[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 28 (Friday, February 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7058-7059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1796]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-080-05-1310-DB]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Greater Deadman Bench Region, Uintah County, UT

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and associated 
regulations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the 
availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that 
evaluates, analyzes, and discloses to the public direct, indirect, and 
cumulative environmental impacts of a proposal to extract and transport 
natural gas and oil in Uintah County, Utah.

DATES: The DEIS will be available for review for 45 calendar days 
following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency publishes 
its NOA in the Federal Register. The BLM can best use comments and 
resource information submitted within this 45-day review period.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the DEIS may be mailed directly or 
delivered to the BLM at: GDBR DEIS, Bureau of Land Management, Vernal 
Field Office, 170 South 500 East, Vernal, UT 84078. Comments may be 
submitted by facsimile to the Vernal Field Office at 435-781-4410. At 
this time BLM is unable to accept electronic comments. A copy of the 
DEIS has been sent to the affected Federal, State, and local government 
agencies, Indian Tribes and to interested parties. Copies of the DEIS 
are available for public inspection at the address above and the Bureau 
of Land Management Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, 
Salt Lake City, UT 84101 and the Bureau of Land Management, Vernal 
Field Office, 150 South 500 East, Vernal, UT 84078.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Howard, Project Manager, BLM 
Vernal Field Office 170 South 500 East, Vernal, UT 84078. Ms. Howard 
may also be reached at 435-781-4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to a proposal submitted by 
Questar E&P (QEP), the BLM published in the December 19, 2003, Federal 
Register a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS).

[[Page 7059]]

    The Greater Deadman Bench Region (GDBR) involves approximately 
98,785 acres located in Townships 6 to 8 South, Ranges 21 and 25 East, 
Salt Lake Base Meridian, about 20 miles south of Vernal, Uintah County, 
Utah. The DEIS analyzes the effects of a maximum natural gas and oil 
development scenario within the GDBR that is conceptual in nature. The 
final location of well pads, roads, and pipelines would be determined 
through future site-specific assessments required for each facility. 
QEP's proposal includes drilling an additional 1,020 natural gas and 
219 oil wells and constructing associated ancillary transportation and 
transmission facilities within the project area. BLM-administered lands 
account for about 85% (83,860 acres) of surface and mineral estate 
lands within the BDGR. The State of Utah's Utah State School and 
Institutional Trust Lands Administration accounts for about 12% (1,440 
acres) of surface and mineral estate lands; and the remaining 4% (3,470 
acres) consists of various privately owned surface and mineral estate 
lands within the project area. QEP proposes to drill 1,239 wells at the 
rate of 100-120 wells per year over a period of 10 years, or until the 
resource base is fully developed. Of this total number, 891 wells would 
be drilled at new locations and 348 wells would be drilled from 
existing well pads.
    As set out in the NOI, as of March 2003, the GDBR includes about 
278 existing oil and water-injection wells producing from or injecting 
water into the Green River formation and 300 gas wells producing from 
the Wasatch formation. About 57 miles of primary roads and 314 miles of 
secondary roads have been constructed within the region. The new gas 
wells would be drilled to the Uinta, Green River, Wasatch, Mesaverde, 
Blackhawk/Mancos, and the Frontier/Dakota formations. The new oil wells 
would be drilled to the Green River formation.
    The DEIS describes in detail and analyzes the impacts of QEP's 
Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative. The Proposed Action 
incorporates standard operating procedures and applicant-committed best 
management practices currently employed on BLM-administered public 
lands in the Uintah Basin that mitigate impacts to the environment. Six 
additional alternatives were considered but eliminated from detailed 
analysis. The following is a summary of the alternatives:
    1. Proposed Action--Up to 1,020 natural gas and 219 oil wells would 
be drilled to the Uinta, Green River, Wasatch, Mesaverde Group, 
Blackhawk/Mancos and the Frontier/Dakota formations. About 170 miles of 
new roads and 235 miles of pipelines, 22 new central tank facilities 
and 15 new gas compressor stations would be constructed to support this 
proposed development. At this time the Proposed Action is the BLM's 
preferred alternative.
    2. No Action Alternative--Oil and gas development on Federal lands 
under the Proposed action would not be implemented. However some level 
of development would continue to occur under APDs previously approved 
by the authority of the 1985 Book Cliffs RMP. An additional 130 wells 
would be located on State of Utah and private leases.
    3. Alternatives Considered, But Eliminated From Further Analysis--
    a. No new development on Federal lands.
    b. Suspension of operations for an extended period of time.
    c. Exchange of leases.
    d. Full-field directional Drilling.
    e. Conventional oil and gas development.
    f. Best Management Practices (BMP).
    The public is encouraged to comment on any of these alternatives.
    The BLM welcomes your comments on the Greater Deadman Bench Region 
DEIS. The BLM asks that those submitting comments make them as specific 
as possible with reference to chapters, page numbers, and paragraphs in 
the DEIS document. Comments that contain only opinions or preferences 
will not receive a formal response; however, they will be considered as 
part of the BLM decision-making process. The most useful comments will 
contain new technical or scientific information, identify data gaps in 
the impact analysis, or will provide technical or scientific rationale 
for opinions or preferences. It is BLM's practice to make comments, 
including the names and street addresses of each respondent, available 
for public review at the BLM office listed above during business hours 
(7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m), Monday through Friday, except for Federal 
holidays. Your comments may be published as part of the EIS process. 
Individual respondents may request confidentiality.
    If you wish to withhold your name or street address, or both, from 
public review, or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 
you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comments. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. 
BLM will not consider anonymous comments. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses will be made available for public 
inspection in their entirety.

William Stringer,
Vernal Field Manager.
 [FR Doc. E6-1796 Filed 2-9-06; 8:45 am]
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