[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 122 (Friday, June 24, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41331-41333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15023]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[16X L1109PF LLUTG01100 L13110000.EJ0000 24 1A]
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the Monument Butte Area Oil and Gas Development Project,
Duchesne and Uintah Counties, Utah
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, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Monument Butte Area
Oil and Gas Development Project and is announcing its availability.
DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for at
least 45 days after the date on which the Environmental Protection
Agency publishes its Notice of Availability of the Final EIS in the
Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Monument Butte Area Oil and Gas Development
Project Final EIS are available for public inspection at the BLM-Vernal
Field Office at 170 South 500 East Vernal, Utah 84078. Interested
persons may also review the Final EIS on the Internet at http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/vernal/planning/nepa_.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Howard, NEPA Coordinator;
telephone: 435-781-4469; address 170 South 500 East Vernal, Utah 84078;
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, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above
individual. Replies are provided during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Newfield Exploration Company (Newfield)
submitted oil and gas field development plan for the Monument Butte
Project Area (MBPA) to the BLM. The MBPA encompasses approximately
119,784 acres in an already developed field containing approximately
3,209 existing oil and gas wells. The MBPA contemplates the drilling of
up to 5,750 new oil and gas wells over a 16-year period, and the
construction and operation of ancillary transportation, transmission,
processing, and treatment facilities. The MBPA is located in
southeastern Duchesne County and southwestern Uintah County:
Salt Lake Meridian, Utah
Tps. 8 S., Rs. 15 thru 19 E.
Tps. 9 S., Rs. 15 thru 19 E.
The areas described, including both Federal and non-Federal
lands, aggregate 119,784.12 acres.
The BLM's purpose and need for the action is to respond to
Newfield's proposal. The BLM intends to approve, approve with
modifications, or disapprove Newfield's proposed project and project
components based on the analysis of potential impact in the Final EIS
and related documents. As part of this process, the BLM worked with
Newfield, the State of Utah, Environmental Protection Agency Region 8
(EPA) to develop measures designed to avoid, minimize, or mitigate
environmental impacts to the extent possible, while allowing Newfield
to exercise its valid existing lease rights. The Federal Land Policy
and Management Act of 1976 recognizes oil
[[Page 41332]]
and gas development as one of the uses of the public lands. Federal
mineral leasing statutes, including the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, 30
U.S.C. 181 et seq., and their implementing regulations recognize the
right of lease holders to develop Federal mineral resources to meet
continuing national needs and economic demands, subject to lease
stipulations and reasonable measures that the BLM may require to
minimize adverse impacts.
The BLM is the lead Federal agency for this Final EIS. Cooperating
agencies include the EPA, Utah's Public Lands Policy and Coordination
Office, and Duchesne and Uintah Counties.
On August 25, 2010, the BLM published in the Federal Register a
Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS. Public response to the NOI
and public meetings included seven letters: Two from Federal agencies,
one from a State agency, one from a county agency, and three from
industry or private individuals. Comments focused on air quality
impacts, impacts to adjacent gilsonite mining operations, recognition
of valid existing lease rights, requests for flexibility in the
decision, economic benefits, water impacts and protection, produced
water treatment and management alternatives, noise impacts to wildlife
and residences, weed expansion, the BLM's statutory and regulatory
authority to manage air resources, and resource management plan (RMP)
conformance.
On December 20, 2013, the BLM published a Notice of Availability in
the Federal Register announcing the availability of the Draft EIS. The
Draft EIS was made available for a 45-day public comment period, which
was subsequently extended by an additional 30 days at the request of
the State of Utah. Twenty-three unique comment letters or emails were
submitted: One from a Federal agency, one from the House of
Representatives, one from a State agency, two from county governments,
one from the proponent (Newfield), nine from other oil and gas industry
representatives or trade groups, one from the proponent's outside legal
counsel, one from a non-governmental organization, and six from private
individuals. There were also 1,780 form letters received from members
of the public that expressed concern regarding ozone impacts, and 161
form letters received from Newfield employees that expressed concern
over impacts to their livelihoods from the Agency Preferred
Alternative. Substantive comments focused on technical flaws, water
impacts and protection, air quality impacts, the BLM's statutory or
regulatory authority to protect air quality or enforce air quality
laws, economic benefits and losses, protection of wetlands and streams,
produced water treatment and management alternatives, and surface
restrictions in the Pariette Wetlands Area of Critical Environmental
Concern (ACEC) and Sclerocactus core conservation areas.
The parameters of the Agency Preferred Alternative, Alternative D,
were adjusted between the Draft EIS and the Final EIS in response to
issues raised during the public comment period, which were not
considered when the alternative was originally designed. The BLM
engineers determined that the data provided regarding these technical
issues was accurate and that measures presented in Alternative D
adversely affected the proponent's ability to diligently and
efficiently develop oil and gas resources in the MBPA consistent with
their valid existing rights. The BLM also determined that other
adjustments to the alternative were necessary. Since these adjustments
were all within the range of alternatives considered in the Draft EIS,
the BLM determined that a supplement to the Draft EIS was not
necessary. However, the review period following release of the Final
EIS has been extended to 45 days to provide additional time for review
of these changes prior to BLM making a decision on the project.
The Final EIS describes and analyzes the impacts of Newfield's
Proposed Action and three alternatives, including the No Action
Alternative. The following is a summary of the alternatives:
1. Proposed Action--Up to 5,750 new oil or gas wells would be
drilled over a period of 16 years. Additionally, this alternative
includes the construction of approximately 243 miles of new roads and
pipelines, 363 miles of new pipeline adjacent to existing roads, 21 new
compressor stations, one gas processing plant, 7 new water treatment
and injection facilities, 12 gas and oil separation plants, 6 water
pump stations, as well as the drilling of a freshwater collector well,
and the expansion of 6 existing water treatment and injection
facilities and 3 existing compressor stations. Total new surface
disturbance under the Proposed Action would be approximately 16,129
acres, which would be reduced to 7,808 acres through interim
reclamation.
