Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project, Converse County, Wyoming, 3767-3768 [2018-01320]
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 18 / Friday, January 26, 2018 / Notices
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10,
43 CFR 2200
T. 5 S., R. 5 E.,
Section 7,
Section 19,
Section 20, W1/2W1/2.
The area described aggregates 1,471.24
acres.
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
San Bernardino and Base Meridian,
California
Douglas J. Herrema,
Field Manager, Palm Springs—South Coast
Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2018–01437 Filed 1–25–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–40–P
The purpose of the land exchange is
to reduce the extent of ‘‘checkerboard’’
land ownership, thereby providing the
BLM and the Tribe with more effective
and efficient land management
responsibilities within the Monument.
The public interest will be well served
by making this exchange.
Lands acquired by the BLM will be
managed in accordance with applicable
statutes and regulations, as well as the
California Desert Conservation Area
Plan, as amended, and the Santa Rosa
and San Jacinto Mountains National
Monument Management Plan. Lands
acquired by the Tribe will be managed
in accordance with its Land Use
Ordinance, Indian Canyons Master Plan,
and Tribal Habitat Conservation Plan.
In 2008, the proposed land exchange
was announced in a Notice of Exchange
Proposal (NOEP), which included a 45day public comment period. In 2010, an
Environmental Assessment was released
for public review, which allowed for a
30-day comment period. Based on their
findings, the BLM determined that
preparation of an EIS was necessary.
In 2012, the BLM initiated a public
scoping process and subsequently
released a Draft EIS with a 90-day
public comment period, which
concluded on March 29, 2015.
Comments on the Draft EIS received
from the public and internal BLM
review were considered and
incorporated as appropriate into the
Final EIS. The BLM concluded that
changes to the Draft EIS were minor,
and as a result, an abbreviated Final EIS
was completed. Those changes were
primarily related to the exchange value
equalization efforts based on a current
appraisal. As a result, the amount of
trails that were identified for disposal
by the BLM were reduced.
Before including your phone number,
email address, or other personal
identifying information in your protest,
you should be aware that your entire
protest—including your personal
identifying information—may be made
publicly available at any time. While
you can ask the BLM in your protest to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
20:14 Jan 25, 2018
Jkt 244001
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWYP06000.LL13100000.DB0000.17X]
Notice of Availability of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for
the Converse County Oil and Gas
Project, Converse County, Wyoming
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCIES:
In accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) as the lead
Federal agency, and the United States
Forest Service (USFS), participating as a
cooperating agency, have prepared a
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(Draft EIS) that evaluates, analyzes, and
discloses to the public direct, indirect,
and cumulative environmental impacts
of a proposal to develop oil and natural
gas in Converse County, Wyoming. This
notice announces a 45-day public
comment period to meet the
requirements of NEPA and section 106
of the National Historic Preservation
Act.
SUMMARY:
To ensure that comments will be
considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Converse
County Oil and Gas Project Draft EIS
within 45 days following the date the
Environmental Protection Agency
publishes its Notice of Availability in
the Federal Register. The BLM will
announce future meetings and any other
public involvement activities at least 15
days in advance through public notices,
media releases, mailings, and/or at the
BLM website https://bit.ly/2oxHxeq.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Converse
County Oil and Gas Project may be
submitted by any of the following
methods:
• Website: https://bit.ly/2oxHxeq.
• Email: blm_wy_casper_wymail@
blm.gov.
• Fax: 307–261–7587.
• Mail or hand delivery: Converse
County Oil and Gas Project EIS, BLM
Casper Field Office, Attn: Mike
Robinson, Project Manager, 2987
Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604.
DATES:
PO 00000
Frm 00095
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
3767
Documents pertinent to this proposal
may be examined at the following
offices:
• BLM Casper Field Office, 2987
Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604;
• USFS Douglas Ranger District
Office, 2250 East Richards Street,
Douglas, WY 82633; and
• BLM Wyoming State Office, 5353
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY
82009.
Interested persons may also view the
documents online at: https://bit.ly/
2oxHxeq.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mike Robinson, Project Manager,
telephone: 307–261–7520; address: 2987
Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604;
email: blm_wy_casper_wymail@blm.gov.
Persons who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the
Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1–800–
877–8339 to contact the above person
during normal business hours. The FRS
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: An
Operator Group (OG) comprised of
Anadarko Petroleum Company,
Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Devon
Energy, EOG Resources, Inc., and SM
Energy, proposes to develop oil and gas
leases within the Converse County
Project Area (CCPA) in Converse
County, Wyoming.
