Bureau of Land Management 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This order modifies an Executive Order and a Secretarial Order insofar as they affect 20 acres of public lands withdrawn by Power Site Reserve No. 141. This action also notifies the public of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission determination that opens 10 acres within a Power Project overlapping the Power Site Reserve. The combined actions will open the lands to a land exchange subject to Section 24 of the Federal Power Act.

This order extends the withdrawal created by Public Land Order No. 3708, as modified by Public Land Order No. 6709, and partially revoked by Public Land Order No. 7682, for an additional 20-year period. The extension is necessary to continue protection of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Gilmore Satellite Tracking Station, also known as the Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station, located near Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to amend its regulations in 43 CFR part 3500 for leasing of solid minerals other than coal and oil shale to distinguish fringe acreage lease requirements from lease modification requirements, and to describe acceptable justifications for a lease modification. The proposed rule would also identify changes in the associated procedural requirements and update the filing fees. The proposed changes are based on statutory authorities, which authorize the BLM to issue regulations for leasing of minerals and to charge for administrative processing costs, and on policy guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) requiring the BLM to charge these fees.

As required by 43 CFR 2650.7(d), notice is hereby given that an appealable decision approving lands for conveyance pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will be issued to The Kuskokwim Corporation, Successor in Interest to Upper Kalskag, Incorporated. The lands are in the vicinity of Upper Kalskag, Alaska, and are located in:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). The ICR is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2008. The BLM may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. However, under OMB regulations, the BLM may continue to conduct or sponsor this information collection while it is pending at OMB. On January 25, 2008, the BLM published the required 60-day notice in the Federal Register (73 FR 4621), requesting comments on this proposed collection. The comment period ended on March 25, 2008. The BLM received no comments. You may obtain copies of the proposed collection of information and related forms and explanatory material by contacting the BLM Information Collection Clearance Officer at the telephone number listed in the ADDRESSES section below.

Notice is hereby given, in accordance with Public Laws 92-463 and 94-579, that the California Desert District Advisory Council to the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, will meet in formal session on Friday, July 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, July 26 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Riverside Marriot, 3400 Market St., Riverside, CA 92501. Agenda topics for the two sessions will include updates by Council members and reports from the BLM District Manager and five field office managers. Additional agenda topics are being developed. Once finalized, the meeting agenda will be published in a news release prior to the meeting and posted on the BLM California state Web site at https:// www.blm.gov/ca/news/rac.html.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Front Range Resource Advisory Council (RAC) will meet as indicated below.

As required by 43 CFR 2650.7(d), notice is hereby given that an appealable decision approving lands for conveyance pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will be issued to Tulkisarmute Incorporated. The lands are in the vicinity of Tuluksak, Alaska, and are located in:

The County of Calaveras proposes to purchase under the Recreation and Public Purposes (R&PP) Act the Wilseyville landfill currently under R&PP lease CAS-056771-01. The R&PP conveyance proposal is for the existing landfill area, consisting of 12.5 acres. The 10 acre landfill area was classified for conveyance in the Federal Register, Vol. 62, No. 70, page 17853, on April 11, 1997. It was later discovered that the entrance gate to the transfer station was inadvertently located outside the original classified 10 acres. To remedy this situation, classification for conveyance under the R&PP Act is amended to add 2.5 acres to the 10 acre classification, for a total of 12.5 acres. The 2.5 acres has been examined and found suitable for conveyance for recreational or public purposes under the provisions of the Recreation and Public Purposes Act, as amended (43 U.S.C. 869 et seq.).

A parcel of public land totaling 12.5 acres in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, is being considered for direct sale to PacifiCorp under the provisions of the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and implementing regulations contained in 43 CFR 2711.3-3(2), at no less than appraised fair market value. PacifiCorp has proposed the direct sale of these lands to accommodate expansion of the existing industrial landfill at the Jim Bridger Power Plant.

Per 30 U.S.C. 188(d), Marathon Oil Company timely filed a petition for reinstatement of oil and gas lease NDM 95212, Mountrail County, North Dakota. The lessee paid the required rental accruing from the date of termination. No leases were issued that affect these lands. The lessee agrees to new lease terms for rentals and royalties of $10 per acre and 16\2/3\ percent or 4 percentages above the existing competitive royalty rate. The lessee paid the $500 administration fee for the reinstatement of the lease and $163 cost for publishing this Notice. The lessee met the requirements for reinstatement of the lease per Sec. 31(d) and (e) of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 188). We are proposing to reinstate the lease, effective the date of termination subject to: The original terms and conditions of the lease; The increased rental of $10 per acre; The increased royalty of 16\2/3\ percent or 4 percentages above the existing competitive royalty rate; and The $163 cost of publishing this Notice.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its cooperating agencies have prepared a Draft Land Use Analysis and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DLUA/DEIS) to analyze the potential impacts of two Federal Coal Lease By Applications (LBAs), WVES-50556 and WVES-50560, totaling 13,089.55 acres at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) East Lynn Lake Project in Wayne County, West Virginia. By this notice, the BLM announces the beginning of a 90-day public review and comment period and notice of a public hearing for the DLUA/DEIS, Maximum Economic Recovery (MER), and Fair Market Value (FMV) pursuant to the 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3425.4. The public is invited to review and comment on the DLUA/DEIS, MER, and FMV.

