[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 74 (Monday, April 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22628-22630]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09010]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLWYD03000 16XL13100000.DM0000]


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development 
Project, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins Field 
Office has prepared a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for 
the proposed Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas Development Project 
(CD-C) in Rawlins, Wyoming, and by this notice announces its 
availability.

DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a 
minimum of 30 days of the date that the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) publishes this notice in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: The CD-C Final EIS is available for public review at the BLM 
Rawlins Field Office, 1300 North Third Street, Rawlins, Wyoming; the 
BLM High Desert District Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, 
Wyoming; and the BLM Wyoming State Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, 
Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Final EIS may also be reviewed online at 
www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/info/NEPA/documents/rfo/cd_creston.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Fleuret, Project Manager, at 
(307) 328-4314; 1300 North Third

[[Page 22629]]

Street, Rawlins, WY 82301; or [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, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above 
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BP America Production Company (BP) and 20 
other companies propose to expand development of natural gas resources 
and condensate (oil) within the existing Continental Divide/Wamsutter 
II and Creston Blue Gap natural gas fields. More than 4,700 wells have 
been drilled in the project area since the 1950s under previous 
authorizations. Existing surface disturbance from natural gas and oil 
development in the project area is approximately 49,218 acres, 
including nearly 8,500 acres of long-term disturbance.
    The CD-C project would drill and develop up to 8,950 additional 
natural gas wells (some of which would also produce condensate (oil)), 
including 100 to 500 coalbed methane wells, using a combination of 
vertical and directional drilling techniques over an estimated 15-year 
period. The total estimated life of the project is 30 to 40 years and 
includes approximately 47,200 additional acres of disturbance. Planned 
facilities would include well pads, gas, condensate and water 
collection pipelines, compressor stations, water disposal systems, an 
access road network, and an electrical distribution system. All surface 
facilities would be removed when the project is completed and the land 
would be re-contoured to near pre-disturbance condition and re-
vegetated with native plant communities.
    The project is located in the following area:

Sixth Principal Meridian

T. 14 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 6, 7, secs. 17 to 20, inclusive, and secs. 29 to 32, 
inclusive.
T. 18 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 3 to 10, inclusive, secs. 15 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 
28 to 32, inclusive.
T. 19 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 23, inclusive, and secs. 26 to 34, inclusive.
T. 20 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, and 31.
T. 21 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28 
to 33, inclusive.
T. 22 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28 
to 33, inclusive.
T. 23 N., R. 91 W.,
    Secs. 4 to 9, inclusive, secs. 16 to 21, inclusive, and secs. 28 
to 33, inclusive.
T. 14 N., R. 92 W.,
T. 15 N., R. 92 W.,
    Secs. 3 to 10, inclusive, secs. 14 to 23, inclusive, and secs. 
25 to 36, inclusive.
T. 16 N., R. 92 W.,
    Secs. 4 to 8, inclusive, secs. 18, 19, and secs. 29 to 33, 
inclusive.
T. 17 N., R. 92 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 23, inclusive, and secs. 27 to 34, inclusive.
Tps. 18 to 23 N., R. 92 W.
T. 14 N., R. 93 W.,
    Secs. 1, 2, secs. 11 to 14, inclusive, secs. 23 to 26, 
inclusive, secs. 35 and 36.
T. 15 N., R. 93 W.,
    Secs. 1, 2, 3, secs. 10 to 15, inclusive, secs. 22 to 27, 
inclusive, secs. 34, 35, and 36.
Tps. 16 to 23 N., R. 93 W.
T. 16 N., R. 94 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 14, inclusive, secs. 23 to 26, inclusive, secs. 35 
and 36.
Tps. 17 to 23 N., R. 94 W.
T. 16 N., R 95. W.,
    Secs. 1, 2, and 3.
    Sec. 4, E\1/2\.
    Secs. 10, 11, and 12.
T. 17 N., R. 95 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 15, inclusive, secs. 22 to 27, inclusive, secs. 34, 
35, and 36.
Tps. 18 to 24 N., R. 95 W.
Tps. 18 to 24 N., R. 96 W.
T. 19 N., R. 97 W.,

    Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, and secs. 9 to 16, inclusive; those 
portions of secs. 17, 19, and 20 lying south of the right-of-way 
granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the United States, 
serial number WYE-05871;
    Secs. 21 to 36, inclusive.
T. 20 N., R. 97 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, secs. 9 to 16, inclusive, secs. 21 to 
28, inclusive, and secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 22 N., R. 97 W.,
    Secs. 1, 2, 3, and secs. 10 to 15, inclusive.
T. 23 N., R. 97 W.,
    Secs. 1 to 4, inclusive, secs. 9 to 16, inclusive, secs. 21 to 
28 inclusive, and secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 24 N., R. 97 W.,
    Sec. 8, SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 9, S\1/2\;
    Sec. 10, S\1/2\;
    Sec. 11, S\1/2\;
    Sec. 12, S\1/2\;
    Secs. 13 to 16, inclusive;
    Sec. 17, E\1/2\;
    Sec. 20, E\1/2\;
    Secs. 21 to 28, inclusive;
    Sec. 29, E\1/2\;
    Secs. 33 to 36, inclusive.
T. 19 N., R. 98 W.,
    Those portions of secs. 23 and 24 lying south of the right-of-
way granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the United 
States, serial number WYE-05871;
    Sec. 25;
    Those portions of secs. 26 to 31, inclusive, lying south of the 
right-of-way granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company by the 
United States, serial number WYE-05871;
    Secs. 32 to 36, inclusive.

    The CD-C project area includes about 1.1 million acres, or 1,672 
square miles, in Carbon and Sweetwater counties, Wyoming. Approximately 
626,932 acres (58.6 percent) are administered by the BLM Rawlins Field 
Office, approximately 48,684 acres (4.5 percent) are State of Wyoming 
owned and approximately 394,470 acres (36.9 percent) are privately-
owned. The project area is bisected by Interstate 80 and extends from 
25 miles west of Rawlins, Wyoming, to 50 miles east of Rock Springs, 
Wyoming.
    Cooperating agencies for this EIS include the State of Wyoming, 
with active participation from many state agencies including the State 
Planning Office, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, State Historic 
Preservation Office, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality 
and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. Regional cooperating 
agencies include Sweetwater and Carbon counties and the Little Snake 
River and Sweetwater County conservation districts.
    The Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS was published on September 
8, 2005 (70 FR 53381), and again on March 3, 2006 (71 FR 10989). Public 
scoping meetings were held in Rawlins, Wyoming, on October 13, 2005, 
and on April 6, 2006. Fifty comment letters, faxes and emails were 
received during the extended scoping period. Key issues identified 
during scoping include:
     Air quality: Potential project and cumulative impacts on 
air quality, including air quality-related values.
     Cultural resources: The impact on the historical trails 
and historical travel routes in the project area.
     Hydrology: Potential degradation of surface and/or 
groundwater quality by project construction and drilling activities.
     Land ownership: The majority of the project area is in the 
checkerboard pattern of mixed public and private land ownership, 
complicating landscape scale mitigation on public lands where adjacent 
sections are nonpublic lands not subject to BLM regulations and 
requirements.
     Non-native, invasive plant species: The effect of current 
and projected infestations of non-native, invasive species.
     Rangeland management: Loss of livestock forage and the 
impact of project-associated hazardous conditions to area livestock 
operators.
     Special-status species: The impact from project activities 
upon threatened and endangered and sensitive wildlife species.
     Socioeconomics: The impact of the project on traditional 
socioeconomic indicators.

