[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55865-55866]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-21684]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CO-SJFO-01-001EIS]


Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for oil and gas development on the Southern Ute Indian 
Reservation, in La Plata and Archuleta Counties, Colorado.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
implementing regulations and other applicable statutes, the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Oil and Gas Development on 
the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, in La Plata and Archuleta 
Counties, Colorado. The BLM, in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs and the Southern Ute Tribe, has prepared the FEIS to provide 
Tribal leaders and agency decision makers with comprehensive 
environmental impact information on which to base oil and gas leasing 
and development decisions.
    The BLM also involved the local community in the collaborative 
process through the scoping effort; outreach efforts in conjunction 
with the Tribal Energy and Natural Resources Departments; meetings with 
the San Juan Citizen's Alliance, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and the Colorado 
Division of Wildlife.

DATES: Written comments on the FEIS will be accepted for 30 days 
following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
publishes their notice of availability of the FEIS in the Federal 
Register. The BLM will notify all parties on this project's mailing 
list of the dates when comments will be accepted.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions, comments or requests for copies of 
the FEIS to the San Juan Public Lands Center, Attn: Walt Brown, 15 
Burnett Court, Durango, CO 81301.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Walt Brown at the above address, or 
phone: 970-247-4874.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Programmatic DEIS analyzes the 
potential impacts of future oil and gas development on approximately 
200,000 acres of Tribal land within a 421,000-acre Study Area. 
Individual authorizations with appropriate NEPA

[[Page 55866]]

analysis would be granted to operators on a site-specific project 
basis. The Study Area lies entirely within the exterior boundaries of 
the Southern Ute Indian Reservation and includes Indian mineral estate, 
a patchwork of Tribal and fee lands, and a small amount of State of 
Colorado parkland. The Indian mineral estate is held in trust by the 
United States of America for the benefit of the Southern Ute Indian 
Tribe, and the federal government retains this trust responsibility due 
to historical factors. The DEIS is a cooperative effort by the Southern 
Ute Indian Tribe, the BLM and the BIA.
    Most of the Study Area is already substantially developed for both 
conventional gas production and coalbed methane (CBM) production. The 
Study Area also supports substantial agricultural and residential 
surface use, with lesser amounts of commercial and recreational land 
use.
    The EPA and the BLM each published a Notice of Availability in the 
Federal Register on January 5, 2001. The Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS) was mailed to the public in January, 2001. A public 
meeting for the DEIS was held, pursuant to 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) 1506.6, at 6 p.m. MDT, on Tuesday, February 27, 2001 
at the Rolling Thunder Hall in Ignacio, Colorado. The purpose of the 
meeting was to solicit public comments on the DEIS. The 60-day comment 
period on the DEIS ended on March 20, 2001.
    The FEIS analyzes three alternatives. Alternative 1 is the no-
action alternative and represents the continuation of present 
management and of exploration and development at rates that are similar 
to recent drilling and development activity rates. A total of 210 wells 
would be developed, including both conventional and CBM wells.
    Alternative 2 considers the drilling or recompletion of an optional 
second well, or infill well, on a majority of CBM spacing units located 
on Tribal trust lands within the Study Area. This would result in an 
effective CBM well density of four wells per section. The increased 
number of wells would allow accelerated production of the resource, 
increase recoveries of the gas in place, and increase economic returns 
to the Tribe. The status quo development described in Alternative 1 is 
included within Alternative 2, resulting in a total of 636 new wells 
that would be drilled under Alternative 2, including both conventional 
and CBM production wells.
    Alternative 3 is the Agency and Tribal preferred alternative. This 
alternative includes all the developments included within Alternative 2 
plus the addition of Enhanced Coalbed Methane (ECBM) recovery 
techniques; i.e., the injection of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or other 
fluids into the Fruitland Formation. For the purpose of Alternative 3, 
ECBM was projected to occur on almost half the Tribal CBM spacing units 
within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation, resulting in 70 
injection wells drilled or recompleted (one injection well per every 
two producing wells in the injection project areas) on Tribal trust 
lands. Some of the injection wells may be directionally drilled off 
existing pads to minimize impacts and costs. Additional production 
wells would not be required. A total of 706 wells would be developed 
under Alternative 3, including conventional wells, CBM production 
wells, and injection wells.
    Eighteen letters were received during the comment period on the 
Draft EIS from February 6, 2001 to March 20, 2001, and five oral 
comments were recorded at the public meeting on February 27, 2001. The 
issues that were identified in the comment letters and at the meeting 
included the scope of the air quality, water quality, cultural 
resource, socioeconomic, transportation and cumulative impact analyses; 
the range and detail of the alternatives; the need for additional air 
and water quality monitoring; the lack of analysis for 80 acre gas well 
spacing; and the need for additional analysis of impacts from 
cavitation and flaring.
    All comments received on the DEIS have been addressed appropriately 
in the FEIS, including revisions to the document as warranted. The FEIS 
is not a decision document. A Record of Decision will be prepared and 
made available to the public following the 30-day comment period on the 
FEIS.
    Comments on the FEIS, including names and street addresses of 
respondents, will be available for public review at the San Juan Public 
Lands Center, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, Colorado, during regular 
business hours (8 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 of officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

    Dated: June 10, 2002.
Mark Stiles,
Acting Center Manager, San Juan Public Lands Center, Colorado, Bureau 
of Land Management, USDI.
[FR Doc. 02-21684 Filed 8-29-02; 8:45 am]
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