[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 53094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26357]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[NM-038-7122-00-824G]


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) on a Proposed Carbon Dioxide Well-Field Development in Arizona/
New Mexico

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, the BLM, Socorro Field Office, will be directing 
the preparation of an EIS by a third party contractor on the impacts of 
a proposed well-field development for the production of carbon dioxide 
(CO2) and helium gases. The proposed St. Johns, Arizona 
CO2 Project (SJAC) is located on public, State trust, and 
private lands in Apache County, Arizona and Catron County, New Mexico.

DATES: Public scoping meeting dates and locations will be determined in 
the public scoping plan to be developed by the third party contractor. 
The first scoping meeting may be held as early as the week of November 
2, 1998, in Springerville, Arizona and other locations in the vicinity 
of the project area.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Field Manager, Bureau of Land 
Management, 198 Neel Avenue, Socorro, NM 87801, Attn: St. Johns Arizona 
CO2 Project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Van Dorn at the address above or 
by calling (505) 835-0412.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SJAC project is owned by Ridgeway 
Arizona Oil Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ridgeway 
Petroleum Corporation of Alberta, Canada. The third party contractor 
selection process is currently underway at time of publication. 
Potential issues include, but may not be limited to, air quality, 
social and economic impacts, ground and surface water quality, 
cultural, and wildlife issues.
    Ridgeway Arizona first acquired State leases and drilled two 
exploration wells in Apache County, Arizona in 1994. Although they were 
looking for petroleum resources, they encountered CO2 and 
helium. During 1995-1997, they continued to obtain State and then 
Federal leases to develop 14 more wells on State trust land in both 
Apache and Catron Counties, reaching a total of 10 wells in Arizona and 
6 wells in New Mexico. Their Federal lease holdings now total 35,000 
acres in Arizona and 90,600 in New Mexico; 134,000 acres on State trust 
land in Arizona and 23,900 acres on State trust land in New Mexico; and 
32,200 acres on fee land in Arizona and 3,000 acres on fee land in New 
Mexico. Ridgeway lease acreage now totals approximately 314,000 acres. 
Initial development would continue for 2 to 3 years, and would include 
construction of a gas processing plant at the site of the Tucson 
Electric Power Plant within the well-field, as well as approximately 
200 miles of 25 foot-wide access roads and 66 miles of 10 foot-wide 
spur roads. In addition, Ridgeway would construct a pipeline gathering 
system to be primarily buried in these roads, to serve a total of 200 
wells on 640-acre spacing. Thereafter, future construction might 
include an additional 5 to 8 wells per year during the life of the 
project, or for the next 25 to 40 years. Three hundred twenty-acre 
well-spacing would be optional, up to a total of about 1,200 wells. No 
electric power lines would be required within the well field.
    Ridgeway Arizona has proposed that at some point in the future a 
market transmission pipeline would carry pressurized CO2 to 
market, either in southeast New Mexico/west Texas, or to southern 
California. A separate company would market the CO2 and 
construct this pipeline. Although it is a strong possibility that such 
a transmission pipeline might parallel existing pipeline corridors 
crossing Arizona and New Mexico, the market destination has not been 
formally determined at this time. Environmental analysis will therefore 
include one or two possible routes, and it will be assessed in greater 
detail in a supplemental document.
    The no-action alternative will be analyzed in the EIS. Items to be 
considered for analysis within other alternatives to the proposed 
action may include, but are not limited to: (1) construction timing 
restrictions, and (2) construction avoidance areas.
    The BLM's scoping process for the EIS will include: (1) 
Identification of issues to be addressed; (2) Identification of viable 
alternatives and (3) Notifying interested groups, individuals and 
agencies so that additional information concerning these issues can be 
obtained.
    The scoping process will consist of a news release announcing the 
start of the EIS; letters of invitation to participate in the scoping; 
and a scoping document which further clarifies the proposed action. 
Alternatives and significant issues being considered will be 
distributed to selected parties and will be available upon request.

    Dated: September 25, 1998.
Jon Hertz,
Assistant Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 98-26357 Filed 10-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-VC-P