[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 230 (Wednesday, November 30, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86338-86340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28807]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCON04000 L16100000.DP0000-16X]
Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the
Previously Issued Oil and Gas Leases in the White River National
Forest, CO
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Record of
Decision (ROD) based on the analysis in the ``Previously Issued Oil and
Gas Leases in the White River National Forest Final Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS).'' That EIS addressed the treatment of 65
previously issued oil and gas leases on lands within the White River
National Forest (WRNF). By this notice the BLM is announcing the
availability of the ROD. On November 17, 2016, the BLM Colorado State
Director signed and the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the
Interior approved the ROD.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD are available for public inspection at the
BLM Colorado River Valley Field Office, 2300 River Frontage Road, Silt,
CO 81652. Interested persons may also review the ROD on the project Web
site
[[Page 86339]]
at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/nepa/nepa_register.do.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Larson, Project Manager, at the
address above, by telephone at (970) 876-9000, or by email at
[email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the
deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339
to contact the above individual during normal business hours. The FRS
is available 24 hours a day, 7 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 BLM has developed the Previously Issued
Oil and Gas Leases in the White River National Forest EIS (Previously
Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS) to address a National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) deficiency identified by the Interior Board of Land
Appeals (IBLA) related to the issuance of oil and gas leases on WRNF
lands between the years of 1995 to 2004. In 2007, the IBLA ruled that
before including WRNF parcels in an oil and gas lease sale, the BLM
must either formally adopt the NEPA analysis completed by the U.S.
Forest Service (USFS) or conduct its own NEPA analysis (Board of
Commissioners of Pitkin County, 173 IBLA 173 (2007)). The BLM canceled
the three leases at issue in that case and identified 65 additional
leases with effective dates ranging from 1995 to 2012 that the BLM had
leased without either adopting applicable USFS NEPA, or preparing its
own NEPA analysis. For these 65 existing leases, the most recent USFS
decision to make these lands available for oil and gas leasing was
analyzed and put forth in the USFS's 1993 Oil and Gas Leasing EIS and
ROD. The USFS then adopted its 1993 Oil and Gas Leasing EIS in its 2002
White River National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan.
While the BLM obtained USFS consent before offering and
subsequently issuing the 65 leases at issue, it did not adopt the USFS'
NEPA analysis or prepare its own analysis. As a result, the BLM
determined that the issuance of the leases in question was not in
compliance with applicable NEPA requirements, rendering the leases
voidable. The BLM therefore determined that additional actions were
necessary to reaffirm, modify, or cancel those leases. As part of that
determination, the BLM determined that the available USFS NEPA analysis
relevant to the 65 leases was no longer adequate due to changes in
laws, regulations, policies and conditions since that analysis was
finalized in 1993. As a result, the BLM prepared the Previously Issued
Leases in the WRNF EIS to determine whether these 65 leases should be
cancelled, reaffirmed, or modified with additional or different terms.
The ROD announced by this Notice is based on that EIS analysis.
Distinct from this effort, the USFS recently updated its 1993 Oil
and Gas Leasing EIS to address future oil and gas leasing availability
on WRNF lands and issued a new EIS, the White River National Forest Oil
and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement (USFS WRNF Oil and
Gas Leasing EIS), in December 2014. The USFS signed their Final ROD for
this new EIS in December 2015. The recently issued USFS EIS and ROD are
forward-looking and do not affect the 65 previously issued leases that
the BLM is reexamining; however, the information generated as part of
that process was relevant to the BLM's analysis. Therefore, as part of
its process, the BLM has incorporated the new USFS analysis into its
analysis of the previously issued leases, to the extent practicable.
The BLM considered six alternatives in the Previously Issued Leases
in the WRNF EIS, including a No Action Alternative. The No Action
Alternative would reaffirm the lease stipulations on the 65 leases as
they were issued. Under this alternative, the BLM would take no action
by continuing to administer the leases with their current stipulations.
Alternative 2 would address inconsistencies in some of the existing
leases by adding stipulations identified in the USFS 1993 Oil and Gas
Leasing EIS that were not attached to eight leases when they were
issued. Alternative 3 would modify the 65 leases to match the
stipulations identified for future leasing in the 2014 USFS WRNF Oil
and Gas Leasing Final EIS Proposed Action. Alternative 4 (BLM's
Proposed Action) would modify or cancel the 65 leases to match the
stipulations and availability decision in the USFS ROD. In areas the
USFS identified as open to future leasing, stipulations would be
modified to track those found in the most recent USFS decision and all
or part of 25 existing leases in areas identified as closed would be
cancelled. Alternative 5 would cancel all 65 leases. For purposes of
the BLM's Previously Issued Oil and Gas Leases in the WRNF Final EIS,
the BLM identified a combination of Alternatives 2 and 4 as its
Preferred Alternative. Under this Preferred Alternative, the BLM would
cancel in their entirety 25 leases that are not producing or committed
to a unit or communitization agreement, and which overlap with the area
identified as closed to future leasing by the USFS Final ROD. The BLM
would apply Alternative 4 stipulations (i.e., those that were
identified in the 2015 USFS ROD) to 12 undeveloped (as of Final EIS
publication) leases that are within parts of the WRNF identified as
open to future leasing, including one expired lease under appeal. It
would apply Alternative 2 stipulations to 27 leases that were producing
or committed to a unit agreement or communitization agreement as of
Final EIS publication, including four expired leases currently under
appeal that had previously been part of the Willow Creek Unit. In
addition, one expired lease not subject to appeal would receive no
decision. As with Alternative 4, the lessee would have to either accept
the new stipulations or have the lease cancelled. Cancellation would be
accomplished through an administrative process and would require
reimbursement of bonus bids and rental payments.
