[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 163 (Monday, August 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51300-51301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20882]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLCON05000 L16100000.DT0000]


Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the White River 
Field Office Oil and Gas Development Resource Management Plan 
Amendment, Colorado

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) Amendment for Oil and Gas Development in the White River Field 
Office (WRFO). The planning are is located in Rio Blanco, Moffat, and 
Garfield Counties, Colorado. The Colorado State Director signed the ROD 
on August 20, 2015, which

[[Page 51301]]

constitutes the final decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP 
Amendment effective immediately.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP Amendment are available upon 
request from the Field Manager, White River Field Office, Bureau of 
Land Management, 220 East Market Street, Meeker, CO 81641 or via the 
Internet at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/wrfo.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Sauls, Planning and 
Environmental Coordinator; telephone 970-878-3855; White River Field 
Office, 220 East Market Street, Meeker, CO 81641; email [email protected]. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to 
contact the above individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is 
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to leave a message or 
question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during 
normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The WRFO has worked with the public, 
interest groups, stakeholders, cooperating agencies, tribes, the 
Northwest Colorado Resource Advisory Council, and neighboring BLM 
offices for the past nine years through the oil and gas amendment 
development process. The result is an Approved RMP Amendment for oil 
and gas development that seeks to provide for a level of oil and gas 
development that is appropriate to the Nation's energy needs in a 
responsible manner of multiple use that maintains the ecological 
integrity of the area and important natural, cultural, social and 
historical values.
    Included as part of the RMP Amendment is the Dinosaur Trail Master 
Leasing Plan (MLP), which will minimize the impacts from oil and gas 
exploration and development to important natural resources and areas in 
that portion of the planning area, including the Dinosaur National 
Monument, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), and 
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), . Impacts will be minimized by managing 
leasing opportunities in a phased approach and imposing controlled 
surface use stipulations for visual resources, night skies, and 
soundscapes.
    While the WRFO Approved RMP Amendment for Oil and Gas Development 
contains some conservation management measures for Greater Sage-Grouse 
habitat, the Northwest Colorado BLM Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Amendment 
and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) fully analyzed applicable 
Greater Sage-Grouse conservation measures, including measures effecting 
lands within the WFRO. The BLM expects to make a comprehensive set of 
decisions for managing Greater Sage-Grouse on lands administered by the 
WRFO in the Record of Decision for the Northwest Colorado Greater Sage-
Grouse Plan Amendment. That decision will amend the 1997 WRFO RMP, as 
needed, including any of the changes made to the 1997 WRFO as part of 
this Approved RMP Amendment for Oil and Gas Development. In the 
interim, leasing in Greater Sage-Grouse habitat will continue to be 
deferred until a final decision has been made on the Northwest Colorado 
Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Amendment. The BLM initiated scoping for the 
RMP Amendment in 2006 and collected information and public input via 
public meetings in order to develop the Draft RMP Amendment/
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in August 2012. Based on public 
and agency comments, the BLM developed the Proposed RMP Amendment by 
combining various elements of all the alternatives considered in the 
Draft RMP Amendment/EIS. The BLM published the Proposed RMP Amendment/
Final EIS on March 27, 2015 (80 FR 16424), and made it available for a 
30-day public protest period. During the protest period for the 
Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS, the BLM received 11 protest letters 
on a variety of issues. From those protest letters, the BLM granted in 
part one protest regarding the requirement in BLM's ACEC Manual that 
the BLM conduct a timely evaluation of ACEC nominations. As explained 
in the ROD, the BLM will evaluate these nominated areas to determine 
whether they satisfy the relevance and importance criteria consistent 
with BLM's planning regulations and provide temporary (interim) 
management for those areas found to meet the criteria. The BLM included 
a timeline for conducting these evaluations in the ROD. The BLM also 
made minor editorial modifications to the Approved RMP Amendment to 
provide further clarification of some of the decisions.
    BLM regulations also require a 60-day Governor's Consistency Review 
period for the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS to review consistency 
with approved state or local plans, policies, or programs. The Governor 
did not identify any inconsistencies with approved state or local 
plans, policies, or programs.
    Management decisions outlined in the Approved RMP Amendment apply 
only to oil and gas exploration and development activities on BLM-
administered lands in the WRFO Planning Area and do not address other 
resources or resource allocations, or authorize development of those 
resources. Approximately 1.7 million acres of Federal oil and gas 
mineral estate is open to leasing and would be subject to lease 
stipulations and other management actions developed during this 
planning effort (i.e., BLM-leasable acres not associated with WSAs or 
surface estate managed by the National Park Service or U.S. Forest 
Service). Major decisions include adopting the Dinosaur Trail MLP; 
using thresholds to promote clustered development to allow for year-
round drilling while reducing habitat loss due to behavioral avoidance 
by big game; using a tiered approach to managing lands with wilderness 
characteristics and identifying specific success criteria for 
reclamation.
    The Approved RMP Amendment does not include implementation 
decisions that would be appealable to the Interior Board of Land 
Appeals under 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6.

Ruth Welch,
BLM Colorado State Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-20882 Filed 8-21-15; 8:45 am]
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