84 FR 33284 - Notice of Availability of the Ray Land Exchange Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments, Arizona

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Gila District, Tucson Field Office has prepared a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendments for the Ray Land Exchange and by this notice is announcing its availability.

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 134 (Friday, July 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33284-33285]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14714]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[XXX.LLAZG02000.71220000.KD0000.LVTFA0958340; AZA3116]


Notice of Availability of the Ray Land Exchange Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Proposed Resource 
Management Plan Amendments, Arizona

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, and Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, 
as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Gila District, Tucson 
Field Office has prepared a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS)/Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendments for 
the Ray Land Exchange and by this notice is announcing its 
availability.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
proposed RMP amendments, which will change certain land tenure 
designations from ``retention'' to ``disposal'' for the Phoenix, Lower 
Sonoran, and Safford RMPs. A person who meets the conditions and files 
a protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of Availability in 
the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: You may review the Final Supplemental EIS/Proposed RMP 
Amendments for the Ray Land Exchange at https://go.usa.gov/xEnKR. 
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM 
regarding the Proposed RMP Amendments may be found online at https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest and at 43 CFR 1610.6-2.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Project Manager Michael Werner, 
telephone 602-417-9561; address: One North Central Avenue, Suite 800, 
Phoenix, AZ 85004-4427; email: [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 Mr. Werner during normal 
business hours. The FRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to 
leave a message or question. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM Gila District, Tucson Field Office, 
is issuing the Final Supplemental EIS/Proposed RMP Amendments for the 
Ray Land Exchange to supplement the environmental impact analysis in 
the original Ray Land Exchange/RMP Amendments Final EIS completed by 
the BLM in 1999. ASARCO LLC (ASARCO) proposed the Ray Land Exchange 
with the BLM in order to acquire up to 10,976 acres of public lands and 
federally owned mineral estate adjacent to its Ray Complex (Ray Mine 
and associated processing facilities near Hayden, AZ) and in the Casa 
Grande, AZ vicinity (the Selected Lands). In exchange, ASARCO is 
offering to the BLM 7,304 acres of private lands identified by the BLM 
as desirable for consolidating checkerboard land ownership and 
improving access to existing Federal land for traditional uses such as 
hunting and other recreation (the Offered Lands).
    Through the exchange, the BLM has an opportunity to improve 
resource management efficiency by disposing of heavily encumbered, 
isolated, and difficult-to-manage public lands; and support Secretarial 
Order 3373 by acquiring lands that will consolidate ownership patterns 
in order to improve public access and conserve important natural 
resources. By acquiring the Selected Lands, ASARCO is seeking to 
consolidate its land holdings within and near areas of ongoing mineral 
development and to use the Selected Lands to support current and future 
mining-related operations.
    The Proposed Action and alternatives presented and analyzed in the 
Final Supplemental EIS are the same as those presented and analyzed in 
the 1999 Final EIS. The Final Supplemental EIS supplements the 1999 
Final EIS by providing clarifying analysis of potential environmental 
impacts of the land exchange and alternatives. Specifically, the Final 
Supplemental EIS analyzes and compares the effects of the land exchange 
on the foreseeable mining operations conducted on Federal lands under 
BLM regulations (the No Action Alternative) with the effects of the 
land exchange on the foreseeable mining operations conducted all or

[[Page 33285]]