The BLM released the Draft Previously Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS
on November 20, 2015 (80 FR 72733), for a 49-day public comment period.
During that period, the BLM held three public meetings in communities
near the project area: Glenwood Springs, DeBeque and Carbondale,
Colorado. The BLM received 60,515 comments during the formal comment
period. The BLM worked with cooperating agencies (including the
Environmental Protection Agency; USFS; the Colorado Department of
Natural Resources, including Colorado Parks and Wildlife; Garfield,
Mesa, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties; the Cities of Glenwood Springs
and Rifle; and the Towns of Carbondale, New Castle, Parachute and Silt)
to prepare the Previously Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS. The BLM also
consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) informally
and through a Biological Assessment. In response, the Service issued a
consultation memorandum on May 19, 2016, concurring with the BLM
effects determinations of ``may affect, but is not likely to adversely
affect'' for the following species: Ute ladies'-tresses orchid,
Colorado hookless cactus and its critical habitat, Western yellow-
billed cuckoo, Green-lineage cutthroat trout, Colorado pikeminnow and
its critical habitat, Razorback sucker and its critical habitat,
Humpback chub and its critical habitat, Bonytail and its critical
habitat, and Canada lynx. In addition, the BLM notified the Colorado
State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) via an informational letter
that, pursuant to the
[[Page 86340]]
2014 Protocol agreement between the BLM Colorado and the SHPO, this
undertaking does not exceed any of the review thresholds requiring SHPO
concurrence, and that there will be no adverse effect to historic
properties. Finally, the BLM began tribal consultation for the project
in April 2014 when the field manager sent a scoping letter via
certified mail to the Ute Indian Tribe (Uintah and Ouray Reservation),
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Consultation and
outreach continued through April 22, 2016, when the BLM sent the tribes
a letter that identified the Preferred Alternative and summarized
cultural resource records within the area of potential effect
(including potential Traditional Cultural Properties). The letter also
offered the opportunity for comments or clarifications. The BLM will
continue to offer opportunities for tribes that may be affected by
potential future development of these leases as stipulated under E.O.
13175, November 6, 2000.
The BLM published the Notice of Availability of the Final
Previously Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS in the Federal Register on
August 5, 2016 (81 FR 51936). Publication of the Notice of Availability
initiated a 30-day availability period. Even though there was no
comment period on the Final EIS, the BLM received a number of comments,
all of which were addressed in the ROD as appropriate.
The BLM's ROD for the Previously Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS
implements a slightly modified version of the Preferred Alternative,
which combines portions of Alternatives 2 and 4. The decision applies
stipulations described under Alternative 2 (including minor updates to
reflect the 1993 USFS ROD stipulations) to all leases within the
analysis area that are producing or committed to a unit or agreement.
For those leases within the analysis area that are not producing or
committed to a unit, Alternative 4 applies (canceling or modifying
leases to match the 2015 USFS Final ROD) with one exception: The
decision cancels in their entirety all undeveloped leases that overlap
the area identified as closed to future leasing by the USFS's 2015
Final ROD. The difference between lease cancellations under Alternative
4 in the BLM's Previously Issued Leases in the WRNF EIS and this ROD is
that seven leases having acres retained under Alternative 4 are
cancelled in full under the ROD. There are no partial lease
cancellations. On August 15, 2016, the Middleton Creek Unit was
automatically contracted, retroactively effective August 20, 2015,
according to Section 2(e) of the unit agreement and as per BLM
regulation at 43 CFR 3186.1. As a result of the contraction, three
leases (COC67147, COC70013, and COC70361) considered producing in the
Final EIS are now considered undeveloped, and thus will be offered
modified lease terms consistent with Alternative 4 of the Final EIS.
Under the BLM's Previously Issued Oil and Gas Lease ROD, 25
undeveloped leases are administratively cancelled in full, 12
undeveloped leases remain open with new stipulations applied under
Alternative 4 (with lessee consent), 20 producing or committed leases
are reaffirmed or modified as described under Alternative 2, four
expired leases currently under appeal that had previously been part of
the Willow Creek Unit (held by production) would have Alternative 2
applied if the appeal is successful, and one expired lease subject to
appeal would have Alternative 4 stipulations applied if it were
reauthorized. No decision is made for three leases that have expired or
terminated and are not subject to appeal.
The BLM's Previously Issued Oil and Gas Lease ROD takes agency and
public comments into account and best meets the BLM's mandate to
protect important resources while allowing oil and gas development. For
reaffirmed or modified leases, upon receiving an application to approve
an action on the ground, the BLM will conduct site-specific analysis of
impacts through the subsequent NEPA reviews and analyses that will be
necessary before the BLM issues any permit or approval for oil and gas
development.
This decision is approved by the Deputy Secretary for the U.S.
Department of the Interior; therefore it is not subject to
administrative appeal (43 CFR 4.410(a)(3)).
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.
Gregory P. Shoop,
BLM Colorado Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-28807 Filed 11-29-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JB-P