[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13508-13509]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06380]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[18X.LLAK930000 L13100000.PP0000]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Alpine Satellite Development Plan for the 
Proposed Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Development Project, National Petroleum 
Reserve in Alaska; Notice of Public Meetings and Subsistence Hearings

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Arctic District Office, 
Fairbanks, Alaska, is issuing for public comment the Draft Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Alpine Satellite 
Development Plan for the Proposed Greater Mooses Tooth 2 (GMT2) 
Development Project, National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). BLM 
Alaska is also announcing pending public meetings and subsistence-
related hearings to receive comments on the GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS 
and the project's potential to impact subsistence resources and 
activities. The EIS will supplement the September 2004 Alpine Satellite 
Development Plan Final EIS that originally analyzed the GMT2 Project, 
regarding establishing satellite oil production pads and associated 
infrastructure within the Alpine field.

DATES: To ensure that the BLM will consider your comments on the GMT2 
Draft Supplemental EIS, BLM Alaska must receive your written comments 
no later than 45 days after the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes its notice of availability of the GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS 
in the Federal Register. BLM Alaska will announce the dates, times, and 
locations of public meetings on its website, through public notices, 
media news releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may provide comments by mail, fax, email, or in person. 
Mail comments to: GMT2 SEIS Comments, Attn: Stephanie Rice, 222 West 
7th Avenue #13, Anchorage, Alaska 99513; fax comments to 907-271-3933; 
email comments to [email protected]; or hand-deliver 
comments during normal business hours (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) to the BLM 
Public Information Center, 222 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska.
    You may review the GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS online at BLM 
Alaska's website at http://www.blm.gov/alaska. You may also review 
copies of the GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS at both BLM Alaska Public 
Information Centers at the Federal Building at 222 West 7th Avenue, 
Anchorage, and at the Arctic District Office, 222 University Avenue, 
Fairbanks. You may also request a CD or paper copy of the GMT2 Draft 
Supplemental EIS by contacting Stephanie Rice, BLM project lead, at 
907-271-3202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Rice, BLM Alaska State 
Office, 907-271-3202. People who use a telecommunications device for 
the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-
8339 to contact the above individual during normal business hours. The 
FRS 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: The GMT2 Supplemental EIS analyzes an 
application from ConocoPhillips, Alaska, Inc. (ConocoPhillips). The 
application is for a permit to drill and related authorizations to 
construct, operate, and maintain a drill site, access road, pipelines, 
and ancillary facilities on federally managed land to support 
development of petroleum resources at the GMT2 drill site. BLM Alaska 
manages the surface and subsurface at the drill site and at the 
proposed infield road and pipeline route. ConocoPhillips may also 
develop subsurface resources owned by the Arctic Slope Regional 
Corporation, and may occupy surface lands owned by the Kuukpik 
Corporation.
    The proposed GMT2 site is approximately 25 miles southwest of the 
ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine Central Processing Facility (CD1) and 
will be operated and maintained by staff at the Alpine Central 
Processing Facility.
    The GMT2 Project was originally analyzed as the Colville Delta 7 
(CD7) drill pad in the BLM's September 2004 Alpine Satellite 
Development Plan Final EIS. The purpose of the Supplemental EIS is to 
evaluate any relevant new circumstances and information that have 
arisen since the Alpine Satellite Development Plan Final EIS was 
completed, to update the alternatives in the 2004 EIS, and to address 
any changes to ConocoPhillips' proposed development plan for GMT2. The 
GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS analyzes four alternatives, including two 
alternatives with an access road, an alternative without an access 
road, and a no-action alternative.
    The key issues in the GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS are the 
protection of

[[Page 13509]]

surface resources; the minimization of social impacts; and the 
identification of appropriate mitigation measures for the construction, 
operation, and maintenance of a drill site and access road, pipelines, 
and ancillary facilities to support development of petroleum resources 
at the proposed GMT2 site. Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest 
Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), 16 U.S.C. 3120, requires that the BLM 
evaluate effects on subsistence activities for the alternatives 
presented in this GMT2 Draft Supplemental EIS and to hold public 
hearings if the BLM finds that any of the alternatives or the 
cumulative effects of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future 
development may significantly restrict subsistence activities.
    BLM Alaska will hold public meetings on the GMT2 Draft Supplemental 
EIS in these Alaska communities: Anchorage, Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, 
Utqia[gdot]vik, Fairbanks, and Nuiqsut. In addition, the public 
meetings at Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Utqia[gdot]vik, and Nuiqsut will 
incorporate subsistence hearings to take comments on subsistence 
impacts pursuant to the ANILCA.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personally identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personally identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask the BLM in your comment to withhold your personally identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 3120(a); 40 CFR 1506.6(b).

Karen E. Mouritsen,
Acting State Director, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 2018-06380 Filed 3-28-18; 8:45 am]
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