Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and To Conduct Public Scoping for the Natural Buttes Area Gas Development Project, Uintah County, UT, 57064-57065 [E7-19692]
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 193 / Friday, October 5, 2007 / Notices
lands, and (3) an adequate analysis is
prepared from which to base land use
decisions, the Supplement to the Vernal
Field Office DRMP/DEIS will prescribe
specific actions to manage for the
wilderness characteristics of non-WSA
lands with wilderness characteristics in
a new alternative.
Dated: September 18, 2007.
Selma Sierra,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. E7–19706 Filed 10–4–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–$$–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[UTU–080–2007–9141–EJ]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
and To Conduct Public Scoping for the
Natural Buttes Area Gas Development
Project, Uintah County, UT
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI).
yshivers on PROD1PC62 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), Vernal Field Office,
Vernal, Utah, will prepare an EIS on the
impacts of efficient and orderly
development of the natural gas
resources of the Greater Natural Buttes
Field area. This notice announces the
public scoping period.
DATES: A public scoping period of 30
days will commence on the date this
notice is published by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in the Federal Register. Comments on
issues, potential impacts, or suggestions
for alternatives can be submitted in
writing to the address listed below
within 30 days of the date this Notice
is published. A public meeting will be
conducted during the scoping period in
Vernal. The date, place, and time will be
announced through the local news
media and the BLM Web site https://
www.blm.gov/utah/vernal/nepa.html at
least 15 days prior to the meeting.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be
submitted by any of the following
methods:
• Mail: Bureau of Land Management,
Vernal Field Office, 170 South 500 East,
Vernal, Utah 84078.
• E-mail:
UT_Vernal_Comments@blm.gov.
• Fax: (435) 781–4410.
Please reference the Greater Natural
Buttes Area when submitting your
comments. Comments and information
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:33 Oct 04, 2007
Jkt 214001
submitted, including names, e-mail
addresses, and street addresses of
respondents, will be available for public
review at the address listed above. The
BLM will not accept anonymous
comments. Before including your
address, phone number, e-mail 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. 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:
Stephanie Howard, Project Manager,
BLM Vernal Field Office, 170 South 500
East, Vernal, UT 84078. Ms. Howard
may also be reached at 435–781–4400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
document provides notice that the BLM,
Vernal Field Office, Vernal, UT, intends
to prepare an EIS, and announces the
public scoping period. The purpose of
the public scoping process is to
determine relevant issues that will
influence the scope of the
environmental analysis and EIS
alternatives. You may submit comments
in writing to the BLM at the public
scoping meeting, or you may submit
them to the BLM using one of the
methods listed in the ADDRESSES section
above. The public is encouraged to
participate during the scoping process
to help identify issues of concern
related to the proposed action,
determine the depth of the analysis
needed for issues addressed in the EIS,
identify potential mitigation measures,
and identify reasonable alternatives to
be evaluated in the EIS.
Proposed Project Description: The EIS
will encompass 162,911 acres in
Townships 8 through 11 South, Ranges
20 through 24 East (Salt Lake Meridian)
in Uintah County, Utah. The project is
located on lands administered by the
BLM (88,565 acres), Northern Ute Tribe
as administered by the BIA (39,399
acres), the State of Utah (32,755 acres),
and private interests (2,192 acres).
Mineral interests are owned by the BLM
(79 percent), the State of Utah (20
percent), and private interests (one
percent). The Natural Buttes gas field
was discovered in the 1950s and has
produced around 1.0 trillion cubic feet
PO 00000
Frm 00084
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
of natural gas and 5.0 million barrels of
crude oil and condensate and is among
the top 15 gas fields in the United States
in terms of natural gas reserves. As of
August 2006, the Greater Natural Buttes
Area contained approximately 1,077
producing gas wells and 20 oil wells.
Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP
(KMG) a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
proposes to conduct infill drilling to
develop the hydrocarbon resources from
oil and gas leases within the Greater
Natural Buttes Project Area in Uintah
County, Utah. KMG’s intent is to
explore and develop potentially
productive subsurface formations
underlying the land in the Greater
Natural Buttes Project Area. Although
actual operations are subject to change
as the project proceeds, KMG’s plan is
to drill 3,496 additional wells over a
period of 10 years. It is assumed that up
to 179 new wells would be drilled by
other operators having leasehold rights
in the project area. The productive life
of each well is estimated to be
approximately 30 to 50 years.
