Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Alpine Satellite Development Plan for the Proposed Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Development Project, Alaska, 50008-50009 [2016-17962]
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50008
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 146 / Friday, July 29, 2016 / Notices
review, the BLM cannot guarantee that
it will be able to do so.
Authority: 43 CFR 1784.4–1
Nancy Haug,
Acting Assistant Director, Resources and
Planning.
[FR Doc. 2016–18025 Filed 7–28–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–84–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[16X.LLAKF01000.L13100000.DB0000.
LXSS001L0000]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for the Alpine Satellite
Development Plan for the Proposed
Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Development
Project, Alaska
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended (FLPMA), and the
Alaska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act of 1980, as amended
(ANILCA), the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Arctic Field Office,
Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the proposed
continuing development of petroleum
resources in the Greater Mooses Tooth
(GMT) Unit. The development would
occur at the proposed Greater Mooses
Tooth Two (GMT2) drilling and
production pad located within the
National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska
(NPR–A), a 22.8 million-acre area of
BLM-managed land located 200 miles
north of the Arctic Circle. The GMT2
development would be connected by
road and pipeline to the approved
Greater Mooses Tooth One (GMT1)
development. The Supplemental EIS is
being prepared for the purpose of
supplementing the Alpine Satellite
Development Plan (ASDP) Final EIS,
dated September 2004, regarding the
establishment of satellite oil production
pads and associated infrastructure
within the Alpine field.
DATES: Comments on relevant issues
that will influence the scope of the
supplemental EIS for the proposed
GMT2 Development project may be
submitted in writing until August 29,
2016. The BLM will provide
opportunities for public participation
upon publication of the Draft
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:42 Jul 28, 2016
Jkt 238001
Supplemental EIS, including public
meetings and a public comment period.
Any Federal, state, or local agency or
tribe that is interested in serving as a
cooperating agency for the development
of the Supplemental EIS are asked to
submit such requests to the BLM by
August 29, 2016.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
until August 29, 2016 on issues related
to the proposed GMT2 Development
Project by any of the following methods:
• Email: BLM_AK_GMT2_
Comments@blm.gov.
• Fax: 907–271–5479.
• Mail: GMT2 Scoping Comments,
Bureau of Land Management, 222 West
7th Ave., Stop #13, Anchorage, AK
99513.
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. You may examine documents
pertinent to this proposal at the BLM
Alaska Public Room, Fairbanks District
Office, 1150 University Ave., Fairbanks,
AK 99709, and at the BLM Alaska
Public Information Center, Alaska State
Office, 222 West 7th Ave., Anchorage,
AK 99513.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stacie McIntosh, Arctic Field Office
Manager, 907–474–2310, Bureau of
Land Management, 1150 University
Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99709. Also
contact Ms. McIntosh if you wish to add
your name to the mailing list to receive
further information about this project.
Persons who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the
Federal Information Relay Service
(FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 to contact the
above individual during normal
business hours. The FIRS is available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a
message or question with the above
individual. You will receive a reply
during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August
24, 2015, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.
(CPAI) submitted an Application for
Permit to Drill (APD) an oil well and
construct associated ancillary facilities
to support up to 48 wells, including a
production pad, pipeline, and road to
facilitate development of petroleum
resources within the Greater Mooses
Tooth (GMT) Unit. The well site is
named GMT2. The proposed project is
located on Alaska’s North Slope within
PO 00000
Frm 00087
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
the NPR–A, which encompasses
approximately 22.8 million acres of
public land. The project would facilitate
production of oil from Federal and
Alaska Native corporation lands within
the NPR–A. The GMT2 project proposes
a drill site on land currently managed
by the BLM within the GMT Unit. This
land is selected for conveyance by the
Kuukpik Corporation, an Alaska Native
corporation organized under the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971
(ANCSA). The GMT2 site is
approximately 15 miles west of the
community of Nuiqsut. The associated
pipeline and access road would traverse
both Kuukpik Corporation lands and
Federal lands within NPR–A for
approximately 8.1 miles in a
northeasterly direction to the Greater
Mooses Tooth One (GMT1)
development project, which was
approved in February 2015 after its
Final Supplemental EIS was completed
in October 2014. At GMT1, the pipeline
would connect to the approved GMT1
pipeline. From GMT1, produced oil,
gas, and water would be carried via this
pipeline across Kuukpik Corporation
lands and Federal lands within the
NPR–A, and across Alaska Native
corporation lands and State of Alaska
lands outside the NPR–A, to the Alpine
Central Processing Facility (CD–1).
