Department of the Interior December 21, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Washington, DC, intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the use of aminopyralid, fluroxypyr, and rimsulfuron herbicides as part of the its vegetation treatment programs on public lands in 17 Western States. By this notice, the BLM is announcing the beginning of the scoping process to solicit public comments and identify issues.

The purpose of this public notice is to: (1) Describe the proposal submitted to BOEM by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Mines Minerals and Energy (DMME) to acquire an OCS lease for wind energy research activities; (2) solicit public input regarding the proposal, its potential environmental consequences, and the use of the area in which the proposed project would be located; and (3) solicit indications of competitive interest for a research lease in the area identified by DMME for activities that would support future, potential commercial wind development. On June 1, 2012, BOEM received an unsolicited request for a research lease from DMME. The objective of DMME is to obtain a lease under 30 CFR 585.238 for renewable energy research activities, including the siting of two meteorological and ocean monitoring platforms for pre-and post-construction collection of resource data, including wind velocities, water levels, waves, and bird and bat activities, to support the future production of renewable energy within and around the Wind Energy Area (WEA) offshore Virginia, identified by BOEM. This RFCI is published pursuant to subsection 8(p)(3) of the OCS Lands Act, as amended by section 388 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)(3)), and the implementing regulations at 30 CFR Part 585.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Shadura Natural Gas Development Project is available for public review and comment. The EIS was prepared pursuant to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA); the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (Refuge Administration Act), as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (Refuge Improvement Act); and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). It describes five alternatives for accessing the subsurface natural gas estate owned by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), and provides analysis of the effects of those alternatives. The Service does not have a preferred alternative.

The California State Director for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is establishing interim final supplementary rules and requests public comments. These interim final supplementary rules will become effective immediately upon their publication in the Federal Register and will apply to public lands within the Carrizo Plain National Monument in Kern and San Luis Obispo Counties, California (Monument). The BLM has determined that these interim final supplementary rules are necessary to promote the health and sustainability of the Carrizo Plain National Monument, while reducing the risks to the Monument's ecosystem that, if left unchecked, could cause undue ecological degradation. These rules are in accordance with the Approved Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision (RMP/ROD) for the Monument.