[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 163 (Monday, August 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51300-51301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20882]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCON05000 L16100000.DT0000]
Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the White River
Field Office Oil and Gas Development Resource Management Plan
Amendment, Colorado
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Resource Management Plan
(RMP) Amendment for Oil and Gas Development in the White River Field
Office (WRFO). The planning are is located in Rio Blanco, Moffat, and
Garfield Counties, Colorado. The Colorado State Director signed the ROD
on August 20, 2015, which
[[Page 51301]]
constitutes the final decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP
Amendment effective immediately.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP Amendment are available upon
request from the Field Manager, White River Field Office, Bureau of
Land Management, 220 East Market Street, Meeker, CO 81641 or via the
Internet at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Sauls, Planning and
Environmental Coordinator; telephone 970-878-3855; White River Field
Office, 220 East Market Street, Meeker, CO 81641; 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 individual. You will receive a reply during
normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The WRFO has worked with the public,
interest groups, stakeholders, cooperating agencies, tribes, the
Northwest Colorado Resource Advisory Council, and neighboring BLM
offices for the past nine years through the oil and gas amendment
development process. The result is an Approved RMP Amendment for oil
and gas development that seeks to provide for a level of oil and gas
development that is appropriate to the Nation's energy needs in a
responsible manner of multiple use that maintains the ecological
integrity of the area and important natural, cultural, social and
historical values.
Included as part of the RMP Amendment is the Dinosaur Trail Master
Leasing Plan (MLP), which will minimize the impacts from oil and gas
exploration and development to important natural resources and areas in
that portion of the planning area, including the Dinosaur National
Monument, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), and
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), . Impacts will be minimized by managing
leasing opportunities in a phased approach and imposing controlled
surface use stipulations for visual resources, night skies, and
soundscapes.
While the WRFO Approved RMP Amendment for Oil and Gas Development
contains some conservation management measures for Greater Sage-Grouse
habitat, the Northwest Colorado BLM Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Amendment
and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) fully analyzed applicable
Greater Sage-Grouse conservation measures, including measures effecting
lands within the WFRO. The BLM expects to make a comprehensive set of
decisions for managing Greater Sage-Grouse on lands administered by the
WRFO in the Record of Decision for the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-
Grouse Plan Amendment. That decision will amend the 1997 WRFO RMP, as
needed, including any of the changes made to the 1997 WRFO as part of
this Approved RMP Amendment for Oil and Gas Development. In the
interim, leasing in Greater Sage-Grouse habitat will continue to be
deferred until a final decision has been made on the Northwest Colorado
Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Amendment. The BLM initiated scoping for the
RMP Amendment in 2006 and collected information and public input via
public meetings in order to develop the Draft RMP Amendment/
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in August 2012. Based on public
and agency comments, the BLM developed the Proposed RMP Amendment by
combining various elements of all the alternatives considered in the
Draft RMP Amendment/EIS. The BLM published the Proposed RMP Amendment/
Final EIS on March 27, 2015 (80 FR 16424), and made it available for a
30-day public protest period. During the protest period for the
Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS, the BLM received 11 protest letters
on a variety of issues. From those protest letters, the BLM granted in
part one protest regarding the requirement in BLM's ACEC Manual that
the BLM conduct a timely evaluation of ACEC nominations. As explained
in the ROD, the BLM will evaluate these nominated areas to determine
whether they satisfy the relevance and importance criteria consistent
with BLM's planning regulations and provide temporary (interim)
management for those areas found to meet the criteria. The BLM included
a timeline for conducting these evaluations in the ROD. The BLM also
made minor editorial modifications to the Approved RMP Amendment to
provide further clarification of some of the decisions.
BLM regulations also require a 60-day Governor's Consistency Review
period for the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS to review consistency
with approved state or local plans, policies, or programs. The Governor
did not identify any inconsistencies with approved state or local
plans, policies, or programs.
Management decisions outlined in the Approved RMP Amendment apply
only to oil and gas exploration and development activities on BLM-
administered lands in the WRFO Planning Area and do not address other
resources or resource allocations, or authorize development of those
resources. Approximately 1.7 million acres of Federal oil and gas
mineral estate is open to leasing and would be subject to lease
stipulations and other management actions developed during this
planning effort (i.e., BLM-leasable acres not associated with WSAs or
surface estate managed by the National Park Service or U.S. Forest
Service). Major decisions include adopting the Dinosaur Trail MLP;
using thresholds to promote clustered development to allow for year-
round drilling while reducing habitat loss due to behavioral avoidance
by big game; using a tiered approach to managing lands with wilderness
characteristics and identifying specific success criteria for
reclamation.
The Approved RMP Amendment does not include implementation
decisions that would be appealable to the Interior Board of Land
Appeals under 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6.
Ruth Welch,
BLM Colorado State Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-20882 Filed 8-21-15; 8:45 am]
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