[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 241 (Thursday, December 16, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75338-75339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27580]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-070-05-1310-EJ]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment 
Concerning Oil and Gas Leasing in the Buffalo Field Office, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment that 
would evaluate the leasing for oil and gas of 421 identified parcels in 
the Buffalo Resource Area leased since February 2000.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is commencing preparation 
of an Environmental Assessment (EA) under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA). The purpose of the analysis is to examine particular 
environmental effects of the oil and gas lease issuance decisions made 
since February 2000. This EA responds to rulings of the Interior Board 
of Land Appeals (IBLA) and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (the 
Court), which held that certain effects of coal bed natural gas (CBNG) 
development were not analyzed, or contemplated, in the 1985 Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) Buffalo Resource Management Plan (RMP) Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). See Pennaco Energy v. DOI, 377 
F.3d 1147 (10th Cir., filed August 10, 2004).

DATES: The public is invited to comment on this proposed action, the 
scope of the EA, and alternatives to be considered. The BLM can best 
use comments and resource information that are submitted within 30 days 
of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. BLM does not 
plan to hold scoping meetings at this time.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments or questions to the BLM Buffalo 
Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82834. Written 
comments, or resource information, may also be hand-delivered to the 
BLM Buffalo Field Office. Written comments must have the Environmental 
Assessment number 070-05-064 written on the front page of the comments. 
Comments or questions may also be sent electronically to [email protected]. The scoping notice and other information regarding this 
project are posted on the Wyoming BLM Web site at http://www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/bfo/. Members of the public may examine documents 
pertinent to this proposal by visiting the Buffalo Field Office during 
business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except 
holidays.
    Your response is important and will be considered in the 
environmental analysis process. If you respond, we will keep you 
informed of the availability of environmental documents that address 
impacts that occur from this proposal. Please note that 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. Individual 
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your 
name, e-mail address, or street address from public view 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: Paul Beels, Project Manager, BLM, 
Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82401. Mr. 
Beels may also be reached by telephone at (307) 684-1168.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action has been prompted by a recent 
ruling of the IBLA and the Court concerning the adequacy of the 1985 
Buffalo RMP EIS and developmental NEPA documents, such as the Wyodak 
EIS, to support certain oil and gas leasing decisions. In August 2004, 
the Court reversed a Federal District court and affirmed the decision 
of the IBLA that concluded that BLM had insufficient NEPA analysis to 
make a decision in February 2000 to issue three leases for oil and gas 
in an area where CBNG was likely to be produced. The Court reinstated 
IBLA's remand of the issuance of these three leases to BLM for 
``additional appropriate action.''
    In the course of its opinion, the Court stated that the NEPA 
analysis upon which the BLM relied in issuing three leases ``did not 
consider pre-leasing options, such as not issuing leases at all.'' 
Accordingly, the BLM will evaluate whether to affirm, modify, or cancel 
the

[[Page 75339]]

leases, which include the right to develop CBNG. Recognizing that the 
leases have been issued, the alternatives to be considered in the EA 
will analyze whether to modify the leasing decisions in light of the 
remedial issue analysis (i.e., after consideration of the appropriate 
environmental issues foreseeable at the time the leases were offered 
for sale.)
    The rationale of the Court ruling requires that BLM consider those 
environmental issues found to have been inadequately considered in the 
1985 Buffalo RMP EIS. This EA may, however, examine a broader array of 
environmental issues associated with CBNG leasing decisions that were 
reasonably foreseeable prior to the issuance of these leases. An array 
of environmental issues was subject to in-depth re-examination in the 
Powder River Basin Oil and Gas Project (PRB) EIS and RMP Amendment 
Record of Decision (ROD) that was signed April 30, 2003. The ROD 
amended the 1985 Buffalo RMP to raise the anticipated level of use of 
the resource area for oil and gas and to develop appropriate resource 
use restrictions to mitigate impacts to other resources.
    In the PRB EIS, the BLM carefully analyzed the cumulative effects 
on air, water, and other resources of the potential development of 
51,000 CBNG wells. The BLM determined that with the leasing 
stipulations in the 1985 Buffalo RMP and new mitigation measures 
approved in the PRB EIS, the 51,000 wells would not result in any 
social, environmental, or economic effects that would preclude 
accomplishment of one or more of the 1985 Buffalo RMP objectives as 
long as appropriate conditions of use are required. This EA may 
substantially incorporate by reference impact analyses from the PRB 
EIS.
    BLM is including in the scope of the EA the three leases that were 
the subject of the Court and IBLA's decisions, as well as 418 
additional oil and gas leases that have been issued since February 2000 
within the Buffalo Field Office administrative area. BLM will take a 
``hard look'' at the environmental consequence of each alternative and 
has not foreclosed, simply because of the difficulty of implemention, 
choosing to implement any of the alternatives under review.
    In addition to this EA, BLM is preparing an EA to consider 
continued implementation of the leasing decisions in the Buffalo RMP in 
future years.
    Potential Alternatives: For the purposes of analysis, the BLM has 
developed the following reasonable range of comprehensive alternatives, 
and will analyze particular environmental issues that were foreseeable 
at the time the leases were offered for sale:
    1. No Action Alternative: Affirm the issuance of 421 leases on the 
terms prescribed in the 1985 RMP, as amended.
    2. Modify leases to add stipulations to address issues such as 
water disposal, use of diesel engines, slopes, erosive soils, and 
proposed Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).
    3. Modify leases to subject them to less restrictive stipulations 
consistent with the 1985 RMP, as amended.
    4. Modify leases to preclude development of CBNG. We believe that 
this is what the Court meant by ``not issuing the leases at all,'' 
since the Court found no problems with the adequacy of existing NEPA 
analyses to support leasing for conventional oil and gas.

    Dated: November 30, 2004.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-27580 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P