[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 146 (Friday, July 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50008-50009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17962]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[16X.LLAKF01000.L13100000.DB0000.LXSS001L0000]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Alpine Satellite Development Plan for the Proposed 
Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Development Project, Alaska

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended (FLPMA), and the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act of 1980, as amended (ANILCA), the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) Arctic Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to 
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
proposed continuing development of petroleum resources in the Greater 
Mooses Tooth (GMT) Unit. The development would occur at the proposed 
Greater Mooses Tooth Two (GMT2) drilling and production pad located 
within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), a 22.8 
million-acre area of BLM-managed land located 200 miles north of the 
Arctic Circle. The GMT2 development would be connected by road and 
pipeline to the approved Greater Mooses Tooth One (GMT1) development. 
The Supplemental EIS is being prepared for the purpose of supplementing 
the Alpine Satellite Development Plan (ASDP) Final EIS, dated September 
2004, regarding the establishment of satellite oil production pads and 
associated infrastructure within the Alpine field.

DATES: Comments on relevant issues that will influence the scope of the 
supplemental EIS for the proposed GMT2 Development project may be 
submitted in writing until August 29, 2016. The BLM will provide 
opportunities for public participation upon publication of the Draft 
Supplemental EIS, including public meetings and a public comment 
period. Any Federal, state, or local agency or tribe that is interested 
in serving as a cooperating agency for the development of the 
Supplemental EIS are asked to submit such requests to the BLM by August 
29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments until August 29, 2016 on issues 
related to the proposed GMT2 Development Project by any of the 
following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 907-271-5479.
     Mail: GMT2 Scoping Comments, Bureau of Land Management, 
222 West 7th Ave., Stop #13, Anchorage, AK 99513.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. You may examine documents pertinent to this proposal at 
the BLM Alaska Public Room, Fairbanks District Office, 1150 University 
Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709, and at the BLM Alaska Public Information 
Center, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99513.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacie McIntosh, Arctic Field Office 
Manager, 907-474-2310, Bureau of Land Management, 1150 University 
Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99709. Also contact Ms. McIntosh if you wish to 
add your name to the mailing list to receive further information about 
this project. 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: On August 24, 2015, ConocoPhillips Alaska, 
Inc. (CPAI) submitted an Application for Permit to Drill (APD) an oil 
well and construct associated ancillary facilities to support up to 48 
wells, including a production pad, pipeline, and road to facilitate 
development of petroleum resources within the Greater Mooses Tooth 
(GMT) Unit. The well site is named GMT2. The proposed project is 
located on Alaska's North Slope within the NPR-A, which encompasses 
approximately 22.8 million acres of public land. The project would 
facilitate production of oil from Federal and Alaska Native corporation 
lands within the NPR-A. The GMT2 project proposes a drill site on land 
currently managed by the BLM within the GMT Unit. This land is selected 
for conveyance by the Kuukpik Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation 
organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 
(ANCSA). The GMT2 site is approximately 15 miles west of the community 
of Nuiqsut. The associated pipeline and access road would traverse both 
Kuukpik Corporation lands and Federal lands within NPR-A for 
approximately 8.1 miles in a northeasterly direction to the Greater 
Mooses Tooth One (GMT1) development project, which was approved in 
February 2015 after its Final Supplemental EIS was completed in October 
2014. At GMT1, the pipeline would connect to the approved GMT1 
pipeline. From GMT1, produced oil, gas, and water would be carried via 
this pipeline across Kuukpik Corporation lands and Federal lands within 
the NPR-A, and across Alaska Native corporation lands and State of 
Alaska lands outside the NPR-A, to the Alpine Central Processing 
Facility (CD-1). Sales-quality crude would then be transported from CD-
1 via pipeline to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
    CPAI proposes placement of 78 acres of fill material to construct 
the GMT2 drill pad, an approximately 8.1-mile-long gravel access road, 
and an 8.6-mile-long pipeline, which includes electrical and 
communication cables, from the GMT1 pad. Gravel required for 
construction of the drill site and road would be obtained from the 
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) mine site, an existing 
commercial gravel source located on the east side of the Colville River 
outside the boundary of the NPR-A, approximately 15 miles east of the 
proposed site. The proposed GMT2 pad would be approximately 14 acres in 
size, would eventually contain up to 48 individual wells, and would be 
operated and maintained by staff from CD-1, who would travel to the 
site via the gravel road.
    The purpose of the Supplemental EIS is to evaluate new 
circumstances and information that have arisen since the ASDP Final EIS 
was issued in September 2004, as well as to address any changes in 
CPAI's proposed development plan for GMT2. A version of the GMT2 
project was initially approved in the Record of Decision (ROD) under 
the 2004 ASDP Final EIS as site CD-7, and was included as

[[Page 50009]]

reasonably foreseeable development in the 2012 NPR-A Integrated 
Activity Plan (IAP) EIS and the 2014 GMT1 Supplemental EIS. The GMT2 
Supplemental EIS will address proposed changes to the previously 
approved design and location of the site, and any new information that 
could affect Federal permitting decisions.
    New information includes data from ongoing multi-year studies on 
hydrology, birds, caribou, vegetation, wetlands, and subsistence use. 
In addition, since 2004, the study of climate change and its potential 
effects has advanced considerably, and new data resulting from this 
research will be included in the environmental analysis. The BLM 
adopted a new IAP for the NPR-A in February 2013, which contains 
updated protective measures. The polar bear was listed as threatened 
under the Endangered Species Act in 2008, and critical habitat has been 
proposed within the NPR-A.
    The proposed GMT2 project is similar to the CD-7 project that was 
approved in the 2004 ASDP ROD, with several notable changes: A 
relocated drill site, increased road and pipeline length due to the 
relocation, and the elimination of overhead powerlines. In addition, 
the BLM is developing a Regional Mitigation Strategy that will help to 
guide the mitigation considerations in the GMT2 NEPA process.
    At present, the BLM has identified the following preliminary issues 
for evaluation in the Supplemental EIS: Air quality; biological 
resources, including special status species; cultural resources; social 
impacts, including subsistence use and environmental justice; climate 
change effects; wetlands and other waters of the United States; and 
reasonably foreseeable future activities.
    The BLM will use NEPA public participation requirements to assist 
the agency in satisfying the public involvement requirements under 
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (54 U.S.C. 
306108), pursuant to 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). The information about historic 
and cultural resources within the area potentially affected by the 
proposed action will assist the BLM in identifying and evaluating 
impacts to cultural resources in the context of both NEPA and Section 
106 of the NHPA.
    The BLM will consult with federally recognized Indian tribes on a 
government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175 
and other policies. Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust 
assets and potential impacts to cultural resources, will be given 
appropriate consideration. Federal, state, and local agencies and 
tribes that may be interested in or affected by the proposed action 
that the BLM is evaluating, are invited to participate in the 
development of the environmental review as cooperating agencies.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1502.9, 43 CFR part 3100

Ted Murphy,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-17962 Filed 7-28-16; 8:45 am]
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