As required by 43 CFR 2650.7(d), notice is hereby given that an appealable decision approving lands for conveyance pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will be issued to Kongnikilnomuit Yuita Corporation. The lands are in the vicinity of Bill Moores Slough, Alaska, and are located in:

Under the provisions of 30 U.S.C. 188(d) and (e), and 43 CFR 3108.2-3(a) and (b)(1), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received a petition for reinstatement of oil and gas lease COC68788 from Gunnison Energy Corp., and SG Interests VII, LTD, for lands in Gunnison County, Colorado. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the lease terminated under the law.

Under the provisions of 30 U.S.C. 188(d) and (e), and 43 CFR 3108.2-3(a) and (b)(1), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received a petition for reinstatement of oil and gas lease COC68790 from Gunnison Energy Corp., and SG Interests VII, LTD, for lands in Gunnison County, Colorado. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the lease terminated under the law.

Under the provisions of 30 U.S.C. 188(d) and (e), and 43 CFR 3108.2-3(a) and (b)(1), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received a petition for reinstatement of oil and gas lease COC68787 from Gunnison Energy Corp., and SG Interests VII, LTD, for lands in Gunnison County, Colorado. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the lease terminated under the law.

The plats of survey of the following described lands were officially filed in the Bureau of Land Management Oregon/Washington State Office, Portland, Oregon, on March 21, 2008.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will file the plat of survey of the lands described below in the BLM-Eastern States, Springfield, Virginia, 30 calendar days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. Contact Information: Bureau of Land Management, 7450 Boston Boulevard, Springfield, Virginia 22153. Attn: Cadastral Survey.

Members of the public are hereby invited to participate with Spring Creek Coal Company in a program for the exploration of coal deposits owned by the United States of America in lands located in Big Horn County, Montana, encompassing 4,589.36 acres.

Under the provisions of 30 U.S.C. 188(d) and (e), and 43 CFR 3108.2-3(a) and (b)(1), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received a petition for reinstatement from Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP and Stephen Energy Company LLC for Competitive oil and gas lease WYW149277 for land in Sweetwater County, WY. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the lease terminated under the law.

As required by 43 CFR 2650.7(d), notice is hereby given that an appealable decision approving lands for conveyance pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act will be issued to Sanak Corporation. The lands are in the vicinity of Pauloff Harbor, Alaska, and are located in:

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico Resource Advisory Council (RAC), will meet as indicated below.

This order partially revokes 3 Public Land Orders and revokes 1 Public Land Order in its entirety insofar as they affect approximately 427 acres of National Forest System lands withdrawn for use by the Forest Service as administrative sites, campgrounds, and other public purposes.

In Executive Order 13212, Actions to Expedite Energy-Related Projects, the President ordered that executive departments and agencies take appropriate actions ``to expedite projects that will increase the production, transmission, or conservation of energy.'' In addition, Title II, Section 211, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109- 58) provides that the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) should, within 10 years of enactment of the Act, ``* * * seek to have approved non-hydropower renewable energy projects located on the public lands with a generation capacity of at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity.'' DOE and BLM (the Agencies) have identified utility-scale solar energy development as a potentially critical component in meeting these mandates. Utility-scale solar energy projects generate electricity that is distributed to consumers through the electric power transmission grid. The Agencies have determined that specific actions should be taken to further such energy development. The Agencies are considering the development and implementation of agency-specific programs that would establish environmental policies and mitigation strategies (e.g., best management practices and siting criteria) related to solar energy development in six western states (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah). DOE proposes to develop a solar energy program of environmental policies and mitigation strategies that would apply to the deployment of DOE supported solar energy projects on BLM-administered lands or other Federal, State, tribal, or private lands. The BLM would establish its own environmental policies and mitigation strategies to use when making decisions on whether to issue rights-of-way for utility-scale solar energy development projects on public lands administered by the BLM. The Agencies have determined that a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) is appropriate for the establishment of specific agency-wide solar energy programs and additional related policy. The Agencies are issuing this Notice of Intent to inform the public about the proposed actions; announce plans to conduct eight public scoping meetings; invite public participation in the scoping process; and solicit public comments for consideration in establishing the scope and content of the PEIS, alternatives, and environmental issues and impacts. The Agencies will prepare the PEIS in accordance with NEPA; the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508); the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C. 1701, et seq.) DOE's NEPA regulations, 10 CFR Part 1021; and BLM's planning regulations, 43 CFR Part 1600.

The Bureau of Land Management Cottonwood Field Office will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) consistent with the regulations pertaining to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and address key components of the National Fire Plan. Under the provisions of Section 102(2)(c) of the NEPA, the BLM announces its intentions to prepare an EIS and solicit public comments regarding issues and resource information for this project. The purpose of the Whiskey South II project is to reduce existing and potential fuel loads to reduce the potential of high-intensity large-scale wildfire, improve the safety and effectiveness of firefighters in fire suppression activities, contribute to the economic and social well being of residents and visitors within proximity to the project area, maintain and improve water quality and fish habitat, and improve wildlife habitat and forage opportunities.