. 1, 2, 3, secs. 10 to 15, inclusive, secs. 22 to 27,
inclusive, secs. 34, 35, and 36.
Tps. 16 to 23 N., R. 93 W.
T. 16 N., R. 94 W.,
Secs. 1 to 14, inclusive, secs. 23 to 26, inclusive, secs. 35
and 36.
Tps. 17 to 23 N., R. 94 W.
T. 16 N., R. 95 W.,
Secs. 1, 2, and 3.
Sec. 4, E\1/2\.
Secs. 10, 11, and 12.
T. 17 N., R. 95 W.,
Secs. 1 to 15, inclusive, secs. 22 to 27, inclusive, secs. 34,
35, and 36.
Tps. 18 to 24 N., R. 95 W.
Tps. 18 to 24 N., R. 96 W.
T. 19 N., R. 97 W.,
Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, and secs. 9 to 16, inclusive; those
portions of secs. 17, 19 and 20 lying south of the right-of-way
granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the United States,
serial number WYE-05871;
Secs. 21 to 36, inclusive.
T. 20 N., R. 97 W.,
Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, secs. 9 to 16, inclusive, secs. 21 to
28, inclusive, and secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 22 N., R. 97 W.,
Secs. 1, 2, 3, and secs. 10 to 15, inclusive.
T. 23 N., R. 97 W.,
Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, secs. 9 to 16, inclusive, secs. 21 to
28, inclusive, and secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 24 N., R. 97 W.,
Sec. 8, SE\1/4\;
Sec. 9, S\1/2\;
Sec. 10, S\1/2\;
Sec. 11, S\1/2\;
Sec. 12, S\1/2\;
Secs. 13 to 16, inclusive;
Sec. 17, E\1/2\;
Sec. 20, E\1/2\;
Secs. 21 to 28, inclusive;
Sec. 29, E\1/2\;
[[Page 73050]]
Secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 19 N., R. 98 W.,
Those portions of secs. 23 and 24 lying south of the right-of-
way granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the United
States, serial number WYE-05871;
Sec. 25;
Those portions of secs. 26 to 31, inclusive, lying south of the
right-of-way granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the
United States, serial number WYE-05871;
Secs. 32 to 36, inclusive.
The CD-C project area, including both public and nonpublic lands,
aggregate approximately 1.1 million acres (1,672 square miles) in
Carbon and Sweetwater Counties, Wyoming.
The eastern boundary of the CD-C project area is about 25 miles
west of the city of Rawlins, Wyoming. The western boundary is roughly
50 miles east of the city of Rock Springs, Wyoming. Interstate 80
bisects the project area. The land surface and mineral estate in the
area are administered by the BLM, the State of Wyoming, and private
owners. The BLM manages approximately 626,932 surface acres (58.6
percent), the State of Wyoming owns approximately 48,684 acres (4.5
percent), and private landowners own approximately 394,470 acres (36.9
percent). The Rawlins Field Office (RFO) manages the BLM surface lands
and the Federal mineral estate in the project area.
Cooperating agencies in this EIS include the State of Wyoming, with
active participation from many state agencies including the State
Planning Office, Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), State
Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality (WDEQ), and Wyoming Department of Agriculture.
Regional cooperating agencies include Sweetwater County, the Little
Snake River Conservation District, and the Sweetwater County
Conservation District.
The Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS was published in the
Federal Register twice, on September 8, 2005 (70 FR 53381), and again
on March 3, 2006 (71 FR 10989). Two public scoping meetings were held
in Rawlins, Wyoming, on October 13, 2005, and on April 6, 2006. Fifty
comment letters, faxes, and emails were received during the extended
scoping period.
Key issues identified during scoping include:
Air quality: Potential project and cumulative impacts on
air quality, including air quality-related values (AQRV).
Cultural resources: The impact on the historic trails and
transportation corridors in the project area.
Hydrology: Potential degradation of surface and or ground
water quality by project construction and drilling activities.
Land ownership: The majority of the project area is in the
``checkerboard'' pattern of mixed public and private land ownership,
complicating landscape scale impact reduction through mitigation on
public lands where adjacent sections are non-public lands not subject
to BLM regulations and requirements.
Non-native, invasive plant species: The effect of current
and projected infestations of non-native, invasive species.
Rangeland management: Loss of livestock forage and the
impact of project-associated hazardous conditions to area livestock
operations.
Special-status species: The impact from project activities
upon threatened and endangered and sensitive wildlife species.
Socioeconomics: The impact of the project on traditional
socioeconomic indicators.
Surface disturbance/reclamation: The extent of existing
and proposed surface disturbance and its effects on all resources in
the project area; and
Wildlife habitat: The project's potential to further
fragment wildlife habitat and further diminish the value of that
habitat for many species.
In response to these issues, the BLM has developed five
alternatives addressing the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of
the Proposed Action which are analyzed in the Draft EIS:
Alternative A, 100-Percent Vertical Drilling--This
alternative assumes that all natural gas wells would be drilled from
single-well pads, and that no directional drilling would occur;
Alternative B, Enhanced Resource Protection--This
alternative identifies those resources that may be most at risk from
natural gas development, defines areas within the CD-C project area
where those resource risks are likely to occur, and describes the
enhanced protection and mitigations that could diminish those risks;
Alternative C, Surface Disturbance Cap, Core and Non-Core
Areas--This alternative places a cap on unreclaimed surface disturbance
caused by natural gas development, a 60-acre cap in areas that have
seen the greatest natural gas development to date and a 30-acre cap in
the rest of the project area. The cap is acres per 640 acre section;
Alternative D, Directional Drilling--This alternative
requires that all future natural gas wells on Federal mineral estate be
drilled from multi-well pads, one new multi-well pad per section; and
Alternative E, No Action--NEPA regulations require that
the EIS alternatives analysis ``include the alternative of no action''
(40 CFR 1502.14(d)). For this analysis, no action means that the
development activities proposed by the CD-C operators would not be
approved or authorized as proposed. Lease rights on Federal lands or
mineral estate granted by the BLM would remain in effect and other,
additional or supplemental proposals to develop leased resources, such
as natural gas, could be received and would be considered by the BLM as
appropriate.
Please note that public comments and information submitted
including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at
the above address during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30
p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Before including your address, phone number, email 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 may
ask the BLM in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.
Donald A. Simpson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-29614 Filed 12-6-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P