Notice of Intent (NOI) To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Provide Notice of Public Meetings, Hiawatha Regional Energy Development Project, Sweetwater County, WY, and Moffat County, CO, and Notice of the Potential for an Amendment to the Green River Resource Management Plan, 52571-52572 [E6-14670]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 6, 2006 / Notices
Notice of invitation for coal
exploration license application, Jacobs
Ranch Coal Company, WYW172929,
Wyoming; correction.
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land
Management published in the Federal
Register of August 18, 2006, (71 FR
47826) a notice inviting all interested
parties to participate with Jacobs Ranch
Coal Company on a pro rata cost sharing
basis in its program for the exploration
of coal deposits owned by the United
States of America. Inadvertently, the
following lands included in the
exploration license application were
omitted from the notice.
T. 44 N., R. 70 W., 6th P.M. Wyoming
Sect 22: Lots 1–3, 5–10, 12–15.
Any party
electing to participate in this
exploration program must send written
notice to both the Bureau of Land
Management and Jacobs Ranch Coal
Company no later than thirty days after
publication of this invitation in the
Federal Register.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
August 21, 2006.
Alan Rabinoff,
Deputy State Director, Minerals and Lands.
[FR Doc. 06–7430 Filed 9–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–22–M
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY–040–06–1310–DB, CO–100–06–1310–
DB]
Notice of Intent (NOI) To Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement and
Provide Notice of Public Meetings,
Hiawatha Regional Energy
Development Project, Sweetwater
County, WY, and Moffat County, CO,
and Notice of the Potential for an
Amendment to the Green River
Resource Management Plan
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: NOI to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
and to conduct public scoping for the
Hiawatha Regional Energy Development
Project, Sweetwater County, Wyoming
and Moffat County, Colorado, and
notice of potential for an amendment to
the Green River Resource Management
Plan, Rock Springs Field Office.
rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Under the provisions of
section 102(2)(C) of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the
BLM announces its intentions to
prepare an EIS and to solicit public
comments regarding issues and resource
VerDate Aug<31>2005
18:44 Sep 05, 2006
Jkt 208001
information for the proposed Hiawatha
Regional Energy Project, a natural gas
development project consisting of
conventional natural gas well
development in established, producing
fields.
DATES: The BLM can best use public
input if comments and resource
information are submitted within 45
days from publication of this notice. To
provide the public with an opportunity
to review the proposal and project
information, the BLM will host two
public meetings; one in Rock Springs,
Wyoming, and another in Craig,
Colorado. The BLM will notify the
public of the date, time, and location of
each meeting at least 15 days before the
event. The announcement will be made
by a news release to the media in
Wyoming and Colorado, individual
mailing of a scoping notice, and posting
on the Web sites listed below.
ADDRESSES: Written comments or
resource information can be mailed to
the Field Office at: Bureau of Land
Management, Rock Springs Field Office,
Attn: Hiawatha Regional Energy Project,
280 Hwy 191 North, Rock Springs, WY
82901; the public may submit comments
electronically at
Hiawatha_EIS_WYMail@BLM.gov.
Project information and documents will
be available on the Web at https://
www.blm.gov/eis/wy/hiawatha.
All comments and submissions will
be considered in the environmental
analysis process. If you do comment, we
will keep you informed of decisions
resulting from the analysis. Please note
that public comments and information
submitted in regard to this project,
including names and street addresses of
respondents, will be available for review
and disclosure at the Field Office.
Individual respondents may request
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold
your name, e-mail, and street address
from public review or from disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act,
you must state this plainly at the
beginning of your written comment.
Such requests will be honored to the
extent allowed by law. All submissions
from organizations or businesses, and
from individuals identifying themselves
as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public inspection in
their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information regarding the project, please
contact Susan Davis, Project Lead, at
307–352–0346.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Hiawatha Regional Energy Project is
generally located in Townships 11
through 14 North, Ranges 99 through
PO 00000
Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
52571
102 West, 6th Principal Meridian,
Sweetwater County, Wyoming and
Moffat County, Colorado. The project is
located south of Rock Springs,
Wyoming, and northwest of Craig,
Colorado. The project area contains
approximately 157,335 acres of mixed
Federal, State, and private lands. The
BLM Rock Springs Field Office manages
public lands in Sweetwater County,
Wyoming, and the BLM Little Snake
Field Office manages public lands in
Moffat County, Colorado. The Rock
Springs Field Office will serve as the
lead for this project.