Sales-quality crude would then be
transported from CD–1 via pipeline to
the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
CPAI proposes placement of 78 acres
of fill material to construct the GMT2
drill pad, an approximately 8.1-milelong gravel access road, and an 8.6-milelong pipeline, which includes electrical
and communication cables, from the
GMT1 pad. Gravel required for
construction of the drill site and road
would be obtained from the Arctic
Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC)
mine site, an existing commercial gravel
source located on the east side of the
Colville River outside the boundary of
the NPR–A, approximately 15 miles east
of the proposed site. The proposed
GMT2 pad would be approximately 14
acres in size, would eventually contain
up to 48 individual wells, and would be
operated and maintained by staff from
CD–1, who would travel to the site via
the gravel road.
The purpose of the Supplemental EIS
is to evaluate new circumstances and
information that have arisen since the
ASDP Final EIS was issued in
September 2004, as well as to address
any changes in CPAI’s proposed
development plan for GMT2. A version
of the GMT2 project was initially
approved in the Record of Decision
(ROD) under the 2004 ASDP Final EIS
as site CD–7, and was included as
E:\FR\FM\29JYN1.SGM
29JYN1
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 146 / Friday, July 29, 2016 / Notices
reasonably foreseeable development in
the 2012 NPR–A Integrated Activity
Plan (IAP) EIS and the 2014 GMT1
Supplemental EIS. The GMT2
Supplemental EIS will address
proposed changes to the previously
approved design and location of the site,
and any new information that could
affect Federal permitting decisions.
New information includes data from
ongoing multi-year studies on
hydrology, birds, caribou, vegetation,
wetlands, and subsistence use. In
addition, since 2004, the study of
climate change and its potential effects
has advanced considerably, and new
data resulting from this research will be
included in the environmental analysis.
The BLM adopted a new IAP for the
NPR–A in February 2013, which
contains updated protective measures.
The polar bear was listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act in
2008, and critical habitat has been
proposed within the NPR–A.
The proposed GMT2 project is similar
to the CD–7 project that was approved
in the 2004 ASDP ROD, with several
notable changes: A relocated drill site,
increased road and pipeline length due
to the relocation, and the elimination of
overhead powerlines. In addition, the
BLM is developing a Regional
Mitigation Strategy that will help to
guide the mitigation considerations in
the GMT2 NEPA process.
At present, the BLM has identified the
following preliminary issues for
evaluation in the Supplemental EIS: Air
quality; biological resources, including
special status species; cultural
resources; social impacts, including
subsistence use and environmental
justice; climate change effects; wetlands
and other waters of the United States;
and reasonably foreseeable future
activities.
The BLM will use NEPA public
participation requirements to assist the
agency in satisfying the public
involvement requirements under
Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA) (54 U.S.C.
306108), pursuant to 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3).
The information about historic and
cultural resources within the area
potentially affected by the proposed
action will assist the BLM in identifying
and evaluating impacts to cultural
resources in the context of both NEPA
and Section 106 of the NHPA.
The BLM will consult with federally
recognized Indian tribes on a
government-to-government basis in
accordance with Executive Order 13175
and other policies. Tribal concerns,
including impacts on Indian trust assets
and potential impacts to cultural
resources, will be given appropriate
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:42 Jul 28, 2016
Jkt 238001
consideration. Federal, state, and local
agencies and tribes that may be
interested in or affected by the proposed
action that the BLM is evaluating, are
invited to participate in the
development of the environmental
review as cooperating agencies.
Authority: 40 CFR 1502.9, 43 CFR part
3100
Ted Murphy,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016–17962 Filed 7–28–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–JA–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[16X.LLAKF02000.L16100000.DQ0000.
LXSS094L0000]
Notice of Availability of the Eastern
Interior Proposed Resource
Management Plan/Final Environmental
Impact Statement, Alaska
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) has prepared a
Proposed Resource Management Plan
(RMP) and Final Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the Eastern Interior
Planning Area in Alaska, in accordance
with the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, as amended, and the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976, as amended. By this notice,
the BLM is announcing the plan’s
availability.
DATES: BLM planning regulations state
that any person who meets the
conditions as described in the
regulations may protest a Proposed
RMP/Final EIS. A person who meets
those regulatory conditions and wishes
to file a protest, must file the protest
within 30 days of the date that the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
publishes its Notice of Availability in
the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The BLM sent copies of the
Eastern Interior Proposed RMP/Final
EIS to affected Federal, State, and local
government agencies, tribal
governments, Alaska Native
corporations, and other stakeholders.
