80 FR 16424 - Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas Development in the White River Field Office, Colorado

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 59 (March 27, 2015)

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 (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the White River Field Office (WRFO) and by this notice is announcing its availability.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 59 (Friday, March 27, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16424-16426]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07013]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLCON05000 L16100000.DT0000]


Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan 
Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Oil and Gas 
Development in the White River Field Office, Colorado

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and a 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the White River Field 
Office (WRFO) and by this notice is announcing its availability.

DATES: The BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS. 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 for this project in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the WRFO Oil and Gas Development Proposed RMP 
Amendment/Final EIS have been sent to affected Federal, State and local 
government agencies, and interested parties. The Proposed RMP 
Amendment/Final EIS is also available on the Internet at: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html, and at locations listed under the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
    All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of the following 
addresses:

[[Page 16425]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Regular mail:                       Overnight mail:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLM Director (210), Attention: Protest   BLM Director (210), Attention:
 Coordinator, WO-210, P.O. Box 71383,     Protest Coordinator, WO-210,
 Washington, DC 20024-1383.               20 M Street SE., Room 2134LM,
                                          Washington, DC 20003.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


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, 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 prepared the WRFO Oil and Gas 
Development Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS to evaluate and amend the 
current management decisions for oil and gas resources within the WRFO 
planning area. The current management decisions for oil and gas 
resources are described in the White River Record of Decision and 
Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP), approved July 1, 1997, as 
amended (1997 WRFO RMP).
    The Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS addresses public lands and 
resources managed by the WRFO. The WRFO planning area includes 
approximately 2.7 million acres of BLM, National Park Service, U.S. 
Forest Service, State, and private lands located in northwestern 
Colorado, primarily in Rio Blanco County, with additional tracts 
located in Moffat and Garfield counties. Within the WRFO planning area, 
the BLM administers approximately 1.5 million surface acres and 2.2 
million acres of Federal subsurface mineral estate. Surface management 
decisions made as a result of this planning effort will apply only to 
the BLM-administered lands in the WRFO planning area. The BLM decided 
to update the 1997 WRFO RMP because the 2007 Reasonable Foreseeable 
Development Scenario identified substantial changes in the way oil and 
gas development is expected to proceed in the planning area compared to 
what was considered in the 1997 WRFO RMP. Changes include an increase 
in the number of wells to be drilled, a transition from single well 
pads to multi-well pads, and a shift in the location of development to 
the Mesaverde Play Area.
    The purpose of the WRFO Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS is to 
provide effective management direction for public lands administered by 
the WRFO based on an analysis of oil and gas exploration and 
development activities in excess of levels evaluated in the 1997 WRFO 
RMP. During the development of the RMP Amendment, the BLM reviewed the 
decisions contained in the 1997 WRFO RMP. None of the alternatives 
analyzed for this amendment considered the creation of new special 
designations or changes to areas currently open or closed to oil and 
gas leasing in the 1997 WRFO approved RMP because this amendment is 
entirely focused on addressing oil and gas development.
    The Draft RMP Amendment/EIS evaluated four alternatives in detail 
including, the No Action Alternative (Alternative A) and three action 
alternatives (Alternatives B, C and D). Based on the impacts analysis 
and public comment on the Draft RMP Amendment, the BLM selected various 
parts of Alternatives A, B, C and D to develop the Proposed RMP 
Amendment (Alternative E) in the Final EIS.
    The Proposed RMP Amendment, Alternative E, considers impacts and 
management actions associated with potential development of 15,040 
wells on 1,100 well pads with an associated surface disturbance of 
13,200 acres. Alternative E incorporates the managed development 
approach from Alternatives B and C. The Proposed RMP Amendment includes 
the Dinosaur Trail Master Leasing Plan in the northwest corner of the 
field office and a plan for phased leasing within that area.
    The Proposed RMP Amendment also provides management direction for 
more than 300,000 acres of inventoried lands with wilderness 
characteristics; these areas would be managed at one of three levels 
depending upon whether or not wilderness characteristics were the 
primary management focus in an area.
    Because this planning effort is an amendment and not a full RMP 
revision, changes in management were limited to only those decisions 
related to oil and gas development. However, because oil and gas 
development has the potential to impact other resources, the BLM 
developed management actions designed to reduce impacts to a variety of 
resources, including air and water quality, soils, vegetation, wildlife 
habitat, special status plant habitat, wild horses, cultural resources, 
paleontological resources, visual resources, forestry and woodlands, 
livestock grazing, minerals, recreation, travel management, realty, and 
special designations.
    Copies of the WRFO Oil and Gas Development Proposed RMP Amendment/
Final EIS are available for public inspection at the Web site listed 
under the ADDRESSES section, and at the following locations:
     White River Field Office, 220 East Market Street, Meeker, 
CO 81641
     Little Snake Field Office, 455 Emerson Street, Craig, CO 
81625
     Northwest District Office, 2815 H Road, Grand Junction, CO 
81506
     Colorado River Valley Field Office, 2300 River Frontage 
Road, Silt, CO 81652
     BLM Colorado State Office, 2850 Youngfield Street, 
Lakewood, CO 80215
     Kremmling Field Office, 2103 East Park Avenue, Kremmling, 
CO 80459
     Libraries in the following Colorado locations: Rifle, 
Meeker, Rangely, and Craig.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM 
regarding the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS may be found in the 
``Dear Reader'' Letter of the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS and at 
43 CFR 1610.5-2. Emailed protests will not be accepted as valid 
protests unless the protesting party also provides the original letter 
by either regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the 
protest period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the 
emailed protest as an advance copy and it will receive full 
consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such advance 
notification, please direct emails to [email protected]. All protests, 
including the follow-up letter to emails, must be in writing and mailed 
to the appropriate address as set forth in the ADDRESSES section above.
    Before including your 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

[[Page 16426]]

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.

Ruth Welch,
BLM Colorado State Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-07013 Filed 3-26-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4130-JB-P