Infill drilling would be performed on
40-acre and 20-acre surface spacing
throughout the project area, i.e., with 16
to 32 surface well pads per section.
KMG defines a 40-acre well pad as the
first well pad located in a governmental
40-acre quarter-quarter section. A 20acre pad is defined as the second well
pad located in a 40-acre quarter-quarter
section. Well spacing in the subsurface
would be based on the KMG’s reservoir
engineering evaluation on an on-going
basis and will be site-dependent,
potentially ranging from 16 wells per
section (40-acre spacing) to 64 wells per
section (10-acre spacing) or more.
Project development would utilize
existing roads and, when necessary,
new roads would be constructed.
Equipment required by most wells
includes a gas gathering line, a
separator, gas meter, produced water
and liquid hydrocarbon storage tanks,
and chemical tanks. Gas would be
transported via pipeline to centralized
compression and treatment facilities.
Produced water would be transported
by truck or pipeline to the KMGoperated produced water disposal wells
or to KMG-owned or commercially
owned evaporation ponds or disposal
wells. To minimize new disturbance,
KMG would utilize the existing
ancillary facility infrastructure within
the project area, where possible,
including gas compression facilities,
power lines, water disposal and
treatment facilities, and gas gathering
pipelines. Total surface disturbance for
the proposed project is estimated to be
E:\FR\FM\05OCN1.SGM
05OCN1
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 193 / Friday, October 5, 2007 / Notices
7,804 acres, or approximately 5% of the
project area.
Relationship to Existing Plans and
Documents: The Book Cliffs Resource
Management Plan (RMP) Record of
Decision (ROD) (May 1985) directs
management of BLM-administered
public lands within the analysis area.
Implementation of oil and gas
development in the Greater Natural
Buttes Project Area would conform to
conditions and requirements mandated
in the RMP and ROD. The ROD calls for
oil and gas, tar sands, oil shale, and
gilsonite to be leased while other
resource values will be protected or
mitigated (page 7 of the ROD).
Identified Resource Management
Issues, Concerns, and Opportunities:
The following resources have been
identified as potentially impacted by the
Vernal Field Office. It is not meant to be
an all-inclusive list, but rather a starting
point for public input and a means of
identifying the resource disciplines
needed to conduct the analysis. The
potentially impacted resources include:
air quality, cultural resources, livestock
grazing, paleontological resources,
recreation, socioeconomics, soil
resources, special designations
(potential Area of Critical
Environmental Concern and eligible
Wild and Scenic River segments),
threatened or endangered animal and
plant species, vegetation, visual
resources, water resources, wilderness
characteristics, and wildlife.
Selma Sierra,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. E7–19692 Filed 10–4–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–DQ–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WO–220–05–1020–JA–VEIS]
Notice of Availability of the Record of
Decision for the Final Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement for
Vegetation Treatments Using
Herbicides on Bureau of Land
Management Lands in 17 Western
States
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
yshivers on PROD1PC62 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) hereby gives notice
that the Record of Decision for the Final
Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (FPEIS) for vegetation
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:33 Oct 04, 2007
Jkt 214001
treatments using herbicides on public
lands administered by BLM in 17
western states, including Alaska, is
available. The BLM is the lead Federal
agency for the preparation of this FPEIS,
in compliance with the requirements of
NEPA. The decision selects for use the
four herbicides identified in Alternative
B of the FPEIS. These herbicides are:
Diquat, diflufenzopyr (in formulation
with dicamba), fluridone, and imazapic.
The BLM also selects for continued use
the following 14 Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) registered
active ingredients: 2,4-D, bromacil,
chlorsulfuron, clopyralid, dicamba,
diuron, glyphosate, hexazinone,
imazapyr, metsulfuron methyl,
picloram, sulfometuron methyl,
tebuthiuron, and triclopyr. The BLM
does not select for use the following sixherbicide active ingredients: 2,4-DP,
asulam, atrazine, fosamine, mefluidide,
and simazine. As part of the Proposed
Action and this decision, the BLM also
adopts the protocol for identifying,
evaluating and approving herbicides.
