[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 241 (Friday, December 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75576-75578]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-21309]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-100-06-1310-DB]


Notice of Availability of Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Pinedale Anticline Oil and Gas Exploration and 
Development Project, Sublette County, WY

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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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), 
Pinedale Field Office announces the availability of a Draft 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) on a proposal for 
long-term development of natural gas resources in the Pinedale 
Anticline Project Area (PAPA). The BLM published the Notice of Intent 
(NOI) to prepare a SEIS for the Pinedale Anticline Project in the 
Federal Register on October 21, 2005.

DATES: The Draft SEIS will be available for public comment for 60 days 
starting on the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. A separate CALGRID 
airborne ozone report will be published subsequent to the release of 
the Draft SEIS. The BLM can best utilize your comments on the 
supplemental information if they are received within the 60 day review 
period provided above. To provide the public with an opportunity to 
review the proposal and project information,

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the BLM will host a meeting in Pinedale, Wyoming. The BLM will notify 
the public of the meeting date, time, and location at least 15 days 
prior to the event. Announcement of the public meeting will be made by 
news release to the media, individual letter mailings, and posting on 
the BLM website, listed below, if it is available.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments or resource information to the 
Bureau of Land Management, Pinedale Field Office, Matt Anderson, 
Project Manager, 432 East Mill Street, P.O. Box 768, Pinedale, Wyoming 
82941. Electronic mail may be sent to: [email protected]. The 
SEIS will be posted at http://web.wy.blm.gov when available.
    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, e-mail 
address, or street address from public review or from disclosure under 
the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this plainly 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, Matt 
Anderson, Project Manager at (307) 367-5328, or by e-mail: [email protected]; or by the address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM conducted NEPA analysis and issued a 
Record of Decision (ROD) for the Pinedale Anticline Oil and Gas 
Exploration and Development Project in July 2000 in response to the 
increasing number of operators requesting approval to drill and develop 
oil and gas wells on the Pinedale Anticline. The NEPA document analyzed 
three alternatives with different levels of required mitigation, and 
for each alternative, there were three exploration and development 
scenarios based on the density and distribution of well pad 
development. The PAPA ROD established seasonal restrictions on natural 
gas development to minimize adverse effects on wintering big game and 
sage-grouse during breeding and nesting. The PAPA Final EIS did not 
include analysis of the potential impacts of oil and gas development 
activities (specifically drilling and completions) to big game on 
crucial winter ranges during the period of November 15 through April 
30. Exceptions to this winter closure period were to be based on 
current conditions such as the presence of wintering animals or depth 
of snow cover on a case-by-case basis.
    Starting in the winter of 2002-2003, the BLM authorized Questar 
Exploration and Production (Questar) to continue gas development 
operations at one well pad within big game crucial winter range. 
Questar was required to cooperate fully with the Wyoming Game and Fish 
Department in the study of the impact of its operations by supporting 
the ongoing Sublette Mule Deer Study. In November 2004, the BLM issued 
a Decision Record allowing Questar to expand their development 
activities in crucial mule deer winter range during winter while 
continuing to support the Sublette Mule Deer Study (Questar Year-Round 
Drilling Proposal Environmental Assessment, November 2004).
    Since then, other operators within the PAPA have expressed interest 
in conducting gas development activities including year-round drilling 
within big game crucial winter range. In the summer of 2005, Anschutz, 
Shell Exploration and Production Company (Shell), and Ultra Resources 
Inc. (Ultra) submitted a proposal to the BLM for a year-round drilling 
demonstration project on three well pads within their leaseholds during 
1 year. In September 2005, the BLM issued a Decision Record to allow 
them to proceed (ASU Year-Round Drilling Demonstration Project, 
September 2005). The Decision Record allowed each of the three 
operators to drill year-round on one well pad each on crucial winter 
range during the winter of 2005-2006. The result of that project led to 
the current proposal and to BLM's determination that a Supplemental EIS 
is necessary. The PAPA encompasses approximately 198,034 acres of 
primarily Federal lands (nearly 80 percent), and State and private 
land. Approximately 83 percent of the mineral estate underlying the 
PAPA is Federally-owned.
    Alternatives: The BLM has received a proposal for continued 
development of natural gas resources in the PAPA from Questar, Shell, 
and Ultra, representing themselves and others who agree to participate, 
collectively referred to as the Operators. There are currently 
approximately 460 producing wells in the PAPA; the Operators' proposal 
would exceed the drilling activity analyzed in the PAPA ROD (2000). The 
NEPA and air quality impact analyses supporting the PAPA ROD (2000) 
addressed 900 total wells and 700 producing well pads.
    The PAPA ROD stated that if the level of development exceeded that 
analyzed in the Draft EIS, that BLM would conduct additional 
environmental analysis. The BLM has identified the following resources 
that may be adversely impacted beyond the level analyzed in the PAPA 
ROD and the resources will be analyzed in the Draft SEIS: surface and 
ground water; air quality; wildlife and their habitats; vegetation; 
visual resources; transportation; noxious weeds; grazing; cultural and 
paleontological; wetland and riparian; threatened and endangered animal 
and plant species; and socioeconomics. In addition to the proposed 
action, the Draft SEIS analyzes the effects of the no-action 
alternative and the BLM preferred alternative, which are summarized 
below.
    Proposed Action: The Operators propose to conduct year-round 
drilling and completions in Concentrated Development Areas within a 
Core Development Area (coinciding with the Anticline Crest) of the 
PAPA. The Operators' proposed development includes construction of new 
well pads and substantial expansion of existing well pads to allow for 
multiple wells drilled from a pad. The Operators propose an additional 
4,399 wells on approximately 10-acre bottom hole spacing from an 
additional 250 well pads to more effectively recover the mineral 
resource. In addition, the BLM has determined that there is a need for 
new pipeline corridors between the PAPA and processing plants in 
southwestern Wyoming. Therefore, the SEIS includes specific analysis 
for two additional gas sales pipelines from the PAPA, one to the 
Granger and Blacks Fork gas plant and one from the PAPA to the Opal and 
Pioneer gas plant.
    Concurrent with the drilling and development activities, the 
Operators propose 3:1 compensatory mitigation to offset wildlife 
impacts and to study and evaluate the effects of oil and gas activities 
on big game using crucial winter ranges and sage-grouse using seasonal 
habitats during the winter months (November 15 through April 30).
    No Action Alternative: This alternative would continue

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development within the PAPA as approved in the PAPA ROD and subsequent 
environmental documents and would not consider the Operators' proposal 
to: provide compensatory mitigation; minimize habitat fragmentation; 
and maximize resource recovery through multi-well pads and directional 
drilling.
    BLM Preferred Alternative: This alternative analyzes the same 
number of drilled wells, pad expansions, new well pads, proposed 
compensatory mitigation, and pipeline routes as the proposed action 
with limitations on where year-round drilling could occur at any one 
time within a core development area. The preferred alternative also 
reduces the size of the core development area from the proposed action.

    Dated: September 22, 2006.
Robert A. Bennett,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E6-21309 Filed 12-14-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P