[Federal Register: February 2, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 22)]
[Notices]
[Page 5081-5082]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02fe07-85]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[MT-029-1310-DS 050E]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement to the Statewide
Oil and Gas Final Environmental Impact Statement and Amendment of the
Powder River and Billings Resource Management Plans (RMPs), Montana
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: By Order of the U.S. District Court for the District of
Montana, pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321), as
amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft
Supplement to the Statewide Oil and Gas Final Environmental Impact
Statement and will amend the Powder River and Billings RMPs (Draft
SEIS/Amendment).
DATES: The 90-day public comment period will begin the date the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes their Notice of
Availability in the Federal Register. Tentative public meetings to
gather comments on the draft will be held in Montana at the following
locations: Billings, March 26, 2007; Hardin, March 27, 2007; Lame Deer,
March 28, 2007; Broadus, March 29, 2007; and Miles City, March 30,
2007.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(your name and mailing address must be submitted as part of your
comments):
Web Site: http://www.blm.gov/eis/mt/milescity_seis/.
Fax: (406) 233-2921.
Mail: CBNG Draft SEIS Comments, Bureau of Land Management,
P.O. Box 219, Miles City, Montana 59301 or deliver to 111 Garryowen
Road, Miles City, Montana.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Bloom, Project Manager, BLM,
(406) 233-2852.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Powder River and Billings RMP areas
comprise 1,506,011 acres of BLM managed surface and 5,009,784 acres of
BLM managed mineral estate. There are 3,185,016 acres of BLM managed
oil and gas. The Powder River RMP area includes Powder River and
Treasure Counties; and portions of Big Horn, Carter, Custer, and
Rosebud Counties. The Billings RMP area includes Carbon, Golden Valley,
Musselshell, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Wheatland, and Yellowstone
Counties and the remaining portion of Big Horn County. This Draft SEIS
is supplementing the 2003 Statewide Oil and Gas Final Environmental
Impact Statement and Amendment of the Powder River and Billings RMPs
(Statewide Document). The Notice of Availability was published in the
Federal Register on January 17, 2003, and the Record of Decision was
approved on April 30, 2003. Several lawsuits were filed against the BLM
decision immediately following the publication of the Record of
Decision. Two of the lawsuits resulted in an April 5, 2005, ruling by
the U.S. District Court ordering the BLM to prepare a Supplemental EIS
to consider a phased development alternative for coal bed natural gas
(CBNG) production in the Billings and Powder River RMP areas of
Montana. Topics addressed in the Draft SEIS/Amendment include those
provided or recommended by the U.S. District Court: Phased CBNG
development; the inclusion of the proposed Tongue River Railroad in the
cumulative impact analysis; and a discussion on how private water well
mitigation agreements help alleviate the impacts of methane migration
and groundwater drawdown. The BLM published the Notice of Intent to
plan for the SEIS/Amendment in the Federal Register on
[[Page 5082]]
August 5, 2005. A 30-day scoping period was held to help the BLM define
``phased development'' and to identify relevant issues that should be
considered and analyzed in the Draft SEIS/Amendment. The Draft SEIS/
Amendment has been prepared by an interdisciplinary team of specialists
with expertise in archeology, air quality, economics, fisheries,
geology, hydrology, minerals, paleontology, recreation, sociology,
soils, vegetation and wildlife. Three new alternatives have been
analyzed in the Draft SEIS/Amendment to consider phased development.
Under Alternative F, the BLM would limit the number of federal
applications for permit to drill (APD) approved each year cumulatively
and in each fourth order watershed. The BLM would also limit the
percentage of disturbance within identified crucial sagebrush habitat.
Finally, the BLM would place a limit on the volume of untreated water
discharged to surface waters from federal CBNG wells within each fourth
order watershed. Under Alternative G, development of CBNG on federal
leases in the Billings and Powder River RMP areas would be done
following the same management actions as described under Alternative F.
However, while BLM would limit the number of federal APDs approved each
year cumulatively, development would be limited to a low range of
predicted wells (6,470) from the Statewide Document Reasonably
Foreseeable Development scenario. Alternative H, the BLM's preferred
alternative, has three key components. First, a phased development
approach would be implemented where CBNG proposals would be reviewed
against four filters or screens to determine if the proposal needs to
be modified. Second, this alternative would include extensive
requirements that an operator must meet when submitting a Plan of
Development (POD). Third, mitigation measures and subsequent
modifications to existing operations via adaptive management would be
considered and applied to each POD, as appropriate.
Comments and information submitted on the Draft SEIS/Amendment,
including names, email addresses, and street addresses of respondents,
will be available for public review and disclosure at the above
address. The BLM will not accept anonymous comments. Individuals may
request confidentiality. Individuals who wish to withhold their names
or addresses from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act must state this prominently at the beginning of their
written comments. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed
by law. All submissions from organizations and businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection in
their entirety.
Donald S. Smurthwaite,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. E7-1694 Filed 2-1-07; 8:45 am]