The Record of Decision identifies best
management practices, standard
operating procedures and mitigation
measures for all vegetation treatment
projects involving the use of herbicides.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Record of
Decision are available in hard copy or
CD upon request from Brian Amme,
Nevada State Office, P.O. Box 12000,
1340 Financial Blvd., Reno, NV 89520,
or via the Internet at the BLM National
Web site https://www.blm.gov/. The
Record of Decision is available for
review in either hard copy or on
compact disks (CDs) at all BLM State,
District, and Field Office public rooms.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brian Amme, Project Manager at (775)
861–6645 or e-mail:
brian_amme@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
national, FPEIS provides a
comprehensive analysis of BLM’s use of
chemical herbicides in its various
vegetation treatment programs related to
hazardous fuels reduction; noxious
weed, invasive terrestrial and aquatic
plant species management; resource
rehabilitation following catastrophic
fires, and other disturbances. The FPEIS
addresses human health and ecological
risk for use of chemical herbicides on
public lands and provides a cumulative
impact analysis of the use of chemical
herbicides in conjunction with other
treatment methods. The decision area
includes public lands administered by
11 BLM state offices: Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana
(North Dakota/South Dakota), New
Mexico (Oklahoma/Texas/Nebraska),
PO 00000
Frm 00085
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
57065
Nevada, Oregon (Washington), Utah and
Wyoming.
The BLM issued a Notice of
Availability November 10, 2005, of
BLM’s Draft Vegetation Treatments
Using Herbicides Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement and
Draft Programmatic Environmental
Report. The BLM held ten public
hearings in late 2005, and extended the
public comment period an additional 30
days to February 10, 2006.
The BLM responded to over 5,500
individual public comments during the
Draft Programmatic EIS public review
period. Comment responses and
resultant changes in the impact analysis
are documented in this FPEIS and
Environmental Report per requirements
under 40 CFR 1503.4. Additional
information and analysis is included in
the FPEIS addressing comments related
to degradates, use of Polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA) OEA and R–11
surfactants and risks associated with
endocrine disrupting chemicals. In
addition, the FPEIS contains
Subsistence analysis required under
Section 801(a) of the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act
(ANILCA). This decision was approved
by the Department of the Interior,
Assistant Secretary for Land and
Minerals Management; therefore, no
administrative review through the
Interior Board of Land Appeals pursuant
to 43 CFR 4.5 will be available on the
decisions made by this Record of
Decision.
Todd S. Christensen,
Acting Assistant Director, Renewable
Resources and Planning.
[FR Doc. E7–19699 Filed 10–4–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–84–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[NV–057–1630–NU; 7–08807]
Shooting Closure on Certain Lands
Managed by the Bureau of Land
Management, Las Vegas Field Office
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of final decision for
establishment of a permanent shooting
closure on selected public lands in Nye
County, Nevada.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Las Vegas Field
Office announces a target shooting
closure on about 11,874 acres of
selected public lands in Nye County
near the southwest portion of the Town
E:\FR\FM\05OCN1.SGM
05OCN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 193 (Friday, October 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57064-57065]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-19692]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[UTU-080-2007-9141-EJ]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) and To Conduct Public Scoping for the Natural Buttes Area Gas
Development Project, Uintah County, UT
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Vernal
Field Office, Vernal, Utah, will prepare an EIS on the impacts of
efficient and orderly development of the natural gas resources of the
Greater Natural Buttes Field area. This notice announces the public
scoping period.
DATES: A public scoping period of 30 days will commence on the date
this notice is published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in the Federal Register. Comments on issues, potential impacts, or
suggestions for alternatives can be submitted in writing to the address
listed below within 30 days of the date this Notice is published. A
public meeting will be conducted during the scoping period in Vernal.
The date, place, and time will be announced through the local news
media and the BLM Web site https://www.blm.gov/utah/vernal/nepa.html at
least 15 days prior to the meeting.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Vernal Field Office, 170
South 500 East, Vernal, Utah 84078.
E-mail: UT--Vernal--Comments@blm.gov.
Fax: (435) 781-4410.
Please reference the Greater Natural Buttes Area when submitting
your comments. Comments and information submitted, including names, e-
mail addresses, and street addresses of respondents, will be available
for public review at the address listed above. The BLM will not accept
anonymous comments. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail
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. 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: Stephanie Howard, Project Manager, BLM
Vernal Field Office, 170 South 500 East, Vernal, UT 84078. Ms. Howard
may also be reached at 435-781-4400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM,
Vernal Field Office, Vernal, UT, intends to prepare an EIS, and
announces the public scoping period. The purpose of the public scoping
process is to determine relevant issues that will influence the scope
of the environmental analysis and EIS alternatives. You may submit
comments in writing to the BLM at the public scoping meeting, or you
may submit them to the BLM using one of the methods listed in the
ADDRESSES section above. The public is encouraged to participate during
the scoping process to help identify issues of concern related to the
proposed action, determine the depth of the analysis needed for issues
addressed in the EIS, identify potential mitigation measures, and
identify reasonable alternatives to be evaluated in the EIS.