Copies of the Eastern Interior Proposed
RMP/Final EIS are available for public
inspection in both Fairbanks and
Anchorage. You can view a copy at the
BLM Fairbanks District Office, 222
University Avenue, Fairbanks, AK
99709, and at the BLM Alaska State
Office, Public Information Center, 222
West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, AK
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00088
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
50009
99513. You can also review a copy of
the Eastern Interior Proposed RMP/Final
EIS on the Internet at www.blm.gov/ak/
eirmp.
All protests to the Eastern Interior
Proposed RMP/Final EIS must be in
writing and mailed to one of the
following addresses:
Regular Mail: BLM Director;
Attention: Protest Coordinator, WO–
210; P.O. Box 71383; Washington, DC
20024–1383.
Overnight Delivery: BLM Director;
Attention: Protest Coordinator, WO–
210; 20 M Street SE., Room 2134LM;
Washington, DC 20003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeanie Cole, BLM Planning and
Environmental Coordinator, 907–474–
2340, email eastern_interior@
blm.gov.ADDRESS: BLM Fairbanks
District Office, 222 University Avenue,
Fairbanks AK 99709. Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339
to contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FIRS is
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
to leave a message or question with the
above individual. You will receive a
reply during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Eastern Interior Proposed RMP/Final
EIS covers approximately 6.5 million
acres of BLM-administered lands in
interior Alaska. The plan is divided into
four subunits: The Fortymile, Steese,
Upper Black River, and White
Mountains subunits. BLM manages four
areas in the planning area as National
Conservation Lands (NCL): The Birch
Creek, Beaver Creek, and Fortymile
Wild and Scenic Rivers and the Steese
National Conservation Area. In addition
to the four NCL areas, the planning area
includes the White Mountains National
Recreation Area. The Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980,
as amended (ANILCA), designated and
applied special provisions for the four
NCL areas and the White Mountains
National Recreation Area.
The following BLM plans currently
guide management decisions for 4
million acres of the planning area:
Fortymile Management Framework Plan
(1980), Fortymile River Management
Plan (1983), Birch Creek River
Management Plan (1983), Beaver Creek
River Management Plan (1983), Steese
National Conservation Area RMP and
Record of Decision (ROD) (1986), and
White Mountains National Recreation
Area RMP and ROD (1986). No land use
plans currently cover the remaining 2.5
million acres of the planning area,
including the upper Black River area
E:\FR\FM\29JYN1.SGM
29JYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 146 (Friday, July 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50008-50009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-17962]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[16X.LLAKF01000.L13100000.DB0000.LXSS001L0000]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for the Alpine Satellite Development Plan for the Proposed
Greater Mooses Tooth 2 Development Project, Alaska
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended (FLPMA), and the Alaska National Interest Lands
Conservation Act of 1980, as amended (ANILCA), the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Arctic Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the
proposed continuing development of petroleum resources in the Greater
Mooses Tooth (GMT) Unit. The development would occur at the proposed
Greater Mooses Tooth Two (GMT2) drilling and production pad located
within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), a 22.8
million-acre area of BLM-managed land located 200 miles north of the
Arctic Circle. The GMT2 development would be connected by road and
pipeline to the approved Greater Mooses Tooth One (GMT1) development.
The Supplemental EIS is being prepared for the purpose of supplementing
the Alpine Satellite Development Plan (ASDP) Final EIS, dated September
2004, regarding the establishment of satellite oil production pads and
associated infrastructure within the Alpine field.
DATES: Comments on relevant issues that will influence the scope of the
supplemental EIS for the proposed GMT2 Development project may be
submitted in writing until August 29, 2016. The BLM will provide
opportunities for public participation upon publication of the Draft
Supplemental EIS, including public meetings and a public comment
period. Any Federal, state, or local agency or tribe that is interested
in serving as a cooperating agency for the development of the
Supplemental EIS are asked to submit such requests to the BLM by August
29, 2016.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments until August 29, 2016 on issues
related to the proposed GMT2 Development Project by any of the
following methods:
Email: BLM_AK_GMT2_Comments@blm.gov.
Fax: 907-271-5479.
Mail: GMT2 Scoping Comments, Bureau of Land Management,
222 West 7th Ave., Stop #13, Anchorage, AK 99513.
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. You may examine documents pertinent to this proposal at
the BLM Alaska Public Room, Fairbanks District Office, 1150 University
Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709, and at the BLM Alaska Public Information
Center, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99513.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacie McIntosh, Arctic Field Office
Manager, 907-474-2310, Bureau of Land Management, 1150 University
Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99709. Also contact Ms. McIntosh if you wish to
add your name to the mailing list to receive further information about
this project. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-
877-8339 to contact the above individual during normal business hours.
