Department of the Interior April 8, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), in cooperation with the States of Tennessee and Alabama and with Conservation Fisheries, Inc., a nonprofit organization, plan to reintroduce one federally listed endangered fish, the boulder darter (Etheostoma wapiti), and one federally listed threatened fish, the spotfin chub (Cyprinella (=Hybopsis) monacha), into their historical habitat in Shoal Creek (a tributary to the Tennessee River), Lauderdale County, Alabama, and Lawrence County, Tennessee. Based on the evaluation of species' experts, these species currently do not exist in this reach or its tributaries. These two fish are being reintroduced under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), and would be classified as a nonessential experimental population (NEP). The geographic boundaries of the NEP would extend from the mouth of Long Branch, Lawrence County, Tennessee (Shoal Creek mile (CM) 41.7 (66.7 kilometers (km)), downstream to the backwaters of the Wilson Reservoir at Goose Shoals, Lauderdale County, Alabama (approximately CM 14 (22 km)), and would include the lower 5 CM (8 km) of all tributaries that enter this reach. These reintroductions are recovery actions and are part of a series of reintroductions and other recovery actions that the Service, Federal and State agencies, and other partners are conducting throughout the species' historical ranges. This rule provides a plan for establishing the NEP and provides for limited allowable legal taking of the boulder darter and spotfin chub within the defined NEP area. In addition, we are changing the scientific name for spotfin chub, from Cyprinella (=Hybopsis) monacha to Erimonax monachus, to reflect a recent change in the scientific literature, and adding a map to the regulation for a previously created NEP including one of these fishes for the purposes of clarity.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requests the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to extend an existing approval to collect information from States and local government agencies and from qualified nonprofit corporations and associations who submit an Application for Land for Recreation or Public Purposes (Form No. 2740-1) to obtain public lands and benefits for recreational and public purposes. The BLM uses the information to determine if an applicant meets the requirements of the Recreation and Public Purpose Act of June 14, 1926.

This notice announces the intent to hold a Bureau of Land Management Resource Advisory Council (RAC) meeting in the Twin Falls District of Idaho on Tuesday, May 17, 2005. The meeting will be held in the Oak Room at the Red Lion Canyon Springs Hotel, 1357 Blue Lakes Boulevard, in Twin Falls, Idaho at 8 a.m.

This notice publishes approval of the Tribal-State Compacts between the State of Oklahoma and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribe.

The Minerals Management Service is issuing this notice to advise the public that MMS has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas Lease Sale 196 in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) (Lease Sale 196) scheduled for August 2005. Proposed Lease Sale 196 is the fourth Western Planning Area (WPA) lease sale scheduled in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2002-2007 (5-Year Program, OCS EIS/EA MMS 2002- 006). The preparation of this EA is an important step in the decisionmaking process for Lease Sale 196. The proposal for Lease Sale 196 (the offering of all available unleased acreage in the WPA) and its alternatives (the proposed action excluding the unleased blocks near biologically sensitive topographic features and no action) were identified by the MMS Director in January 2002 following the Call for Information and Nominations/Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and were analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2003-2007; Central Planning Area Sales 185, 190, 194, 198, and 201; Western Planning Area Sales 187, 192, 196, and 200Final Environmental Impact Statement; Volumes I and II (Multisale EIS, OCS EIS/EA MMS 2002-052). The Multisale EIS analyzed the effects of a typical WPA lease sale by presenting a set of ranges for resource estimates, projected exploration and development activities, and impact-producing factors for any of the proposed WPA lease sales. The level of activities projected for proposed Lease Sale 196 falls within these ranges. In this EA, which tiers from the Multisale EIS and incorporates that document by reference, MMS reexamined the potential environmental effects of the proposed action and its alternatives based on any new information regarding potential impacts and issues that were not available at the time the Multisale EIS was prepared. No new significant impacts were identified for proposed Lease Sale 196 that were not already assessed in the Multisale EIS. As a result, MMS determined that a supplemental EIS is not required and prepared a Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI).

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 WYW155759 for lands in Sheridan County, Wyoming. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the Lease terminated under the law.

The purpose of this action is to continue implementation of the terms of the Helium Privatization Act (HPA) of 1996 dealing with the disposal of the Conservation Helium Reserve. The HPA requires the Department of the Interior to offer for sale, beginning no later than 2005, a portion of the Conservation Helium stored underground at the Cliffside Field, north of Amarillo, Texas. The Department of the Interior, in consultation with the private helium industry, has determined that private companies, with refining capacity along the crude helium pipeline, will need a supply of helium in excess of that available from their own storage accounts and that available from crude helium extractors in the region. Given the current market, Conservation Helium sold in this sale will cause minimal market disruption.

Per 30 U.S.C. 188(d), the lessee timely filed a petition for reinstatement of oil and gas Lease NDM 75388, Billings 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 $5 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 $155 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 $5 per acre; The increased royalty of 16\2/3\ percent or 4 percentages above the existing competitive royalty rate; and The $155 cost of publishing this Notice.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are designating no critical habitat pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for Astragalus jaegerianus (Lane Mountain milk-vetch). In our April 6, 2004 proposed rule, we identified 29,522 acres (ac) (11,947 hectares (ha)) of habitat essential for the conservation of A. jaegerianus located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. However, as a result of our evaluation of the relationship of essential habitat to sections 3(5)(A), 4(a)(3), and 4(b)(2) of the Act, we designate a total of zero acres (0 ac) (zero hectares (0 ha)).