Any authorizations and actions
proposed for approval in the EIS will be
evaluated to determine if they conform
to the decisions in the 1997 Green River
RMP. Actions that result in a change in
the scope of resource uses, terms and
conditions, and decisions of the Green
River RMP may require amendment of
the RMP. If the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) determines that a
plan amendment is necessary,
preparation of the Hiawatha Regional
Energy Development EIS and the
analysis necessary for the RMP
amendment would occur
simultaneously. Based on the
information developed during the
course of this analysis, the BLM may
decide it is necessary to amend the 1997
Green River Resource Management Plan
(RMP). The potential for amendment of
the Green River RMP does not affect the
Little Snake RMP.
The ongoing (2006) Little Snake Field
Office land use plan revision (NOI
November 18, 2004) contains an
updated RFD that provides a reasonable
estimate of projected oil and gas
exploration and development for the
entire Field Office planning area for the
next 20 years. This reasonable
foreseeable development (RFD)
encompasses the project area to be
analyzed and incorporates the level of
development proposed in the Hiawatha
Regional Energy Project EIS. The
proposed action will be within the
scope of the analysis for the ongoing
Little Snake Field Office RMP revision
and any land use planning decisions
relating to the Hiawatha Project will be
addressed as part of the ongoing Little
Snake Field Office planning process.
Further information of the status of this
RMP revision may be obtained from the
Little Snake Field Office’s Web site at
https://www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp.
In March 2006, Questar Exploration &
Production Company, Wexpro
Company, and other natural gas
development companies (hereinafter
referred to as (‘‘the Operators’’)
submitted to the BLM a proposal to
expand natural gas exploration and
E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM
06SEN1
52572
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 6, 2006 / Notices
rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
development operations in existing
fields. The purpose of the proposal is to
extract and recover natural gas for
distribution to consumers. The
Operators’ proposal consists of
development of up to 4,207 wells and
associated facilities including but not
limited to roads, well pads, pipelines,
gas treatment and possible compression
resulting in approximately 25,820 acres
of short-term disturbance and 9,058
acres of life-of-project disturbance.
Wells would be drilled using a
combination of vertical and directional
drilling techniques. The proposal calls
for a 20- to 30-year construction and
drilling period with another 30 years for
the project operations.
The Hiawatha Regional Energy
Development Project is located in an
area of existing oil and gas development
known as Canyon Creek, Trail, and
Kinney Fields (also known as the
Vermillion Basin area) in Sweetwater
County, Wyoming, and the East and
West Hiawatha/Sugarloaf Fields in
Moffat County, Colorado. This project
would meet the goals and objectives of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the
President’s National Energy Policy.
During the preparation of the EIS,
development within the project area
may be allowed in Wyoming as
approved under the Modified Decision
Record for the Vermillion Basin Natural
Gas Exploration and Production Project.
Other interim development will be
subject to interim development
guidelines on the Wyoming portion of
the project.
The EIS will analyze the
environmental consequences of
implementing the proposed action and
alternatives to the proposed action
including the No Action alternative.
Other alternatives under consideration
include a range of drilling surface
densities and pace, mitigation measures,
best management practices and phased
development.
Agency resource issues and concerns
will be identified in the public scoping
notice mailed to Federal, State and local
governments, interested groups,
individuals, and businesses under
separate cover.
Dated: June 30, 2006.
Robert A. Bennett,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E6–14670 Filed 9–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–22–P
VerDate Aug<31>2005
18:44 Sep 05, 2006
Jkt 208001
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[MT–090–1610–DO–048E]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource
Management Plan for the Malta Field
Office and Associated Environmental
Impact Statement
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)
and the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), Malta Field Office
intends to prepare a Resource
Management Plan with an associated
Environmental Impact Statement (RMP/
EIS). The planning area is located in
Blaine, Choteau, Glacier, Hill, Liberty,
Phillips, Toole, and Valley Counties,
Montana. The public scoping process
will identify planning issues and
develop planning criteria, including
evaluation of the existing RMPs in the
context of the needs and interests of the
public. This notice initiates the public
scoping process.
DATES: To be most helpful you should
submit formal scoping comments within
60 days after publication of this Notice.
However, collaboration with the public
will continue throughout the process.
