67604 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 222 / Thursday, November 18, 2004 / Notices 

interim management guidelines until 

the RMPA is completed and a Record of 

Decision is signed. 

Preparation of a RMPA for the 

Carlsbad and Roswell Field Offices is 

necessary to respond to changing 

resource conditions and respond to new 

issues in the context of habitat 

management for special status species 

on public lands in the planning area 

administered by the Field Offices. The 

RMPA will establish new land-use 

planning decisions to address issues 

identified through public scoping and, 

where appropriate, will incorporate 

decisions from the existing RMPs. 

The BLM will work collaboratively 

with interested parties to identify the 

management decisions that are best 

suited to local, regional, and National 

interests. The public scoping process 

will help identify planning issues and 

provide for public comment on the 

proposed planning criteria. BLM has 

identified the following preliminary 

issues: 

• Integrating wildlife habitat 

management with livestock grazing 

management. 

• Minimizing surface disturbance 

associated with energy development.

• Utilizing existing rights-of-way 

corridors for energy distribution; 

• Developing route designations to 

manage access, travel, and off-highway 

vehicles to protect wildlife habitat. 

• Proposing land tenure and 

ownership adjustments for greater 

management efficiency; 

• Regional coordination with state 

and local agencies for more effective 

management in the planning area. 

• These preliminary issues are not 

final and may be refined or additional 

issues may be added through public 

participation. 

BLM has also identified some 

preliminary planning criteria to guide 

development of the plan, to avoid 

unnecessary data collection and 

analysis, and to ensure the plan is 

tailored to the issues. These criteria may 

be modified or other criteria identified 

during the public-scoping process. The 

public is invited to comment on the 

following preliminary planning criteria: 

• Actions must comply with laws, 

regulations, executive orders, and BLM 

Manuals (i.e., supplemental program 

guidance). 

• Actions must be reasonable and 

achievable and allow for flexibility 

where appropriate (i.e., adaptive 

management will be incorporated into 

the RMPA). 

• The Economic Profile System (EPS) 

developed by the Sonoran Institute will 

be used as a community involvement 

strategy and a source of demographic 

and economic data for the planning 

process. EPS will provide a foundation 

of current social and economic 

conditions in the Planning Area. 

Following this, as planning alternatives 

are developed, a social and economic 

analysis and environmental justice 

assessment will be conducted to 

determine the effect that each 

alternative will have on users and the 

diverse population in the Planning 

Area. The analysis will consider the 

short- and long-term social and 

economic benefits associated with 

possible alternatives. The lifestyles, 

issues, and needs of area residents will 

be taken into consideration. Other 

important factors to be considered will 

be the needs and long-term plans of 

local city, county, and Tribal 

governments. Short-term consequences 

will be weighed against long-term 

benefits as necessary. The impacts on 

both the general population and affected 

subgroups within the planning area will 

be determined. 

• Actions will be considered using an 

interdisciplinary approach. 

• The Roswell/Carlsbad RMPA 

planning team will work cooperatively 

with county and municipal 

governments, other Federal, State and 

local agencies, and interested groups 

and individuals. A process of 

collaborative public involvement and 

participation will be carried out 

throughout this process. 

• The RMPA will change or modify 

the guidance upon which the Field 

Offices will manage public lands within 

the planning area. 

• The planning process will include 

an EIS that complies with National 

Environmental Policy Act standards. 

• The RMPA will protect and 

enhance the biodiversity of the planning 

area, while allowing the public the 

opportunity for access to public lands in 

a productive and meaningful way. 

• The RMPA will recognize valid 

existing rights related to the use of 

public lands. The RMPA will define the 

process that BLM will use to address 

applications or notices filed after the 

completion of the RMPA on existing 

land-use authorizations. 

• The RMPA process will involve 

Native American Tribal governments 

and will provide strategies for 

protection of cultural resources and 

traditional cultural properties on public 

lands. 

• Decisions in the RMPA will strive 

to be compatible with existing plans and 

policies of adjacent local, State, and 

Federal Governments and agencies, as 

long as the decisions are in conformance 

with BLM-management policies. 

• The RMPA will comply with all 

legal mandates of the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act of 1976, the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, the Federal Advisory Committee 

Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, 

and the BLM planning regulations in 43 

CFR part 1600. 

