[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55654-55655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14658]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_AK_FRN_MO4500180306]


Notice of Availability of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) Withdrawals Final 
Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska

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 (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
announces the availability of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
(ANCSA) 17(d)(1) Withdrawals Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS). The BLM held public meetings on the Draft EIS and subsistence-
related hearings to receive comments on the Draft EIS and the project's 
potential to impact subsistence resources and activities. The Final EIS 
considers those comments.

DATES: The BLM will publish the Record of Decision for the project no 
earlier than 30 days following the date the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes its Notice of Availability of the Final EIS in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: The Final EIS and documents pertinent to this proposal are 
available for review on the BLM ePlanning project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2018002/510, and in-person at 
the BLM Anchorage Field Office, and at the BLM Alaska State Office, BLM 
Alaska Public Information Center.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Racheal Jones, BLM Project Manager, 
telephone (907) 290-0307; address ANCSA 17(d)(1) EIS, BLM Anchorage 
District Office, Attn: Racheal Jones, 4700 BLM Road, Anchorage, Alaska 
99507; email [email protected]. Individuals in the United States who are 
deaf, blind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services 
for contacting Ms. Jones. 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: The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), 
BLM Alaska State Office, prepared this EIS to evaluate the effects of 
any Secretarial decision to revoke withdrawals established following 
enactment of ANCSA Section 17(d)(1) affecting the lands described in 
Public Land Order (PLO) Nos. 7899 through 7903. The potential 
revocation of these 17(d)(1) withdrawals is hereafter referred to as 
the 2021 Action. PLO Nos. 7900, 7901, 7902, and 7903, which would 
revoke withdrawals on lands in the Ring of Fire, Bay, Bering Sea-
Western Interior, and East Alaska planning areas, respectively, were 
signed on January 15 and 16, 2021; however, they were never published 
in the Federal Register. PLO No. 7899, which would revoke withdrawals 
on lands in the Kobuk-Seward Peninsula planning area, was signed on 
January 11, 2021, and published in the Federal Register on January 19, 
2021 (86 FR 5236). Subsequently, the DOI identified certain procedural 
and legal defects in the decision-making process for these PLOs, as 
described in the April 16, 2021, Federal Register notice (86 FR 20193), 
including insufficient analysis under NEPA. The DOI extended the 
opening order for PLO No. 7899 until August 31, 2024, to provide an 
opportunity to review the decision and to ensure the orderly management 
of the public lands (88 FR 21207). The BLM used this time to address 
identified deficiencies and to update the NEPA analysis.
    The 2021 Action under review is revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) 
withdrawals as described in PLO No. 7899, 7900, 7901, 7902, and 7903, 
affecting approximately 28 million acres in total. This EIS evaluates 
the resource conditions on these lands and incorporates and describes 
additional coordination with other Federal agencies; State and local 
governments; Federally recognized Tribes; Alaska Native Corporations; 
and other stakeholders to ensure that the environmental analyses 
previously conducted are updated and expanded upon as appropriate. This 
additional analysis is necessary to ensure display of the impacts of 
revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals; to correct errors in the 
previous decision-making process regarding these withdrawals; and to 
ensure that opening these lands is consistent with the purposes of 
ANCSA 17(d)(1), which requires that ``the public interest in these 
lands is properly protected,'' including factors such as subsistence 
hunting and fishing, habitat connectivity, protection of cultural 
resources, and protection of threatened and endangered species. This 
evaluation is needed to make an informed public interest determination 
to support revocation in full, revocation in part, or retention in full 
of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals.
    The BLM considered alternatives that represent retention or 
revocation of the 17(d)(1) withdrawals and different configurations of 
the areas affected in each of the five planning areas (Bay, Bering Sea-
Western Interior, East Alaska, Kobuk-Seward, and Ring of Fire). Each of 
the alternatives identifies 17(d)(1) withdrawals in the five planning 
areas as retained or revoked. The alternatives range from retaining

[[Page 55655]]

the withdrawals on all lands (Alternative A) to revoking the 
withdrawals on all lands (Alternative D). Alternatives B and C include 
partial revocations based on natural resource factors. Full or partial 
revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals would result in changes to 
land use that could affect local residents, wildlife, vegetation, 
cultural resources, subsistence, and recreation. No development plans 
have been submitted, and no stipulations are attached to selected lands 
that would prevent any specific development from taking place. 
Therefore, the EIS provides a reasonably foreseeable development 
scenario that identifies and quantifies potential development activity 
in the decision area, including the extraction of leasable, locatable, 
and salable minerals, as well as the establishment of associated 
rights-of-way, assuming the land is not withdrawn from availability for 
such activities.
    Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 
(ANILCA) requires the BLM to evaluate the effects of the alternatives 
presented in the Final EIS on subsistence uses and needs and to hold 
public hearings if it finds that any alternative may significantly 
restrict subsistence uses.
    The BLM found in the evaluation of subsistence impacts that 
Alternatives B, C, or D, in combination with the cumulative case as 
analyzed in the Draft EIS, may significantly restrict subsistence uses 
in many communities. Therefore, the BLM held public hearings on 
subsistence resources and activities in conjunction with the public 
meetings on the Draft EIS in the vicinity of potentially affected 
communities. In consideration of public comments received on the Draft 
EIS and at the public hearings, the BLM revised the ANILCA Section 810 
evaluation, published as Appendix C of the Final EIS, but did not 
change its ``may significantly restrict subsistence uses'' findings for 
the identified communities.
    The input of Alaska Native Tribes and Corporations is of critical 
importance to this EIS. Therefore, during the NEPA process, the BLM 
consulted with potentially affected Federally recognized Tribes on a 
government-to-government basis, and with affected Alaska Native 
Corporations in accordance with Executive Order 13175, as well as 
Public Law 108-199, Div. H, sec. 161, 118 Stat. 452, as amended by 
Public Law 108-447, Div. H, sec. 518, 118 Stat. 3267, and other 
Department and Bureau policies.

(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6(b))

Steven M. Cohn,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-14658 Filed 7-3-24; 8:45 am]
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