All public meetings will be announced
through the local news media,
newsletters, and the BLM Web site
(https://www.mt.blm.gov/mafo/rmp) at
least 15 days prior to the event. The
minutes and list of attendees for each
meeting will be available to the public
and open for 30 days to any participant
who wishes to clarify the views they
expressed.
Written comments should
be sent to Bureau of Land Management,
G. Claire Trent, RMP Project Manager,
Malta Field Office, 501 S 2nd St. East,
Malta, MT 59538; Fax—406–654–5150.
Documents pertinent to this proposal
may be examined at the Malta Field
Office. Respondents’ comments,
including their names and street
addresses, will be available for public
review at the Malta Field Office during
regular business hours from 7:45 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except holidays, and may be published
as part of the EIS. Individual
respondents may request
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold
your name or street address from public
review or from disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act, you must
state this prominently at the beginning
ADDRESSES:
PO 00000
Frm 00050
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
of your 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information and/or to have your
name added to our mailing list, contact
G. Claire Trent at (406) 654–5124 or email at: MT_Malta_RMP@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM
will work collaboratively with
interested parties to identify the
management decisions that are best
suited to local, regional, and national
needs and concerns. Public meetings
will be held throughout the plan
scoping and preparation period. In order
to ensure local community participation
and input, public scoping meeting
locations will be rotated among the
towns of Big Sandy, Billings, Browning,
Chester, Chinook, Cut Bank, Fort
Benton, Glasgow, Great Falls, Harlem,
Helena, Havre, Hays, Malta, Opheim,
Rocky Boy, Shelby, Turner, and
Whitewater. Early participation is
encouraged, and will help determine the
future management of public lands
administered by the Malta Field Office.
In addition to the ongoing public
participation process, formal
opportunities for public participation
will be provided upon publication of
the Draft RMP/EIS, the final Proposed
Plan, and Record of Decision.
The Bureau of Land Management’s
Malta Resource Management Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement
incorporates a planning area
administered by three BLM offices: the
Glasgow and Havre Field Stations, and
the Malta Field Office. These offices
were recently combined under the Malta
Field Office [Notice of Montana/Dakotas
Administrative Boundaries Resulting
from the Havre Field Station
Realignment and other Organizational
Changes, (IM No. MT–2005–041)]. The
land area to be covered under the Malta
RMP/EIS is approximately two and a
half million surface acres (∼2,500,000)
and three- and a half million subsurface
acres (∼3,500,000) of public land in the
north-central tier of the State of
Montana. Currently, land resources are
managed under the following decisions:
the 1988 West HiLine RMP as amended
in 1992, for portions of the planning
area administered by the Havre Field
Station; and the 1994 Judith, Valley,
Phillips (JVP) RMP for the remainder of
the planning areas administered by the
Malta Field Office and Glasgow Field
E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM
06SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 172 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52571-52572]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-14670]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-040-06-1310-DB, CO-100-06-1310-DB]
Notice of Intent (NOI) To Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement and Provide Notice of Public Meetings, Hiawatha Regional
Energy Development Project, Sweetwater County, WY, and Moffat County,
CO, and Notice of the Potential for an Amendment to the Green River
Resource Management Plan
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: NOI to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and to
conduct public scoping for the Hiawatha Regional Energy Development
Project, Sweetwater County, Wyoming and Moffat County, Colorado, and
notice of potential for an amendment to the Green River Resource
Management Plan, Rock Springs Field Office.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Under the provisions of section 102(2)(C) of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the BLM announces its intentions to
prepare an EIS and to solicit public comments regarding issues and
resource information for the proposed Hiawatha Regional Energy Project,
a natural gas development project consisting of conventional natural
gas well development in established, producing fields.
DATES: The BLM can best use public input if comments and resource
information are submitted within 45 days from publication of this
notice. To provide the public with an opportunity to review the
proposal and project information, the BLM will host two public
meetings; one in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and another in Craig, Colorado.
The BLM will notify the public of the date, time, and location of each
meeting at least 15 days before the event. The announcement will be
made by a news release to the media in Wyoming and Colorado, individual
mailing of a scoping notice, and posting on the Web sites listed below.
ADDRESSES: Written comments or resource information can be mailed to
the Field Office at: Bureau of Land Management, Rock Springs Field
Office, Attn: Hiawatha Regional Energy Project, 280 Hwy 191 North, Rock
Springs, WY 82901; the public may submit comments electronically at
Hiawatha--EIS--WYMail@BLM.gov. Project information and documents will
be available on the Web at https://www.blm.gov/eis/wy/hiawatha.