The collaborative process will allow 

the public, Tribes, State and Federal 

agencies, local elected officials, and 

BLM specialists to participate in 

identifying issues and developing and 

analyzing alternatives. BLM has asked 

the New Mexico State Land Office; the 

New Mexico Department of Game and 

Fish; and Chaves, Eddy, Lea, and 

Roosevelt Counties to serve as 

cooperating agencies during the 

planning process.

Dated: September 28, 2004. 

Jesse J. Juen, 

Acting New Mexico State Director.

[FR Doc. 04–25617 Filed 11–17–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–GG–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[CO–100–1610–DO] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource 

Management Plan and Associated 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Little Snake Field Office

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management; 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: This document provides 

notice that the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) intends to prepare 

an Resource Management Plan (RMP) 

and associated Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) for the Little Snake 

Field Office. The planning area is 

located in Northwest Colorado in 

Moffat, Routt, and Rio Blanco Counties. 

The plan will provide a framework to 

guide subsequent management 

decisions on approximately 1.3 million 

acres of BLM-administered public lands 

and 1.1 million acres of subsurface 

mineral estate administered by the BLM. 

Preparation of this RMP and EIS will 

conform with the Federal Land Policy 

and Management Act (FLPMA), the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), Federal Regulations, and BLM 

management policies. The BLM will 

work collaboratively with a broad range 

of interested parties to identify 

management decisions that are best 

suited to local, regional, and national 

needs and concerns.

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 222 / Thursday, November 18, 2004 / Notices 67605

DATES: This notice initiates the public 

scoping process. Comments on the 

scope of the plan, including issues or 

concerns that should be considered, 

should be submitted in writing to the 

address listed below and will be 

accepted throughout the creation of the 

Draft RMP/Draft EIS. All public 

meetings will be announced through the 

local news media, newsletters, and the 

BLM Web site at http://www.co.blm.gov/

lsra/rmp.

ADDRESSES: Please mail written 

comments to the BLM, Little Snake 

Field Office, 455 Emerson St., Craig, 

Colorado, 81625 or fax to (970) 826–

5002. Comments should be sent to the 

above address or may be sent by 

electronic mail (e-mail) to 

colsrmp@blm.gov. Comments submitted 

during this planning process, including 

names and street addresses of 

respondents will be available for public 

review at the Little Snake Field Office 

during regular business hours 7:45 a.m. 

to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except holidays. Individual respondents 

may request confidentiality. If you wish 

to withhold your name and address 

from public review or disclosure under 

the Freedom of Information Act, you 

must state this prominently at the 

beginning of your comments. Such 

requests will be honored to the extent 

allowed by law. All submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, will be 

made available for public inspection in 

their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information or to have your 

name added to the Little Snake RMP 

Mailing List, contact Jeremy Casterson 

at the Little Snake Field Office (see 

address above), telephone (970) 826–

5071.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

document provides notice that the Little 

Snake Field Office will revise its current 

RMP. The RMP to be prepared for the 

public lands administered by the Little 

Snake Field Office will identify goals, 

objectives, standards and guidelines for 

management of a variety of resources 

and values. The RMP will demonstrate 

active engagement of the community in 

a collaborative planning effort. The plan 

will specify actions, constraints, and 

general management practices necessary 

to achieve desired conditions. The 

scope of the RMP will be 

comprehensive. Certain existing 

standards and guidelines and other BLM 

plans will be incorporated into the 

RMP, such as the Colorado Rangeland 

Health Standards and Guidelines, and 

the Uniform Format for Oil and Gas 

Lease Stipulations. This notice provides 

the public an opportunity to suggest 

issues, concerns, needs, and resource 

use, development and protection 

opportunities for consideration in 

preparation of the plan. A number of 

decisions related to various resource 

values and programs will be made as a 

result of this planning effort. The major 

issues identified to date include (1) 

Management of upland vegetation; (2) 

management of riparian areas and water 

quality concerns; (3) energy and mineral 

development; (4) special management 

areas; (5) recreation management; (6) 

travel management; (7) cultural 

resources and paleontology and Native 

American concerns; (8) management of 

wildlife, including conservation and 

recovery of special status species; (9) 

socio-economic values; and (10) land 

and realty issues. 

In addition to the major issues, a 

number of management questions and 

concerns will be addressed in the plan. 