The CCPA encompasses
approximately 1.5 million acres of land,
of which approximately 88,466 surface
acres (6 percent of the CCPA) are public
lands administered by the BLM and
approximately 63,911 surface acres (4
percent of the CCPA) are administered
by the USFS. The remaining surface
estate consists of approximately 101,012
surface acres (7 percent) administered
by the State of Wyoming and
approximately 1,247,477 surface acres
(83 percent) that are privately owned.
The BLM administers approximately
964,525 acres of mineral estate (64
percent) within the CCPA. Split estate
lands, lands with private surface and
Federal mineral ownership, comprise
approximately 812,189 acres of those
964,525 acres (54 percent of the 64
percent) of the Federal mineral
ownership of land within the CCPA.
The Draft EIS describes and analyzes
the impacts of the OG’s Proposed Action
(Alternative B) and two alternatives, the
No Action Alternative (Alternative A)
and Alterative C. Additional alternatives
were considered, but eliminated from
detailed analysis. All alternatives
incorporate best management practices
E:\FR\FM\26JAN1.SGM
26JAN1
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
3768
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 18 / Friday, January 26, 2018 / Notices
for oil and gas development and other
measures necessary to address impacts
to air quality, cultural resources,
historic trails, public safety, recreational
opportunities, threatened and
endangered species, socioeconomic,
transportation, vegetation, visual
resources, water, wildlife habitats
including Greater Sage-grouse and
Greater Sage-grouse Priority Habitat
Management Areas, and other relevant
issues. The following is a summary of
the alternatives:
1. Alternative A: The No Action
Alternative assumes that approval of the
OG’s proposed Project would be denied
and new drilling would continue under
approval of the appropriate permitting
agency.
2. Alternative B: The Proposed Action
Alternative, which is also the Agency
Preferred Alternative, consists of the
OG’s proposal to explore and develop
potentially productive subsurface
formations underlying the CCPA by
drilling up to approximately 5,000 oil
and natural gas wells on 1,500 single
and multi-well pads within the CCPA
over a period of 10 years. The
production life of each well is estimated
to be approximately 30 years. The OG
would develop the CCPA using
directional, vertical, horizontal, and
other drilling techniques, as well as to
develop infrastructure to support oil
and gas production in the CCPA,
including: Well pads, roads, pipelines,
power lines, compressor stations,
electrical substations, and ancillary
facilities such as water supply wells and
water disposal facilities. The total
estimated new surface disturbance for
development under Alternative B would
be approximately 52,667 acres. This
alternative includes requesting fullseason exceptions, excluding USFS
Administered lands (i.e. year-round
drilling), to multiple timing limitation
stipulations which serve to protect
several wildlife species in the project
area.
3. Alternative C: This alternative
would reduce the surface disturbance
and related impacts from oil and gas
development based on assumptions that
a higher average number of wells would
be drilled from each pad. Specifically,
55 percent of well pads in the CCPA
would have up to 4 wells, 35 percent of
well pads in the CCPA would have 5 to
8 wells, and 10 percent of well pads in
the CCPA would have 9 to 16 wells.
This would provide for drilling the
same number of wells (5,000) under the
same drilling rate (500 wells per year)
as Alternative B. Furthermore, this
would reduce the total number of well
pads to 938, which would reduce the
miles of access roads, gas gathering
VerDate Sep<11>2014
20:14 Jan 25, 2018
Jkt 244001
pipelines, water pipelines, and
overhead electrical lines needed, as well
as the acreage encumbered by the
proposed project. The total estimated
new surface disturbance for
development under Alternative C would
be approximately 37,267 acres. This
alternative would require that multiple
timing stipulations be applied as
outlined in the BLM RMP and the USFS
LRMP, thus not allowing for year-round
drilling.
The BLM NEPA Handbook (H–1790–
1) calls for expression of the BLM’s
preferred alternative in the Draft EIS if
one exists (BLM 2008c). The BLM
selected Alternative B, the Proposed
Action, as a preferred alternative for the
Converse County Oil and Gas
Development Project. The BLM believes
that the Proposed Action has the
necessary elements that would address
the purpose and need for the Draft EIS
and will review public comments on the
Draft before the preferred alternative is
identified in the Final EIS.
The No Action Alternative
(Alternative A) and each of the action
alternatives (Alternative B and C) are
discussed in terms of alternativespecific activities and schedule, design
features, and surface disturbance
summaries. Alternatives considered, but
eliminated from detailed analysis also
are discussed. The analysis of each
alternative focuses on the new
disturbance that would occur under
each alternative and would be in
addition to existing and permitted
disturbance.
The Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS
was published in the Federal Register
on May 16, 2014 (79 FR 28538). Key
issues identified during scoping
included: Potential impacts on private
landowners over Federal mineral estate;
socioeconomic impacts on local
communities and residents, including
new jobs and economic activity in the
community, as well as increased noise,
traffic, and population growth; potential
impacts on air quality and climate
change; potential impacts to
groundwater and surface water supply
and quality; potential impacts to
historic trails; enforcement of
reclamation and other mitigation on
non-Federal lands; impacts to area
recreation, grazing, and hunting; the
potential to impact Greater Sage-grouse,
migratory birds, big game and other
wildlife; and adequate analysis of
cumulative impacts.
The public is encouraged to comment
on any and all portions of the
document. The BLM and the USFS ask
that those submitting comments make
them as specific as possible with
reference to chapters, page numbers,
PO 00000
Frm 00096
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
and paragraphs in the Draft EIS
document.
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. Comments that contain only
opinions or preferences will not receive
a formal response; however, they will be
considered and included as part of the
BLM and the USFS decision-making
process. The most useful comments are
those that include new technical or
scientific information, identification of
data gaps in the impact analysis, or
technical or scientific rationale for
opinions or preference.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Mary Jo Rugwell,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 2018–01320 Filed 1–25–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–22–P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
[USITC SE–18–005]
Change to Date and Time of
Government in the Sunshine Act
Meeting Notice
United
States International Trade Commission.
ORIGINAL TIME AND DATE: January 25,
2018 at 2:00 p.m.
NEW DATE AND TIME: January 26, 2018 at
2:30 p.m.
PLACE: Room 100, 500 E Street SW,
Washington, DC 20436, Telephone:
(202) 205–2000.
STATUS: Open to the public.
In accordance with 19 CFR
201.35(d)(2)(i), the Commission hereby
gives notice that the Commission has
determined to change the date and time
of the meeting originally scheduled for
January 25, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. to January
26, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. to consider Inv.
Nos. 701–TA–578 and 731–TA–1386
(Final) (100- to 150-Seat Large Civil
Aircraft from Canada).
In accordance with Commission
policy, subject matter listed above, not
disposed of at the scheduled meeting,
may be carried over to the agenda of the
following meeting.
AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING:
By order of the Commission:
E:\FR\FM\26JAN1.SGM
26JAN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 18 (Friday, January 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3767-3768]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01320]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWYP06000.LL13100000.DB0000.17X]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project, Converse County,
Wyoming
AGENCIES: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the
lead Federal agency, and the United States Forest Service (USFS),
participating as a cooperating agency, have prepared a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) that evaluates, analyzes,
and discloses to the public direct, indirect, and cumulative
environmental impacts of a proposal to develop oil and natural gas in
Converse County, Wyoming. This notice announces a 45-day public comment
period to meet the requirements of NEPA and section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act.
DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Converse County Oil and Gas Project Draft EIS
within 45 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency
publishes its Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM
will announce future meetings and any other public involvement
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media
releases, mailings, and/or at the BLM website https://bit.ly/2oxHxeq.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Converse County Oil and Gas Project may be
submitted by any of the following methods:
Website: https://bit.ly/2oxHxeq.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 307-261-7587.
Mail or hand delivery: Converse County Oil and Gas Project
EIS, BLM Casper Field Office, Attn: Mike Robinson, Project Manager,
2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, WY 82604.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the
following offices:
BLM Casper Field Office, 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, WY
82604;
USFS Douglas Ranger District Office, 2250 East Richards
Street, Douglas, WY 82633; and
BLM Wyoming State Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne,
WY 82009.
Interested persons may also view the documents online at: https://bit.ly/2oxHxeq.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Robinson, Project Manager,
telephone: 307-261-7520; address: 2987 Prospector Drive, Casper, WY
82604; email: [email protected]. Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above person during
normal business hours. The FRS 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: An Operator Group (OG) comprised of Anadarko
Petroleum Company, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Devon Energy, EOG
Resources, Inc., and SM Energy, proposes to develop oil and gas leases
within the Converse County Project Area (CCPA) in Converse County,
Wyoming.
The CCPA encompasses approximately 1.5 million acres of land, of
which approximately 88,466 surface acres (6 percent of the CCPA) are
public lands administered by the BLM and approximately 63,911 surface
acres (4 percent of the CCPA) are administered by the USFS. The
remaining surface estate consists of approximately 101,012 surface
acres (7 percent) administered by the State of Wyoming and
approximately 1,247,477 surface acres (83 percent) that are privately
owned. The BLM administers approximately 964,525 acres of mineral
estate (64 percent) within the CCPA. Split estate lands, lands with
private surface and Federal mineral ownership, comprise approximately
812,189 acres of those 964,525 acres (54 percent of the 64 percent) of
the Federal mineral ownership of land within the CCPA.
