[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 247 (Friday, December 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 94412-94413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31039]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLMTC03200 L51100000.GA0000 LVEME15CE53015X; NDM-107039 MO#4500079552]


Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment for 
Federal Coal Lease Application NDM-107039, McLean County, ND, Notice of 
Public Hearing and Request for Comment on Environmental Assessment, 
Maximum Economic Recovery, and Fair Market Value

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with applicable regulations, the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), North Dakota Field Office (NDFO) is publishing this 
notice announcing the availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
for the Falkirk Mining Company (Falkirk) Federal Coal Lease-By-
Application (LBA) EA serial NDM-107039, for public review and comment. 
The BLM is also announcing that it will hold a public hearing to 
receive comments on the EA, Fair Market Value (FMV) for the LBA tract, 
and Maximum Economic Recovery (MER) of the coal resources contained in 
the proposed Falkirk LBA lease tract.

DATES: The public hearing will be held on January 10, 2017, from 5 p.m. 
to 7 p.m. Written comments must be received no later than January 26, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the Underwood City Hall, 
88 Lincoln Avenue, Underwood, ND 58576. Copies of the EA are available 
at the BLM North Dakota Field Office (NDFO) at the address below. The 
time, date, and location of the public hearing will also be announced 
in advance through local media outlets and through the North Dakota BLM 
Web site at: http://bit.ly/2hz2FS9.
    You may submit written comments related to the Falkirk EA, FMV, and 
MER by any of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected];
     Fax: 701-227-7701; or
     Mail: Bureau of Land Management, North Dakota Field 
Office, Falkirk LBA NDM-107039, Attention: Dorothy Van Oss, Geologist, 
99 23rd Avenue West, Suite A, Dickinson, North Dakota 58601.
    Please note ``Coal Lease by Application NDM-107039'' in the subject 
line for correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dorothy Van Oss, Geologist; telephone 
(406) 233-3655 or at the address and email provided in the ADDRESSES 
section. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the 
above individual during normal business hours. The Service is available 
24 hours a day, seven days a week, to leave a message or question for 
Dorothy Van Oss. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 13, 2013, Falkirk submitted an 
application to lease an approximately 320-acre tract of Federal coal 
located in McLean County, North Dakota. The BLM's EA analyzes and 
discloses the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of 
leasing, and subsequent mining, the proposed 320-acre coal tract. The 
tract contains approximately 3.4 million tons of mineable coal (1.7 
million of which is Federal Coal). The tract is located approximately 
1.2 miles from the town of Underwood. It underlies private surface and 
is described as follows:

Fifth Principal Meridian North Dakota

    T. 146 N., R. 82 W., sec 10, E1/2.

    The area described contains approximately 320 acres.
    Through this notice the BLM is inviting the public to provide 
comments regarding the potential environmental impacts of the proposed 
action, and also to submit comments on the FMV and MER for the Falkirk 
tract. All public comments, whether written or oral, will receive 
consideration prior to the BLM offering the lease for sale. Public 
comments on the EA should address the environmental impacts of the 
proposed action. Public comments on the FMV and MER for the proposed 
lease tract may address, but do not necessarily have to be limited to, 
the following:
    1. The quality and quantity of the coal resource;
    2. The mining method or methods that would achieve MER of the coal, 
including specifications of seams to be mined, timing and rate of 
production, restriction of mining, and the inclusion of the tracts in 
an existing mining operation;
    3. The price that the mined coal would bring when sold;
    4. Costs, including mining and reclamation costs, of producing the 
coal and the anticipated timing of production;
    5. The percentage rate at which anticipated income streams should 
be discounted, either with inflation or in the absence of inflation, in 
which case the anticipated rate of inflation should be given;
    6. Depreciation, depletion, amortization and other tax accounting 
factors;
    7. The value of any surface estate where held privately;
    8. Documentation of the terms and conditions of recent and similar 
coal land transactions in the lease sale area; and
    9. Any comparable sales data for similar coal lands and coal 
quantities.
    Proprietary data marked as confidential may be submitted to the BLM 
as part of any public comments. Data so marked will be treated in 
accordance with the applicable laws and regulations governing the 
confidentiality of such information. A copy of the comments submitted 
by the public on the EA, FMV, and MER for the tract, except those 
portions identified as proprietary that meet one of the exemptions in 
the Freedom of Information Act, will be available for public inspection 
at the BLM, NDFO, 99 23rd Avenue West, Suite A, Dickinson, North 
Dakota, during regular business hours (8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.), Monday 
through Friday.
    The proposed action announced in the notice are consistent with 
Secretarial Order (S.O.) 3338, which allows preparatory work, including 
National Environmental Policy Act and other related analysis, on 
already-pending applications to continue, while the BLM's programmatic 
review of the Federal coal program is pending. Additionally, the BLM 
has also determined that the lease application is not subject to the 
S.O.'s leasing pause because it qualifies for an exclusion under 
Section 6(a) of the Order based on the emergency leasing provisions of 
43 CFR 3425.1-4. Falkirk's application satisfies the emergency leasing 
criteria because the coal covered by the application: (1) Is needed 
within 3 years; (2) Constitutes less than 8 years of recoverable 
reserves; and (3) Is needed for coal supply contracts that were signed 
prior to 1979. It should also be noted that when the application was 
originally submitted in 2013, it was submitted as an emergency 
application. The determination that the application is eligible for an 
exclusion from the S.O. means that the coal covered by the application 
can be offered for sale prior to the conclusion of the BLM's 
programmatic review.
    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

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to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, 
we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 43 CFR 3425.3, and 3425.4

Allen Ollila,
Acting Field Manager, North Dakota.
[FR Doc. 2016-31039 Filed 12-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-DN-P