[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 97 (Thursday, May 18, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31594-31595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-12495]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY090-00-1310-EJ]


Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Pinedale Anticline Natural Gas Exploration and Development 
Project, and Proposed Amendment to the Pinedale Resource Management 
Plan

AGENCY: Lead Agency--Bureau of Land Management, Interior. Cooperating 
Agencies--U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Corps of 
Engineers, U.S. Army, State of Wyoming.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(FEIS) for the Pinedale Anticline Natural Gas Exploration and 
Development Project, Sublette County, Wyoming, and Notice of 30-day 
protest period for proposed amendment to the Pinedale Resource 
Management Plan (RMP).

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SUMMARY: The FEIS is an abbreviated FEIS. The FEIS and the Draft EIS 
(DEIS) comprise the entire document for filing purposes and for the 
decision making process. Please refer to the DEIS for more detailed 
analysis and description of the proposed action and alternatives. The 
FEIS contains 7 Sections. Section 1, Introduction; Section 2, Potential 
Management Scenario for Continued Exploration and Development; Section 
3, Analysis of Revised Sales Gas Pipeline Alternatives; Section 4, 
Errata; Section 5, Comment Responses and Letters; Section 6, Responses 
to Environmental Group Notices and Alerts; and Section 7, Public 
Hearing Comments and Responses. BLM has identified the Resource 
Protection (RP) Alternative on Federal Lands and Minerals as its 
preferred alternative based on information contained in the DEIS, 
comments received during public scoping, and comments received on the 
DEIS. BLM considers the RP Alternative on All Lands and Minerals to be 
the environmentally preferred alternative.

[[Page 31595]]

    The Pinedale Anticline EIS identifies the need for amendment, 
planning review, and/or maintenance of the following 1988 Pinedale RMP 
items: (1) The amendment of a Pinedale RMP off-road vehicle (ORV) 
designation; (2) the update and modification, if necessary, of visual 
resource management (VRM) classification; and (3) withhold unleased 
Federal lands and minerals and/or expired leases in the Hoback Basin, 
southern foothills of the Gros Ventre Range, and the Wind River Front 
from oil and gas leasing until the effects of leasing these lands can 
be addressed in a planning review of the Pinedale RMP and Bridger-Teton 
Leasing EIS.

DATES: Comments on the FEIS will be accepted for 30 days following the 
date that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes their 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The EPA notice is 
anticipated to be published on June 2, 2000. Protest of the proposed 
ORV designation amendment to the Pinedale RMP must be postmarked within 
30 days following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes the filing notice for the Final EIS in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the FEIS should be sent to Bureau of Land 
Management, Bill McMahan (Project Coordinator), 280 Highway 191 North, 
Rock Springs, WY 82901, or they can be e-mailed to 
[email protected].
    Protests on the proposed ORV designation amendment to the Pinedale 
RMP should be sent to the Director (210), Bureau of Land Management, 
Attention: Brenda Williams, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill McMahan, Project Coordinator, 
Bureau of Land Management, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901, (307) 352-0224.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DEIS (NOA published by EPA in the 
Federal Register, November 26, 1999; comment due date February 4, 2000, 
following State Director approval of a 10 day extension of time for 
review/comment on the DEIS) analyzed a proposal by the Pinedale 
Anticline Operators to drill up to 900 new wells to achieve 700 
producing locations over the next 10 to 15 years on their leased 
acreage within the Pinedale Anticline Project Area (PAPA) 
(approximately 197,345 acres) in western Wyoming. Lands associated with 
the new drilling program are located between the town of Pinedale, 
Wyoming, and the Jonah Natural Gas Field (30 miles south); and between 
the Green River on the west and Wyoming Highway 191 on the east 
(between 8 and 15 miles wide). Comments were received on the DEIS from 
a number of groups. A total of 235 comment letters were received. BLM 
held a public hearing on January 12, 2000. A total of 86 people signed 
in at the hearing--17 gave statements. BLM responses to each comment 
letter and hearing comments are included in Sections 5, 6, and 7 of the 
FEIS.
    Factors Affecting Pinedale Resource Management Plan (RMP) Completed 
in 1988--The Pinedale Anticline EIS addresses the need for amendment, 
planning review, and/or maintenance of the Pinedale RMP. The EIS 
identifies that (1) the RMP decision designating portions of the PAPA 
as ``open'' to off-road vehicle (ORV) use should be amended from 
``open'' to ``limited to existing roads and trails'' to protect surface 
values and to be consistent with other oil/gas development areas; (2) 
the visual resource management (VRM) classification for the VRM 
classifications within the Resource Area need to be updated and the RMP 
modified if necessary; and (3) all Federal lands and minerals that are 
unleased and/or that have expired leases in the Hoback Basin, southern 
foothills of the Gros Ventre Range, and the Wind River Front should be 
withheld from oil and gas leasing until the effects of leasing these 
lands can be addressed in a planning review to determine any needed 
modification to the 1988 Pinedale RMP and to the Bridger-Teton Leasing 
EIS (Management Areas 21, 45, 71, and 72).
    The RMP planning review for the identified areas (see Pinedale 
Anticline DEIS Figure 5-2) would address new issues and concerns for 
air quality related values, protection of scenic values of the mountain 
ranges, protection of the new and/or more densely populated rural 
subdivisions occurring on private surface underlain by Federal 
minerals, and other resource concerns. An analysis of these factors may 
affect Federal mineral leasing and other Federal authorizations on the 
described lands.
    The Pinedale Anticline EIS proposal to amend the Pinedale RMP ORV 
``open'' area designation to ``limited to existing roads and trails'' 
is protestable. This is the only part of the Pinedale Anticline EIS 
that is protestable under the BLM Planning Regulations (43 CFR 1610.5-
2). Anyone disagreeing with the proposed decision to change the ORV 
designation within the Pinedale Anticline project area must file a 
written protest within the 30-day review period for the FEIS. The 
proposed amendment may be protested by parties who participated in the 
Pinedale Anticline EIS process, who have an interest which is or may be 
adversely affected by the proposed change, and who raised issue with 
ORV use during the EIS process. The protest must include the following 
information: (1) The name, mailing address, telephone number, and 
interest of the person filing the protest; (2) a statement of the 
issue(s) submitted during the DEIS review process by the protesting 
party, or an indication of the date the issue(s) were discussed for the 
record; (3) a statement of the part(s) of the recommendation being 
protested; (4) a copy of all documents addressing the issue(s) that 
were submitted during the DEIS review process by the protesting party, 
or an indication of the date the issue(s) were discussed for the 
record; and (5) a concise statement explaining why the proposed 
decision is believed to be wrong.
    At the end of the 30-day protest period, the proposed change, if 
not protested, will become final. If a protest is received, approval of 
oil and gas development will be based upon the existing ORV designation 
until final action on the protest has been completed. Any significant 
change made as a result of a protest will be made available for public 
review and comment before it is approved.
    This DEIS, in compliance with section 7(c) of the Endangered 
Species Act (as amended), includes the Biological Assessment for the 
purpose of identifying any endangered or threatened species which are 
likely to be affected by the proposed action.

    Dated: May 12, 2000.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 00-12495 Filed 5-17-00; 8:45 am]
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