The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message
or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during
normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 24, 2015, ConocoPhillips Alaska,
Inc. (CPAI) submitted an Application for Permit to Drill (APD) an oil
well and construct associated ancillary facilities to support up to 48
wells, including a production pad, pipeline, and road to facilitate
development of petroleum resources within the Greater Mooses Tooth
(GMT) Unit. The well site is named GMT2. The proposed project is
located on Alaska's North Slope within the NPR-A, which encompasses
approximately 22.8 million acres of public land. The project would
facilitate production of oil from Federal and Alaska Native corporation
lands within the NPR-A. The GMT2 project proposes a drill site on land
currently managed by the BLM within the GMT Unit. This land is selected
for conveyance by the Kuukpik Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation
organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971
(ANCSA). The GMT2 site is approximately 15 miles west of the community
of Nuiqsut. The associated pipeline and access road would traverse both
Kuukpik Corporation lands and Federal lands within NPR-A for
approximately 8.1 miles in a northeasterly direction to the Greater
Mooses Tooth One (GMT1) development project, which was approved in
February 2015 after its Final Supplemental EIS was completed in October
2014. At GMT1, the pipeline would connect to the approved GMT1
pipeline. From GMT1, produced oil, gas, and water would be carried via
this pipeline across Kuukpik Corporation lands and Federal lands within
the NPR-A, and across Alaska Native corporation lands and State of
Alaska lands outside the NPR-A, to the Alpine Central Processing
Facility (CD-1). Sales-quality crude would then be transported from CD-
1 via pipeline to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
CPAI proposes placement of 78 acres of fill material to construct
the GMT2 drill pad, an approximately 8.1-mile-long gravel access road,
and an 8.6-mile-long pipeline, which includes electrical and
communication cables, from the GMT1 pad. Gravel required for
construction of the drill site and road would be obtained from the
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) mine site, an existing
commercial gravel source located on the east side of the Colville River
outside the boundary of the NPR-A, approximately 15 miles east of the
proposed site. The proposed GMT2 pad would be approximately 14 acres in
size, would eventually contain up to 48 individual wells, and would be
operated and maintained by staff from CD-1, who would travel to the
site via the gravel road.
The purpose of the Supplemental EIS is to evaluate new
circumstances and information that have arisen since the ASDP Final EIS
was issued in September 2004, as well as to address any changes in
CPAI's proposed development plan for GMT2. A version of the GMT2
project was initially approved in the Record of Decision (ROD) under
the 2004 ASDP Final EIS as site CD-7, and was included as
[[Page 50009]]
reasonably foreseeable development in the 2012 NPR-A Integrated
Activity Plan (IAP) EIS and the 2014 GMT1 Supplemental EIS. The GMT2
Supplemental EIS will address proposed changes to the previously
approved design and location of the site, and any new information that
could affect Federal permitting decisions.
New information includes data from ongoing multi-year studies on
hydrology, birds, caribou, vegetation, wetlands, and subsistence use.
In addition, since 2004, the study of climate change and its potential
effects has advanced considerably, and new data resulting from this
research will be included in the environmental analysis. The BLM
adopted a new IAP for the NPR-A in February 2013, which contains
updated protective measures. The polar bear was listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act in 2008, and critical habitat has been
proposed within the NPR-A.
The proposed GMT2 project is similar to the CD-7 project that was
approved in the 2004 ASDP ROD, with several notable changes: A
relocated drill site, increased road and pipeline length due to the
relocation, and the elimination of overhead powerlines. In addition,
the BLM is developing a Regional Mitigation Strategy that will help to
guide the mitigation considerations in the GMT2 NEPA process.
At present, the BLM has identified the following preliminary issues
for evaluation in the Supplemental EIS: Air quality; biological
resources, including special status species; cultural resources; social
impacts, including subsistence use and environmental justice; climate
change effects; wetlands and other waters of the United States; and
reasonably foreseeable future activities.
The BLM will use NEPA public participation requirements to assist
the agency in satisfying the public involvement requirements under
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (54 U.S.C.
306108), pursuant to 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). The information about historic
and cultural resources within the area potentially affected by the
proposed action will assist the BLM in identifying and evaluating
impacts to cultural resources in the context of both NEPA and Section
106 of the NHPA.
The BLM will consult with federally recognized Indian tribes on a
government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175
and other policies. Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust
assets and potential impacts to cultural resources, will be given
appropriate consideration. Federal, state, and local agencies and
tribes that may be interested in or affected by the proposed action
that the BLM is evaluating, are invited to participate in the
development of the environmental review as cooperating agencies.
Authority: 40 CFR 1502.9, 43 CFR part 3100
Ted Murphy,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-17962 Filed 7-28-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JA-P