[[Page 22630]]

     Surface disturbance/reclamation: The extent of existing 
and proposed surface disturbance and its effect on all resources in the 
project area; and
     Wildlife habitat: The project's potential to further 
fragment wildlife habitats and diminish the value of those habitats for 
many species.
    In response, the BLM developed five alternatives to the Proposed 
Action, which were analyzed in the Draft EIS:
     Alternative A, 100-Percent Vertical Drilling--This 
alternative assumes that all natural gas wells would be drilled from 
single-well pads, and that no directional drilling would occur;
     Alternative B, Enhanced Resource Protection--This 
alternative identifies those resources that may be most at risk from 
mineral development, defines areas within the CD-C project area where 
those resource risks are likely to occur, and describes the enhanced 
protection and mitigations that could diminish those risks;
     Alternative C, Surface Disturbance Cap, Core and Non-Core 
Areas--This alternative places a cap on unreclaimed surface disturbance 
caused by mineral development, a 60-acre cap in areas that have seen 
the greatest mineral development to date and a 30-acre cap in the rest 
of the project area. The cap is expressed in terms of acres per 640-
acre section;
     Alternative D, Directional Drilling--This alternative 
requires that all future natural gas wells on Federal mineral estate be 
drilled from multi-well pads, one new multi-well pad per section; and
     Alternative E, No Action--NEPA regulations require that 
the EIS alternatives analysis ``include the alternative of no action'' 
(40 CFR 1502.14(d)). For the analysis in the Draft EIS, this means that 
the development activities on Federal lands proposed by the CD-C 
operators would not be approved or authorized. Lease rights on Federal 
lands or mineral estate granted by the BLM would remain in effect and 
other, additional or supplemental proposals to develop leased 
resources, such as oil and/or gas, could be received and would be 
considered by the BLM as appropriate.
    The Draft EIS Notice of Availability was published on December 7, 
2012 (77 FR 73049), opening a 90-day public comment period. A public 
meeting was held on January 15, 2013, and the public comment period 
closed on March 7, 2013. Over 8,000 individual comment letters were 
received and identified issues such as the lack of a preferred 
alternative and concerns associated with each of the alternatives, 
including feasibility, sufficiency of the analysis and impacts to 
specific resources as a result of each alternative. Comments were 
considered and incorporated as appropriate into the Final EIS; however, 
the analysis of the alternatives and the identified impacts did not 
significantly change.
    The Final EIS differs from the Draft EIS by:
     Dropping Alternative A, 100-Percent Vertical Drilling, 
from consideration due to public comments on feasibility and the 
magnitude of total disturbance;
     Amending Alternative D, 100-Percent Directional Drilling, 
to recognize the impact the restrictions in that alternative would have 
on well density; as a result, this alternative now analyzes a 20-
percent decrease in total wells drilled;
     Redefining the No Action Alternative to include an 
analysis of impacts associated with development on state and private 
mineral estate in addition to potential development on Federal mineral 
estate; and
     Including Alternative F, Agency-Preferred Alternative--
This alternative responds to Draft EIS scoping concerns and comments by 
limiting development to eight wellpads per square mile section, 
requiring that wellpads be placed in the most environmentally suited 
areas, and creating a CD-C consultation and coordination group to 
response to evolving energy issues and concerns relating to the 
project. This alternative is a reconfiguration of elements of 
alternatives that were analyzed in the Draft EIS. The CD-C consultation 
and coordination group and protection measures of Alternative F were 
originally analyzed in the DEIS under Alternative B; and the emphasis 
on directional drilling was analyzed in Alternative D.
    The Final EIS includes potential landscape scale mitigation 
strategies. Consistent with Secretarial Order No. 3330 and the BLM's 
obligations under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, BLM 
Wyoming drafted a landscape-scale mitigation appendix, Appendix S, for 
inclusion in the Final EIS. The appendix has been reviewed by the 
Washington Office and the cooperating agencies.
    Upon conclusion of the 30-day public availability period following 
the date the EPA publishes the NOA in the Federal Register, the BLM 
will prepare and sign the record of decision (ROD) to announce its 
final decision on the Continental Divide-Creston Natural Gas 
Development Project. Availability of the ROD will be announced to the 
local media and the project mailing list, and the ROD itself will be 
posted on the project Web page.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.

Mary Jo Rugwell,
Acting BLM Wyoming State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-09010 Filed 4-15-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P