2. No Action Alternative--Drilling and completion of development
wells and infrastructure would continue as previously approved, and the
proposed natural gas development on BLM lands as described in the
Proposed Action would not be implemented. Based on the foregoing
documents and a review of information from Utah Division of Oil, Gas
and Mining, the BLM has estimated that, as of December 31, 2012, 788
wells remain to be drilled including construction of roads, pipelines,
and additional support facilities. Total new surface disturbance under
the No Action Alternative would be 870 acres of new disturbance, which
would be reduced to 659 acres through interim reclamation.
3. Field-wide Electrification Alternative--This alternative is
identical to the Proposed Action, in that it would allow the drilling
of up to 5,750 new wells in addition to the existing producing wells,
with associated facilities. However, this alternative also incorporates
a phased field-wide electrification component which consists of
construction of 34 miles of overhead cross-country 69kV transmission
lines, 156 miles of distribution lines, and 11 substations. Total new
surface disturbance under this alternative would be approximately
20,112 acres, which would be reduced to 10,173 acres through interim
reclamation.
4. Agency Preferred (Resource Protection) Alternative--This
alternative was revised to meet the purpose and need for the project
while: (1) Protecting the relevant and important values of the Pariette
Wetlands ACEC; (2) minimizing the amount of new surface disturbance and
habitat fragmentation within and around the Fish and Wildlife Service
proposed Level 1 and 2 Core Conservation Areas (for two federally-
listed plant species: The Uinta Basin hookless cactus and the Pariette
cactus); (3) precluding new well pads (with the exception of Newfield's
proposed water collector well) and minimizing new surface disturbance
(roads or pipelines) within 100-year floodplains; (4) precluding new
well pads, pipelines, or roads within riparian habitats; and, (5)
minimizing overall impacts from the proposed oil and gas development
through the use of directional drilling technology. Under the Resource
Protection Alternative, up to 5,750 new wellbores would be drilled.
Additionally, this alternative includes the construction of
approximately 226 miles of new roads and pipelines, 318 miles of new
pipeline adjacent to existing roads, 21 new compressor stations, a gas
processing plant, 7 new water treatment and injection facilities, 12
gas and oil separation plants, 6 water pump stations, as well as the
drilling of a freshwater collector well, and the expansion of 6
existing water treatment and injection facilities and 3 existing
compressor stations. Total new surface disturbance under the Agency
Preferred
[[Page 41333]]
Alternative would be approximately 10,122 acres, which would be reduced
to 4,978 acres through interim reclamation.
The Final EIS contains detailed analysis of impacts to: Air
quality, including greenhouse gas emissions; geology and minerals;
paleontological resources; soil, surface water and groundwater
resources; vegetation, including weeds; range, including livestock
grazing; fish and wildlife, including migratory birds and raptors;
special status wildlife and plant species; cultural resources; land use
and transportation; recreation; visual resources; special designations,
including Pariette Wetlands ACEC, Lower Green River Corridor ACEC, and
Suitable Lower Green River Wild and Scenic River; and social and
economic resources, including environmental justice. Based on the
impact analysis, on-site, landscape and compensatory conservation and
mitigation actions have been identified for each alternative to achieve
resource objectives.
Also worth noting are changes between the draft and final EIS to
the air quality section. In the Draft EIS BLM committed to conducting
photochemical modeling post-ROD through the Air Resource Management
Strategy modeling platform. However, that modeling platform became
available shortly after the comment period on the Draft EIS closed, so
that modeling was conducted for, and the results are included in, the
Final EIS. Upon review of those modeling results, applicant-committed
air quality mitigation measures were refined, and additional applicant-
and BLM-committed measures to further reduce emissions from the MBPA
were included in the Final EIS. This robust suite of measures was
developed in consultation between Neufield, the BLM, EPA and the State
of Utah. The robust measures will help minimize and mitigate impacts to
important air resource values. These measures have been analyzed in the
Final EIS and are within the range of alternative analyzed in the Draft
EIS.
All required consultations, including Endangered Species Act
section 7 Consultation, National Historic Preservation Act section 106
Consultation, and government-to-government consultation with interested
Native American Tribes, have been completed. During the section 7
Consultation for the Final EIS, many additional applicant- and agency-
committed mitigation measures, including a detailed Conservation,
Restoration and Mitigation Strategy for the Pariette and Uinta Basin
Hookless Cactus, were developed and incorporated into the Agency
Preferred Alternative. This process is explained in greater detail in
the Biological Opinion. The Biological Assessment, Biological Opinion,
and additional mitigation measures and cactus strategy are all attached
to the Final EIS as Appendix J.
Since the publication of the Monument Butte Draft EIS, the Utah
Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Plan Amendment Record of Decision (ROD)
has been issued. No Sagebrush Focal Areas, General Habitat Management
Areas, or Priority Habitat Management Areas are present within the
Monument Butte project boundary. Therefore, the BLM determined that the
provisions of the Utah Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Plan Amendment do
not affect the MBPA.
After the conclusion of Final EIS review period, the BLM will issue
a ROD which will describe the selected alternative and any conditions
of approval, including a mitigation strategy.
The selected alternative will be conceptual only. Any well pads,
roads, pipelines and other facilities and infrastructure that may be
constructed in the future in the project area will be subject to an
appropriate level of site-specific NEPA analysis prior to final
approval.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.
Jenna Whitlock,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-15023 Filed 6-23-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P