[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 236 (Friday, December 6, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 64658-64660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31098]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

43 CFR Parts 2200, 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270

[WO-420-1800-00-24 1A]
RIN 1004-AC58


Exchanges: General Procedures; State Exchanges; National Park 
Exchanges; Wildlife Refuge Exchanges; Miscellaneous Exchanges

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to streamline its 
exchange regulations at 43 CFR group 2200 by amending Sec. 2200.0-7 of 
part 2200 and by removing parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270. Section 
2200.0-7 would be rewritten to state clearly that, apart from the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, 43 U.S.C. 
1701 et seq. (FLPMA), other statutes exist which govern site- and type-
specific land exchanges that may involve BLM-managed lands or interests 
in lands. If BLM lands or interests are involved, these other statutes 
will prevail over the regulations in part 2200 where they conflict with 
those regulations. BLM also would simultaneously remove parts 2210, 
2240, 2250, and 2270 because the regulations in those parts largely 
restate the substance of the exchange statutes referenced in them and 
are, in that respect, redundant and unnecessary.

DATES: Any comments must be received by BLM at the address below on or 
before January 6, 1997. Comments received after the above date will not 
necessarily be considered in the decisionmaking process on the final 
rule.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may hand-deliver comments to the 
Bureau of Land Management (630), Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620 
L St., NW., Washington, DC; or mail comments to the Bureau of Land 
Management, Administrative Record, Room 401LS, 1849 C Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20240. You also may transmit comments electronically via 
the Internet to [email protected]. Please include ``attn: RIN AC58'' 
in your message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system 
that we have received your internet message, contact us directly at 
(202) 452-5030. You will be able to review comments at BLM's Regulatory 
Affairs Group office, Room 401, 1620 L Street, NW., Washington, D.C., 
during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.) Monday through 
Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Fontecchio, Bureau of Land 
Management, Regulatory Affairs Group, at (202) 452-5012.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Comment Procedures
II. Background and Discussion of Proposed Rule
III. Procedural Matters

I. Public Comment Procedures

Written Comments

    Written comments on the proposed rule should be specific, should be 
confined to issues pertinent to the proposed rule, and should explain 
the reason for any recommended change. Where possible, comments should 
reference the specific section or paragraph of the proposal which the 
commenter is addressing. BLM may not necessarily consider or include in 
the Administrative Record for the final rule comments which BLM 
receives after the close of the comment period (see DATES) or comments 
delivered to an address other than those listed above (see ADDRESSES).

II. Background and Discussion of Proposed Rule

    Land exchanges involving BLM lands and interest in lands are 
generally governed by FLPMA and the rules at 43 CFR part 2200. However, 
various other statutes authorize certain site- and type- specific land 
exchanges that may involve BLM lands or interests in lands. These 
statutes may not be fully consistent with the exchange requirements of 
FLPMA or with BLM's exchange regulations in part 2200. When these 
inconsistencies occur, the site- or type-specific statute is intended 
to prevail over the part 2200 regulations. Provisions currently found 
at 43 CFR parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270 reiterate some of these 
site- and type- specific statutory commands.
    However, in light of the regulatory reform initiative's goals of 
streamlining the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the proposed rule 
would remove these parts which merely restate statutory terms and would 
amend section 2200.0-7 to advise the public that other statutes 
governing certain site- and type- specific exchanges will preempt the 
general exchange regulations at part 2200, to the extent that they 
conflict. This can be accomplished without significantly affecting the 
rights of the United States, BLM's customers, or the public at large.
    The parts which would be removed, 43 CFR parts 2210, 2240, 2250, 
and 2270, are almost entirely devoted to repeating statutory 
provisions. To the extent that they are duplicative, these regulations 
serve only to provide information that can be found in the statutes 
themselves. Furthermore, the only provisions in these parts which go 
beyond the statutes are provisions which can and should be removed.
    For example, removing section 2240.0-3(f) would delete: (1) The 
requirement that States, political subdivisions thereof, or any 
interested party who requests public hearings to consider an exchange 
do so in writing; and (2) the definitions of National Park System and 
miscellaneous areas. These provisions constitute substance beyond that 
already contained in the Act of July 15, 1968, 16 U.S.C. 460l-22. 
However, BLM has determined that deleting these provisions will not 
meaningfully alter its administration of the Act's exchange provisions 
or significantly affect the rights of the United States or the public. 
BLM believes the benefits of streamlining and deleting unnecessary 
material such as part 2240 outweigh the impact of these minor 
substantive changes.

[[Page 64659]]

