[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 49 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12101-12102]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6085]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-030-1310-DB]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Conduct Scoping for the Seminoe Road Coalbed Methane Natural Gas 
Development Project, Carbon County, Wyoming, and Notice of the 
Potential for Amendment of the Great Divide Resource Management Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) and to conduct scoping for the Seminoe Road Gas 
Development Project, Carbon County, Wyoming, and Notice of the 
Potential for Amendment of the Great Divide Resource Management Plan 
(RMP).

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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 Field Office, announces its intent to prepare an EIS on the 
potential impacts of a proposed coalbed methane natural gas development 
project. In September 2002, the BLM received from Dudley & Associates, 
LLC (Dudley) a proposal to drill and develop up to 1,240 wells (on an 
estimated 785 well pad sites) and associated facilities. The proposed 
project area encompasses approximately 137,000 acres of mixed Federal, 
State, and private land. A 30 to 40 year development and operational 
period is proposed. The project area is located approximately 20 air 
miles northeast of the city of Rawlins, Carbon County, Wyoming. Based 
on the information developed during the course of this analysis, the 
BLM may decide it is necessary to amend the 1990 Great Divide RMP.

DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. The BLM can 
best use public input if comments and resources information are 
submitted within 60 days of the publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register. Public scoping meetings will be held in Rawlins, WY 
and Hanna, WY. The BLM will notify the public of meeting dates, times, 
and locations 15 days in advance by a news release to the media, 
individual letter

[[Page 12102]]

mailings, and posting on the BLM Web site listed below.

ADDRESSES: Address questions and comments to the Bureau of Land 
Management, Rawlins Field Office, David Simons, Team Leader, 1300 North 
Third Street, PO Box 2407, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301, telephone (307) 328-
4200, or send them electronically to [email protected]. 
Additionally, the scoping notice will be posted on the Wyoming BLM 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Web page at http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/nepadocs.htm. Your response is important and will 
be considered in the environmental analysis process. If you do respond, 
we will keep you informed of decisions resulting from this analysis. 
Please note that public comments and information submitted regarding 
this project including names, e-mail addresses, and street addresses of 
the respondents will be available for public review and disclosure 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, email 
address, 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 the 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bureau of Land Management, David 
Simons, Project Manager, 1300 North Third Street, PO Box 2407, Rawlins, 
Wyoming 82301, phone (307) 328-4200, email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Seminoe Road Gas Development Project is 
located in Townships 21, 22, 23, and 24 North, Ranges 84, 85 and 86 
West, Sixth Principal Meridian, Carbon County, Wyoming. The project 
area is located approximately 20 air miles northeast of Rawlins and 
approximately 15 air miles northeast of Sinclair, Wyoming east of 
Carbon County Road 351 (Seminoe Road). The project area covers 
approximately 137,000 acres of Federal (49 percent) and private (49 
percent) surface with a small amount of State land (<2 percent). The 
BLM Rawlins Field Office manages the Federal surface lands and the 
Federal mineral estate.
    In September 2002, Dudley & Associates LLC (Dudley) submitted a 
proposal to drill and develop potentially up to 1,240 coalbed methane 
natural gas wells on up to 785 locations. Associated project facilities 
would include roads, well pads, gas and water collection pipelines, 
compressor stations, water disposal systems, and a power supply system. 
During the preparation of the EIS, proposed development within the 
project area on public lands may be approved subject to an 
environmental review by BLM and to a finding that such development is 
consistent with the 1990 Great Divide Resource Management Plan (RMP). 
Such a review will also ensure that the proposed development would not 
limit the consideration of a range of reasonable alternatives for this 
proposed Seminoe Road Gas Development Project EIS.
    Any authorizations and actions proposed for approval in the EIS 
will be evaluated to determine if they conform to the decisions in the 
1990 Great Divide RMP. Actions that result in a change in the scope of 
resource uses, terms and conditions, and decisions of the approved 
Great Divide RMP may require amendment of the RMP. If the BLM 
determines that a plan amendment is necessary, preparation of the 
Seminoe Road Coalbed Methane Natural Gas Development Project EIS and 
the analysis necessary for the amendment may occur simultaneously. 
Appropriate analysis will accompany the decision to conduct an RMP 
amendment.
    Development of coalbed methane natural gas development from the 
Seminoe Road area will provide additional supplies of this clean-
burning fuel to consumers. This project meets the goals and objectives 
of the President's National Energy Plan by diversifying domestic energy 
supplies, improving and accelerating environmental protection, and 
strengthening the Nation's energy security.
    The EIS will address cumulative impacts and include consideration 
of the effects of the projects addressed in both the EA for the Seminoe 
Road Coalbed Methane Pilot Project (WY-030-EA00-288) and the EA for the 
Seminoe Road Natural Gas Gathering Pipeline Access Road and Compressor 
Station Storage Yard Access Road Project (WY-030-EA2-229). Potential 
issues to be addressed in the EIS include but are not limited to: 
Surface and ground water resources, air quality, wildlife populations 
and their habitats, private and public land access concerns, road 
development and transportation, reclamation, noxious weed control, 
reclamation, conflicts with livestock grazing operations, protection of 
potential cultural and paleontological resources, threatened and 
endangered wildlife and plant species, and socioeconomic impacts.
    The project area is managed under the Great Divide RMP (1990). This 
RMP is currently being revised under the title of Rawlins RMP, with 
completion scheduled for October 2004. Because the Seminoe Road Gas 
Development Project EIS and the Rawlins RMP revision will be developed 
on overlapping schedules, the information and analysis needed for these 
planning efforts will be jointly prepared and used for both EISs, to 
the greatest extent possible. Further information of the status of this 
RMP revision may be obtained from the Web site at http://www.rawlinsrmp.com.

    Dated: February 12, 2003.
Donald A. Simpson,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-6085 Filed 3-12-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P