[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 88 (Monday, May 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29689-29691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09714]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_HQ_FRN_MO# 4500169335]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Resource Management Plan
Amendment and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the 2015
Miles City Field Office Approved Resource Management Plan, Montana
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended (FLMPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Draft
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 2015 Miles
City Field Office Approved RMP that is available for public review and
comment.
DATES: This notice announces the opening of a 90-day comment period for
the Draft RMP Amendment/Supplemental EIS beginning with the date
following the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) publication of
its Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register. The EPA
usually publishes its NOAs on Fridays.
To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the
Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS, please ensure your comments are
received prior to the close of the 90-day comment period or 15 days
after the last public meeting, whichever is later.
The BLM will be holding two public meetings on the following dates
at the following locations:
June 6, 2023, at the Miles City Field Office, 111
Garryowen Road, Miles City, Montana from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. MT.
June 7, 2023, virtual meeting from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. MT.
Registration for meeting in the ePlanning project website (see
ADDRESSES).
ADDRESSES: The Draft RMP Amendment/Supplemental EIS is
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available for review on the BLM ePlanning project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2021155/510.
Written comments related to the Draft RMP Amendment/Supplemental
EIS may only be submitted by any of the following methods:
Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2021155/510
Mail: Miles City Draft Supplemental EIS/RMP Amendment,
Attn: Irma Nansel, Project Manager, 111 Garryowen Road, Miles City,
Montana 59301.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2021155/510 and at the
Miles City Field Office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irma Nansel, Project Manager,
telephone 406-233-3653; or at the address BLM Miles City Field Office,
111 Garryowen Road, Miles City, MT, 59301; email [email protected].
Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting
Ms. Nansel. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay
services offered within their country to make international calls to
the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM
Montana/Dakotas State Director has prepared a Draft RMP Amendment/
Supplemental EIS and provides information announcing the opening of the
comment period on the Draft RMP Amendment/Supplemental EIS. The RMP
amendment would change the existing 2015 Miles City Field Office
Approved RMP.
The planning area is located in Carter, Custer, Daniels, Dawson,
Fallon, Garfield, McCone, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt,
Rosebud, Sheridan, Treasure, Wibaux, and portions of Big Horn and
Valley Counties, Montana, and encompasses approximately 2.7 million
surface acres and 11.7 million acres of Federal coal mineral estate of
public land.
Purpose and Need
The purpose of this Draft RMP Amendment/Supplemental EIS is to
address a United States District Court of Montana order (Western
Organization of Resource Councils, et al. v. BLM; CV 00076-GF-BMM; 8/3/
2022). The purpose and need of this Draft Supplemental EIS is to
provide additional land use planning level analysis that considers no-
leasing and limited coal leasing alternatives; to disclose the public
health impacts, both climate and non-climate, of burning fossil fuels
(coal, oil, and gas); and to complete new coal screens in accordance
with 43 CFR 3420.1-4 to determine the lands to be made available for
further consideration for coal leasing in the planning area.
Alternatives Including the Preferred Alternatives
The BLM has analyzed four alternatives in detail, including the no
action alternative, varying the amount of BLM-administered Federal coal
available for further consideration for coal leasing.
The No Action Alternative is the decision from the 2019 Approved
RMP Amendment and brings forward the decisions that preclude coal
leasing and development in the Miles City Field Office. It identified
approximately 1,214,380 acres of Federal coal as available for further
consideration for coal leasing across the Miles City Field Office.
The Action alternatives applied the coal screens (43 CFR 3420.1-
4(e)) using current data and evaluated the issues identified through
internal and public scoping. Application of coal screen 1 (development
potential) identified approximately 1,745,000 Federal coal acres as
having development potential. The Action alternatives also address the
NEPA deficiencies identified by the court order associated with the
application of the multiple-use screen. Specifically, they apply a
multiple-use climate change criterion that uses greenhouse gas
emissions as a proxy for climate change. Reducing availability of
Federal lands reduces contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from the
development and combustion of Federal coal from the planning area.
Alternative B analyzes approximately 57,690 acres of Federal coal
as available for further consideration for coal leasing. Alternative C
analyzes approximately 810 acres of Federal coal as available for
further consideration for coal leasing, and Alternative D analyzes 0
(zero) acres of Federal coal as available for further consideration for
coal leasing. The BLM revised the coal reasonably foreseeable
development scenario from the 2015 Miles City RMP using the most
current publicly available coal production data to forecast development
during the planning period, to 2038. The revised reasonably foreseeable
development scenario was applied to all alternatives.
The BLM further considered one additional alternative but dismissed
it from detailed analysis, as explained in the Draft RMP Amendment/
Supplemental EIS.
Identifying a preferred alternative(s) does not indicate any final
decision commitments from the BLM. In developing the final supplemental
EIS and potential RMP amendment, which is the next phase of the
planning process, the decision maker may select various components from
each of the alternatives analyzed in the Draft Supplemental EIS. The
Final Supplemental EIS and Potential RMP Amendment may also reflect
changes and adjustments based on comments received on the Draft
Supplemental EIS, new information, or changes in BLM policies or
priorities.
The BLM used the impact analysis, along with recommendations from
cooperating agencies; consideration of planning criteria; and
anticipated resolution of resource conflicts to identify Alternatives B
and D as co-preferred alternatives from the suite of alternatives
analyzed. Specifically, the identification of the co-preferred
alternatives was based on the following.
Two different alternatives have been identified as co-
preferred alternatives for the purpose of public comment and review;
Satisfaction of statutory requirements and the court
order; and
Provision of an acceptable approach to addressing key
planning issues.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
The BLM will provide additional opportunities for public
participation consistent with the NEPA and land use planning processes,
including a 30-day public protest period and a 60-day Governor's
consistency review on the Proposed RMP Amendment. The Proposed RMP
Amendment/Final Supplemental EIS is anticipated to be available for
public protest in September 2023 with an Approved RMP and Record of
Decision in December 2023.
The date(s) and location(s) of any additional meetings will be
announced at least 15 days in advance through local media, newspapers,
the ePlanning project page (see ADDRESSES), and the BLM website (see
ADDRESSES).
The BLM will continue to consult with Indian Tribal Nations on a
government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order
13175, BLM MS 1780, and other Departmental policies. Tribal concerns,
including impacts on Indian trust assets and potential impacts to
cultural resources, will be given due consideration.
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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.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2.)
Sonya I. Germann,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2023-09714 Filed 5-5-23; 8:45 am]
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