Proposed Project Description: The EIS will encompass 162,911 acres
in Townships 8 through 11 South, Ranges 20 through 24 East (Salt Lake
Meridian) in Uintah County, Utah. The project is located on lands
administered by the BLM (88,565 acres), Northern Ute Tribe as
administered by the BIA (39,399 acres), the State of Utah (32,755
acres), and private interests (2,192 acres). Mineral interests are
owned by the BLM (79 percent), the State of Utah (20 percent), and
private interests (one percent). The Natural Buttes gas field was
discovered in the 1950s and has produced around 1.0 trillion cubic feet
of natural gas and 5.0 million barrels of crude oil and condensate and
is among the top 15 gas fields in the United States in terms of natural
gas reserves. As of August 2006, the Greater Natural Buttes Area
contained approximately 1,077 producing gas wells and 20 oil wells.
Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP (KMG) a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation proposes to conduct infill drilling to
develop the hydrocarbon resources from oil and gas leases within the
Greater Natural Buttes Project Area in Uintah County, Utah. KMG's
intent is to explore and develop potentially productive subsurface
formations underlying the land in the Greater Natural Buttes Project
Area. Although actual operations are subject to change as the project
proceeds, KMG's plan is to drill 3,496 additional wells over a period
of 10 years. It is assumed that up to 179 new wells would be drilled by
other operators having leasehold rights in the project area. The
productive life of each well is estimated to be approximately 30 to 50
years.
Infill drilling would be performed on 40-acre and 20-acre surface
spacing throughout the project area, i.e., with 16 to 32 surface well
pads per section. KMG defines a 40-acre well pad as the first well pad
located in a governmental 40-acre quarter-quarter section. A 20-acre
pad is defined as the second well pad located in a 40-acre quarter-
quarter section. Well spacing in the subsurface would be based on the
KMG's reservoir engineering evaluation on an on-going basis and will be
site-dependent, potentially ranging from 16 wells per section (40-acre
spacing) to 64 wells per section (10-acre spacing) or more.
Project development would utilize existing roads and, when
necessary, new roads would be constructed. Equipment required by most
wells includes a gas gathering line, a separator, gas meter, produced
water and liquid hydrocarbon storage tanks, and chemical tanks. Gas
would be transported via pipeline to centralized compression and
treatment facilities. Produced water would be transported by truck or
pipeline to the KMG-operated produced water disposal wells or to KMG-
owned or commercially owned evaporation ponds or disposal wells. To
minimize new disturbance, KMG would utilize the existing ancillary
facility infrastructure within the project area, where possible,
including gas compression facilities, power lines, water disposal and
treatment facilities, and gas gathering pipelines. Total surface
disturbance for the proposed project is estimated to be
[[Page 57065]]
7,804 acres, or approximately 5% of the project area.
Relationship to Existing Plans and Documents: The Book Cliffs
Resource Management Plan (RMP) Record of Decision (ROD) (May 1985)
directs management of BLM-administered public lands within the analysis
area. Implementation of oil and gas development in the Greater Natural
Buttes Project Area would conform to conditions and requirements
mandated in the RMP and ROD. The ROD calls for oil and gas, tar sands,
oil shale, and gilsonite to be leased while other resource values will
be protected or mitigated (page 7 of the ROD).
Identified Resource Management Issues, Concerns, and Opportunities:
The following resources have been identified as potentially impacted by
the Vernal Field Office. It is not meant to be an all-inclusive list,
but rather a starting point for public input and a means of identifying
the resource disciplines needed to conduct the analysis. The
potentially impacted resources include: air quality, cultural
resources, livestock grazing, paleontological resources, recreation,
socioeconomics, soil resources, special designations (potential Area of
Critical Environmental Concern and eligible Wild and Scenic River
segments), threatened or endangered animal and plant species,
vegetation, visual resources, water resources, wilderness
characteristics, and wildlife.
Selma Sierra,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. E7-19692 Filed 10-4-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-DQ-P
