[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 105 (Monday, June 2, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29734-29735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14259]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[WY-030-1310-00]


Amended Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Amended Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) and to conduct Scoping for the Continental 
Divide/Wamsutter II Natural Gas Development Project, Carbon and 
Sweetwater Counties, Wyoming.

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SUMMARY: Under Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 
Rawlins District Office, will prepare an EIS for the proposed 
Continental Divide/Wamsutter II Natural Gas Development Project. 
Several oil and gas operators (Operators) plan to expand natural gas 
exploration and development operations in and adjacent to existing 
developed oil and gas fields within the Continental Divide Area and the 
Greater Wamsutter II Area.
    The Continental Divide/Wamsutter II Project Area (CD/WIIPA) is 
generally located in T. 15 N.-T. 23 N, R. 91 W.-R. 99 W. in Sweetwater 
and Carbon Counties, south-central Wyoming, and encompasses 
approximately 1,061,200 acres of mixed Federal (515,300 acres), State 
(25,900 acres), and private (520,000 acres) land. The CD/WIIPA is 
located approximately 25 miles west of Rawlins and 40 miles east of 
Rock Springs along Interstate 80, which bisects the area. Operators 
propose to

[[Page 29735]]

drill and develop approximately 3,000 well locations (1,500 on Federal 
lands and 1,500 on private lands) and associated facilities (i.e., 
pipelines, roads, production facilities, etc.) in the CD/WIIPA 
beginning in 1998 and continuing for the next 10-20 years. Well spacing 
patterns on the area would vary from 640 to 80 acres per well (i.e., 1 
to 8 wells per section). This area presently contains several active 
natural gas fields, some with ongoing drilling programs. There are 
approximately 720 producing or permitted well locations in the area. 
The proposed action may be modified as a result of comments received 
during scoping or anytime during the preparation of the draft EIS. 
Affected Federal lands are administered by the BLM Rock Springs and 
Rawlins District Offices. The EIS will be prepared for the BLM by a 
third party contractor.

DATES: Comments on the scoping process will be accepted through June 
30, 1997. Public meetings to discuss the proposed project are scheduled 
for 7 p.m., June 18, 1997, at the Community Room of the Sweetwater 
County Court House, 80 West Flaming Gorge Way in Green River, Wyoming, 
and on June 19, 1997, at the Jeffrey Memorial Community Center located 
on the corner of Third and Spruce Streets in Rawlins, Wyoming.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Bureau of Land Management, J. 
Clare Miller, Team Leader, 1300 North Third Street, Rawlins, Wyoming 
82301.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bureau of Land Management, J. Clare Miller, Team Leader, 1300 North 
Third Street, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301, phone (307) 328-4245.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT CONSIDERATIONS: Public comments submitted 
for this scoping review, including names and street addresses of 
respondents, will be available for public review at the above address 
during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through 
Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may request 
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. 
All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This amended Notice of Intent combines two 
adjoining proposed natural gas development projects, the Continental 
Divide Natural Gas Project and the Greater Wamsutter II Natural Gas 
Project. Scoping for the Continental Divide Natural Gas Project was 
conducted in March and April 1995. A Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS) was being prepared but has not been released to the 
public. Scoping for the Greater Wamsutter II Project was conducted in 
December 1993. The draft and final EIS's were released in 1995 and a 
Record of Decision (ROD) was issued in November 1995. Development 
within the Greater Wamsutter II Area is rapidly approaching the levels 
analyzed in the EIS for that project. Initially, the EIS analyzed a 
maximum of 750 wells on 300 well locations. Since directional drilling 
has proved to be technically impractical or uneconomical in many areas, 
additional well locations beyond those analyzed in the Greater 
Wamsutter II EIS may be required. The expanded development within the 
Greater Wamsutter II Area would require additional environmental 
analysis, above and beyond that provided in the original EIS.
    BLM will prepare a combined EIS for the Continental Divide project 
and the expanded Greater Wamsutter II project. BLM is conducting 
additional scoping to obtain public comment on the combined proposal.
    This EIS will address cumulative impacts of this project and other 
ongoing oil and gas projects, addressed in the recently completed EISs 
for the Mulligan Draw Gas Project, the Creston/Blue Gap Natural Gas 
Project, the Greater Wamsutter II Natural Gas Project, and the proposed 
South Baggs Unit Natural Gas Project. Potential issues to be addressed 
in the EIS include, but are not limited to: Impacts to wildlife 
populations and their habitat, access road development and 
transportation management, surface and ground water resources, noxious 
weed control, reclamation, conflicts with livestock grazing operations, 
protection of cultural resources, threatened and endangered species, 
impacts to air quality, impacts to recreation, impacts to private 
residences, and cumulative impacts.

    Dated: May 27, 1997.
Alan R. Pierson,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 97-14259 Filed 5-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-M