The Draft EIS describes and analyzes the impacts of the OG's
Proposed Action (Alternative B) and two alternatives, the No Action
Alternative (Alternative A) and Alterative C. Additional alternatives
were considered, but eliminated from detailed analysis. All
alternatives incorporate best management practices
[[Page 3768]]
for oil and gas development and other measures necessary to address
impacts to air quality, cultural resources, historic trails, public
safety, recreational opportunities, threatened and endangered species,
socioeconomic, transportation, vegetation, visual resources, water,
wildlife habitats including Greater Sage-grouse and Greater Sage-grouse
Priority Habitat Management Areas, and other relevant issues. The
following is a summary of the alternatives:
1. Alternative A: The No Action Alternative assumes that approval
of the OG's proposed Project would be denied and new drilling would
continue under approval of the appropriate permitting agency.
2. Alternative B: The Proposed Action Alternative, which is also
the Agency Preferred Alternative, consists of the OG's proposal to
explore and develop potentially productive subsurface formations
underlying the CCPA by drilling up to approximately 5,000 oil and
natural gas wells on 1,500 single and multi-well pads within the CCPA
over a period of 10 years. The production life of each well is
estimated to be approximately 30 years. The OG would develop the CCPA
using directional, vertical, horizontal, and other drilling techniques,
as well as to develop infrastructure to support oil and gas production
in the CCPA, including: Well pads, roads, pipelines, power lines,
compressor stations, electrical substations, and ancillary facilities
such as water supply wells and water disposal facilities. The total
estimated new surface disturbance for development under Alternative B
would be approximately 52,667 acres. This alternative includes
requesting full-season exceptions, excluding USFS Administered lands
(i.e. year-round drilling), to multiple timing limitation stipulations
which serve to protect several wildlife species in the project area.
3. Alternative C: This alternative would reduce the surface
disturbance and related impacts from oil and gas development based on
assumptions that a higher average number of wells would be drilled from
each pad. Specifically, 55 percent of well pads in the CCPA would have
up to 4 wells, 35 percent of well pads in the CCPA would have 5 to 8
wells, and 10 percent of well pads in the CCPA would have 9 to 16
wells. This would provide for drilling the same number of wells (5,000)
under the same drilling rate (500 wells per year) as Alternative B.
Furthermore, this would reduce the total number of well pads to 938,
which would reduce the miles of access roads, gas gathering pipelines,
water pipelines, and overhead electrical lines needed, as well as the
acreage encumbered by the proposed project. The total estimated new
surface disturbance for development under Alternative C would be
approximately 37,267 acres. This alternative would require that
multiple timing stipulations be applied as outlined in the BLM RMP and
the USFS LRMP, thus not allowing for year-round drilling.
The BLM NEPA Handbook (H-1790-1) calls for expression of the BLM's
preferred alternative in the Draft EIS if one exists (BLM 2008c). The
BLM selected Alternative B, the Proposed Action, as a preferred
alternative for the Converse County Oil and Gas Development Project.
The BLM believes that the Proposed Action has the necessary elements
that would address the purpose and need for the Draft EIS and will
review public comments on the Draft before the preferred alternative is
identified in the Final EIS.
The No Action Alternative (Alternative A) and each of the action
alternatives (Alternative B and C) are discussed in terms of
alternative-specific activities and schedule, design features, and
surface disturbance summaries. Alternatives considered, but eliminated
from detailed analysis also are discussed. The analysis of each
alternative focuses on the new disturbance that would occur under each
alternative and would be in addition to existing and permitted
disturbance.
The Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal
Register on May 16, 2014 (79 FR 28538). Key issues identified during
scoping included: Potential impacts on private landowners over Federal
mineral estate; socioeconomic impacts on local communities and
residents, including new jobs and economic activity in the community,
as well as increased noise, traffic, and population growth; potential
impacts on air quality and climate change; potential impacts to
groundwater and surface water supply and quality; potential impacts to
historic trails; enforcement of reclamation and other mitigation on
non-Federal lands; impacts to area recreation, grazing, and hunting;
the potential to impact Greater Sage-grouse, migratory birds, big game
and other wildlife; and adequate analysis of cumulative impacts.
The public is encouraged to comment on any and all portions of the
document. The BLM and the USFS ask that those submitting comments make
them as specific as possible with reference to chapters, page numbers,
and paragraphs in the Draft EIS document.
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. Comments that contain only opinions or preferences will
not receive a formal response; however, they will be considered and
included as part of the BLM and the USFS decision-making process. The
most useful comments are those that include new technical or scientific
information, identification of data gaps in the impact analysis, or
technical or scientific rationale for opinions or preference.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Mary Jo Rugwell,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 2018-01320 Filed 1-25-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
