[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 28370]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-4550]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO-310-1310-PP-EPAI]


Amendment to the List of Affected States Under the Energy Policy 
Act of 1992

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of removal of Kentucky from the List of Affected States.

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SUMMARY: The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (the Act) (Pub. L. 102-486) 
requires that the Secretary of the Interior administer a Federal 
program to regulate coalbed methane development in states where coalbed 
methane development has been impeded by disputes or uncertainty over 
ownership of coalbed methane gas. As required by the Act, the 
Department of the Interior, with the participation of the Department of 
Energy, developed a List of Affected States to which this program would 
apply (58 FR 21589, April 22, 1993).
    Section 1339 of the Act provides three mechanisms by which a state 
may be removed from the List of Affected States. The List of Affected 
States is currently comprised of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee.
    Section 387 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58) 
provided a three-year period for state action to seek removal from the 
List of Affected States, including action taken prior to enactment of 
that Act (August 8, 2005). In 2004, the Kentucky General Assembly 
passed and the Governor signed a coalbed methane law, codified as 
Chapter 349 of Kentucky Revised Statutes. The law created a state 
authority and procedures to facilitate coalbed methane development. It 
further explicitly sought, in subsection 349.005(4)(e), deletion of 
Kentucky from the List of Affected States.
    We find that this Kentucky statute fulfills two of the Act's 
Section 1339 removal standards: (a) A law requesting removal and (b) a 
law permitting and encouraging the development of coalbed methane. 
Therefore, the State of Kentucky is officially removed from the List of 
Affected States.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy R. Spisak, Group Manager, 
Fluid Minerals Group, Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street, NW., 
Mail Stop 501 L St., Washington, DC 20240 or telephone (202) 452-5061; 
or Charles W. Byrer, U.S. Department of Energy, 3610 Collins Ferry 
Road, Morgantown, West Virginia 26507, or telephone (304) 285-4547.

    Dated: April 7, 2006.
Thomas Lonnie,
Assistant Director, Minerals, Realty, and Resource Protection.
[FR Doc. 06-4550 Filed 5-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-M