    Next, removing part 2250 would eliminate regulatory language 
stating that lands eligible for exchange under the Act of August 22, 
1957, 16 U.S.C. 696, include federally owned property in Florida 
classified by the Secretary as suitable for exchange or disposal. In 
fact, the statute requires that lands be ``federally owned property in 
the State of Florida under [the Secretary of the Interior's] 
jurisdiction* * *.'' Therefore, any suggestion by the existing 43 CFR 
2250.0-3(c) that the land need only be Federal land in Florida, 
regardless of the Secretary's jurisdiction, contradicts the law. 
Removing part 2250 would eliminate this confusion and would delete 
otherwise unnecessary language.
    Similarly, removing part 2270 would eliminate a few minor 
inconsistencies with the governing statutes, but in each case BLM's 
intention is that these deletions would not have any substantive 
effect. For example, section 2271.0-3(a) adds the word 
``approximately'' to the requirement that exchanges of Indian 
Reservation land under the Act of April 21, 1904, 43 U.S.C. 149, must 
be ``equal'' in area and value. In this particular statutory context, 
BLM has generally interpreted the word ``equal'' to mean 
``approximately equal'' to allow the exchanging parties some 
flexibility in making the exchange as close to equal as is reasonably 
possible, without risking failure over negligible differences. Although 
removing part 2270 will eliminate this interpretation from the CFRs, 
BLM advises that it will continue to interpret the term ``equal'' in 
this way. BLM also advises that eliminating part 2270 will cause 
several other minor changes, but none that involve any significant 
substance.
    To sum up, BLM believes that there are no variances between the 
statute and the regulations being removed which are significant enough 
to justify continued publication of these otherwise redundant and 
unnecessary regulations. Consequently, BLM believes that the proposed 
rule can be implemented without materially affecting the rights and 
duties of the United States or the rights of the public at large, as is 
the intent.
    Finally, please note that BLM is proposing to delete 43 CFR subpart 
2202 in a separate rulemaking. Subpart 2202 is concerned with proposals 
relating to National Forest land exchanges administered by the 
Secretary of Agriculture through the Forest Service.

III. Procedural Matters

National Environmental Policy Act

    The BLM has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) and has found 
that the proposed rule would not constitute a major federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment under 
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C). The BLM has placed the EA and the Finding 
of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on file in the BLM Administrative 
Record at the address specified previously. The BLM invites the public 
to review these documents by contacting us at the addresses listed 
above (see ADDRESSES) and suggests that anyone wishing to submit 
comments in response to the EA and FONSI do so in accordance with the 
Written Comments section above, or contact BLM directly.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The rule does not contain information collection requirements which 
the Office of Management and Budget must approve under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Congress enacted the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), 5 
U.S.C. 601 et seq., to ensure that government regulations do not 
unnecessarily or disproportionately burden small entities. The RFA 
requires a regulatory flexibility analysis if a rule would have a 
significant economic impact, either detrimental or beneficial, on a 
substantial number of small entities. The BLM has determined under the 
RFA that this proposed rule would not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Executive Order 12866

    According to the criteria listed in section 3(f) of Executive Order 
12866, BLM has determined that the proposed rule is not a significant 
regulatory action. As such, the rule is not subject to Office of 
Management and Budget review under section 6(a)(3) of the order.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    Revising 43 CFR 2200.0-7 and removing parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 
2270 will not result in any unfunded mandate to State, local or tribal 
governments in the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 million 
or more in any one year.

Executive Order 12612

    The proposed rule will not have a substantial direct effect on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government. Therefore, in accordance with Executive 
Order 12612, BLM has determined that this proposed rule does not have 
sufficient federalism implications to warrant preparation of a 
Federalism Assessment.

Executive Order 12630

    The proposed rule does not represent a government action capable of 
interfering with constitutionally protected property rights. Section 
2(a)(1) of Executive Order 12630 specifically excludes actions 
abolishing regulations or modifying regulations in a way that lessens 
interference with private property use from the definition of 
``policies that have takings implications.'' Since the primary function 
of the proposed rule is to abolish unnecessary regulations, there will 
be no private property rights impaired as a result. Therefore, BLM has 
determined that the rule would not cause a taking of private property 
or require further discussion of takings implications under this 
Executive Order.

Executive Order 12988

    It has been determined that this rule meets the applicable 
standards provided in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order 
12988.

    Author: The principal author of this proposed rule is 
Christopher D. Fontecchio, Regulatory Affairs Group, Bureau of Land 
Management, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240; Telephone 
(202) 452-5012.

List of Subjects

43 CFR Part 2200

    Land Management Bureau; National forests; Public lands.

43 CFR Part 2210

    Land Management Bureau; Public lands.

43 CFR Part 2240

    Land Management Bureau; National parks; Recreation and recreation 
areas; Seashores.

43 CFR Part 2250

    Land Management Bureau; Wildlife refuges.

43 CFR Part 2270

    Indians-lands; Land Management Bureau; National trails system; 
National wild and scenic rivers system; Public lands.


[[Page 64660]]


    Dated: November 27, 1996.
Sylvia V. Baca,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
    For the reasons stated in the preamble, and under the authority of 
43 U.S.C. 1740, parts 2200, 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270, subchapter B, 
chapter II of Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations are proposed 
to be amended as set forth below:
    1. The authority for part 2200 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1716, 1740.


Sec. 2200.0-7  [Amended]

    2. Section 2200.0-7 is amended by revising paragraph (b) to read as 
follows:
* * * * *
    (b) The rules contained in this part apply to all exchanges, made 
under the authority of the Secretary, involving Federal lands, as 
defined in 43 CFR 2200.0-5(i). Apart from the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976, as amended, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. (FLPMA), 
there are a variety of statutes, administered by the Secretary, that 
authorize trades which may include Federal lands, as for example, 
certain National Wildlife Refuge System and National Park System 
exchange acts. The procedures and requirements associated with or 
imposed by any one of these other statutes may not be entirely 
consistent with the rules in this part, as the rules in this part are 
intended to implement the FLPMA exchange provisions. If there is any 
such inconsistency, and if Federal lands are involved, the inconsistent 
procedures or statutory requirements will prevail. Otherwise, the 
regulations in this part will be followed. The regulations in this part 
also apply to the exchange of interests in either Federal or non-
Federal lands including, but not limited to, minerals, water rights, 
and timber.

PARTS 2210, 2240, 2250, 2270--[REMOVED]

    3. Parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270 are removed in their entirety.
[FR Doc. 96-31098 Filed 12-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P