All comments and submissions will be considered in the
environmental analysis process. If you do comment, we will keep you
informed of decisions resulting from the analysis. Please note that
public comments and information submitted in regard to this project,
including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available
for review and disclosure at the Field Office. Individual respondents
may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name, e-mail,
and street address from public review or from disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act, you must state this plainly at the
beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public inspection in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding the project,
please contact Susan Davis, Project Lead, at 307-352-0346.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Hiawatha Regional Energy Project is
generally located in Townships 11 through 14 North, Ranges 99 through
102 West, 6th Principal Meridian, Sweetwater County, Wyoming and Moffat
County, Colorado. The project is located south of Rock Springs,
Wyoming, and northwest of Craig, Colorado. The project area contains
approximately 157,335 acres of mixed Federal, State, and private lands.
The BLM Rock Springs Field Office manages public lands in Sweetwater
County, Wyoming, and the BLM Little Snake Field Office manages public
lands in Moffat County, Colorado. The Rock Springs Field Office will
serve as the lead for this project.
Any authorizations and actions proposed for approval in the EIS
will be evaluated to determine if they conform to the decisions in the
1997 Green River RMP. Actions that result in a change in the scope of
resource uses, terms and conditions, and decisions of the Green River
RMP may require amendment of the RMP. If the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) determines that a plan amendment is necessary, preparation of the
Hiawatha Regional Energy Development EIS and the analysis necessary for
the RMP amendment would occur simultaneously. Based on the information
developed during the course of this analysis, the BLM may decide it is
necessary to amend the 1997 Green River Resource Management Plan (RMP).
The potential for amendment of the Green River RMP does not affect the
Little Snake RMP.
The ongoing (2006) Little Snake Field Office land use plan revision
(NOI November 18, 2004) contains an updated RFD that provides a
reasonable estimate of projected oil and gas exploration and
development for the entire Field Office planning area for the next 20
years. This reasonable foreseeable development (RFD) encompasses the
project area to be analyzed and incorporates the level of development
proposed in the Hiawatha Regional Energy Project EIS. The proposed
action will be within the scope of the analysis for the ongoing Little
Snake Field Office RMP revision and any land use planning decisions
relating to the Hiawatha Project will be addressed as part of the
ongoing Little Snake Field Office planning process. Further information
of the status of this RMP revision may be obtained from the Little
Snake Field Office's Web site at https://www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp.
In March 2006, Questar Exploration & Production Company, Wexpro
Company, and other natural gas development companies (hereinafter
referred to as (``the Operators'') submitted to the BLM a proposal to
expand natural gas exploration and
[[Page 52572]]
development operations in existing fields. The purpose of the proposal
is to extract and recover natural gas for distribution to consumers.
The Operators' proposal consists of development of up to 4,207 wells
and associated facilities including but not limited to roads, well
pads, pipelines, gas treatment and possible compression resulting in
approximately 25,820 acres of short-term disturbance and 9,058 acres of
life-of-project disturbance. Wells would be drilled using a combination
of vertical and directional drilling techniques. The proposal calls for
a 20- to 30-year construction and drilling period with another 30 years
for the project operations.
The Hiawatha Regional Energy Development Project is located in an
area of existing oil and gas development known as Canyon Creek, Trail,
and Kinney Fields (also known as the Vermillion Basin area) in
Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and the East and West Hiawatha/Sugarloaf
Fields in Moffat County, Colorado. This project would meet the goals
and objectives of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the President's
National Energy Policy.
During the preparation of the EIS, development within the project
area may be allowed in Wyoming as approved under the Modified Decision
Record for the Vermillion Basin Natural Gas Exploration and Production
Project. Other interim development will be subject to interim
development guidelines on the Wyoming portion of the project.
The EIS will analyze the environmental consequences of implementing
the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action including
the No Action alternative. Other alternatives under consideration
include a range of drilling surface densities and pace, mitigation
measures, best management practices and phased development.
Agency resource issues and concerns will be identified in the
public scoping notice mailed to Federal, State and local governments,
interested groups, individuals, and businesses under separate cover.
Dated: June 30, 2006.
Robert A. Bennett,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E6-14670 Filed 9-5-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