partially on private lands under applicable State and Federal laws (the 
Proposed Action and action alternatives). The Final Supplemental EIS 
summarizes cumulative impacts from the land exchange on all resources 
and land uses, including an evaluation of potential impacts to Native 
American traditional values. The Final Supplemental EIS also addresses 
any significant new information or circumstances that are relevant to 
analyzing the impacts of the land exchange or RMP amendments.
    The Proposed Action (Agency Preferred Alternative) is to complete 
the Ray Land Exchange between the BLM and ASARCO. The Selected Lands 
consist of public lands that total 8,196 acres of full estate and 2,780 
acres of subsurface mineral estate only in Pinal and Gila Counties in 
Arizona. The Offered Lands consist of ASARCO owned lands that total 
6,944 acres of full estate and 360 acres of surface estate only located 
in Pinal and Mohave Counties in Arizona. The Offered Lands are private 
inholdings within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Tucson and 
Kingman Field Offices of the BLM.
    The Final Supplemental EIS also includes a No Action Alternative 
under which no land exchange would occur nor would the Phoenix, Lower 
Sonoran, or Safford District RMPs need to be amended. Two additional 
action alternatives are also analyzed. The Buckeye Land Exchange 
Alternative involves reducing the total acreages disposed of and 
acquired in the land exchange. The amount of the Selected Lands under 
this alternative is reduced to approximately 10,176 acres from 
approximately 10,976 acres by excluding about 800 acres in the Copper 
Butte area, and removing 640 acres of the McCracken Mountains Parcels 
from the Offered Lands. The Copper Butte Land Exchange Alternative also 
involves a reduced acreage exchange. The Copper Butte Land Exchange 
Alternative would reduce the total acreage of the Selected Lands to 
approximately 9,161 acres from approximately 10,976 acres by excluding 
acres in the Copper Butte area, and removing 1,703 acres of the 
McCracken Mountains Parcels from the Offered Lands.
    RMP amendments to the Phoenix, Lower Sonoran, and Safford RMPs are 
required, as most of the Selected Lands have not been designated for 
disposal through previous BLM planning processes. The BLM's selected 
RMP Amendments decisions will change certain land tenure designations 
from ``retention'' to ``disposal'' of 10,976 acres for the Phoenix, 
Lower Sonoran, and Safford RMPs:
    1. Approximately 9,906 acres designated in the Phoenix RMP as part 
of the White Canyon Resource Conservation Area to be changed from 
retention to disposal; and
    2. Approximately 637 acres designated in the Lower Sonoran RMP to 
be changed from retention to disposal; and
    3. Approximately 433 acres designated in the Safford District RMP 
as part of the former Safford District Long-Term Management Area to be 
changed from retention to disposal.
    The Proposed Action and alternatives presented and analyzed in the 
Final Supplemental EIS are the same as those presented and analyzed in 
the Final EIS. However, since updated appraisals revealed in 2018 that 
the value of the Selected Lands had increased, omitting some of these 
lands will be necessary to comply with the statutory requirement that 
the Federal and private lands to be exchanged be in equal value, with 
no more than a 25 percent cash equalization payment included. 
Therefore, the BLM's final decision will require a modification of the 
Proposed Action presented in the Final Supplemental EIS. Based on the 
2018 appraisals, BLM likely would dispose of only 9,339 acres (7,196 
acres of full estate and 2,143 acres of subsurface mineral estate only, 
the surface of which is owned by ASARCO). ASARCO would be required to 
make up the difference in value with a cash equalization payment.
    The BLM was not required to conduct scoping for the Supplemental 
EIS. However, the agency has conducted public outreach activities to 
inform the public and answer questions regarding the proposed land 
exchange. The efforts included conducting four public meetings, 
contacting persons on an updated mailing list persons via postcard and 
newsletter, providing a detailed project website, and interviewing key 
stakeholders to present the land exchange details and answer questions.
    The formal 90-day public comment period for the Draft Supplemental 
EIS began on November 17, 2017, with the publication of a Notice of 
Availability by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Federal 
Register (82 FR 54408), and ended on February 16, 2018. Public comments 
were used to inform this Final Supplemental EIS and proposed plan 
amendments. Public comments resulted in the addition of clarifying 
text, but did not significantly change the environmental analysis or 
proposed plan amendment decisions. The BLM has responded to substantive 
comments and made appropriate revisions to the Final Supplemental EIS, 
or explained why a comment did not warrant a change.
    All protests on the land tenure designation changes from 
``retention'' to ``disposal'' must be in writing and submitted, as set 
forth in the DATES and ADDRESSES sections.
    The BLM Director will render a written decision on each land use 
plan protest. The decision will be mailed to the protesting party. The 
decision of the BLM Director shall be the final decision of the 
Department of the Interior on each land use plan protest. Responses to 
land use plan protest issues will be compiled and formalized in a 
Director's Protest Resolution Report made available following issuance 
of the decisions.
    Upon resolution of all land use plan protests, the BLM will issue a 
Record of Decision, which will include information on any further 
opportunities for public involvement. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information 
in your protest, you should be aware that your entire protest--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you can ask us in your protest 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, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR 
1610.5)

A. Scott Feldhausen,
Gila District Manager.
[FR Doc. 2019-14714 Filed 7-11-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-32-P