Issues and management concerns may 

be identified by interested parties 

during the scoping phase. After 

gathering public comments on what 

issues the plan should address, the 

suggested issues will be placed in one 

of three categories: 

(1) Issues to be resolved in the plan; 

(2) Issues resolved through policy or 

administrative action; or 

(3) Issues beyond the scope of the 

plan. 

BLM will provide feedback to the 

public on the final issues to be 

addressed in the plan. An 

interdisciplinary approach will be used 

to develop the plan in order to consider 

the variety of resource issues and 

concerns identified. Disciplines 

involved in the planning process will 

include specialists with expertise in 

rangeland management, minerals and 

geology, outdoor recreation, 

archaeology, wildlife, lands and realty, 

hydrology, soils, sociology and 

economics. 

The following planning criteria have 

been proposed to guide the 

development of the plan, to avoid 

unnecessary data collection and 

analyses, and to ensure the plan is 

tailored to the issues. Other criteria may 

be identified during the public scoping 

process. After gathering comments on 

planning criteria, BLM will finalize the 

criteria and provide feedback to the 

public on the criteria to be used 

throughout the planning process. 

• The plans will be completed in 

compliance with the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 

1701 et seg.) and the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Decisions in the plan will strive to be 

compatible with the existing plans and 

policies of adjacent local, State and 

Federal agencies as long as the decisions 

are in conformance with Federal laws 

and regulations. The plan will recognize 

valid existing rights. 

• Complete the planning work on 

time and on budget. Focus the 

collaborative effort so that the 

collaborators can see that they make a 

difference, within a timeframe that is 

reasonable and achievable. 

• Recognize the specific niche that 

federal lands provide both to the nation 

and to the surrounding community. A 

successful plan will be one that is 

responsive to both national needs and 

community needs. 

• Public participation will be 

encouraged throughout the process as 

per the attached Public Participation 

Plan. Collaborate and build 

relationships with tribes, state and local 

governments, federal agencies, local 

stakeholders and others in the 

community of interest of the plan as 

normal business. Collaborators are 

regularly informed and offered timely 

and meaningful opportunities to 

participate in the planning process.

• Road and trail access (and OHV 

management) guidance will be 

incorporated into the plan to ensure 

public and resource needs are met. 

• The Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act (EPCA) inventory 

results will be integrated into land use 

planning and energy use authorizations. 

Environmental protection and energy 

production are both desirable and 

necessary objectives of sound land 

management practices and are not to be 

considered mutually exclusive 

priorities; 

• For all stipulations developed in 

new land use plans and to further 

improve consistency and understanding 

of lease stipulations, State and Field 

offices will use the Uniform Format for 

Oil and Gas Lease Stipulations prepared 

by the Rocky Mountain Regional 

Coordinating Committee in March 1989. 

Lease stipulations will be reviewed for 

consistency with neighboring field 

offices and States, and where there are 

discrepancies, efforts will be undertaken 

to try and get consistency. 

• The lifestyles and concerns of area 

residents will be recognized in the plan. 

A socio-economic assessment of the 

planning area will be prepared to 

identify, analyze and review the social 

and economic considerations of the 

plans. 

• The plan will incorporate the 

Colorado Rangeland Health Standards 

and Guidelines. It will lay out a strategy 

for ensuring that proper grazing 

67606 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 222 / Thursday, November 18, 2004 / Notices 

practices are followed. Grazing will be 

managed to maintain or improve the 

health of the public lands by 

incorporating conditions to enhance 

resource conditions into permitted 

operations. 

• Contain an adaptive framework that 

incorporates regular monitoring and 

evaluation to adjust management within 

the direction of the existing plan. 

Included in the range of potential 

actions for each adaptive management 

decision, a ‘‘fallback’’ decision will be 

prepared, which would be expected to 

achieve the outcome. The plan will have 

realistic desired conditions and 

achievable objectives consistent with 

likely budgets and the design criteria. 

• Lands with wilderness 

characteristics may be managed to 

protect and/or preserve some or all of 

those characteristics. This may include 

protecting certain lands in their natural 

condition and/or providing 

opportunities for solitude, or primitive 

and unconfined types of recreation. 

• Identify existing and potential 

corridors (potential corridors include 

existing ROW routes that can be 

considered for additional facilities and 

thus be considered a corridor if not 

already so designated); Identify existing 

and potential ROW development sites 

such as energy development areas (e.g., 

wind energy sites) and communication 

sites; Describe likely development of 

potential corridors and other ROW sites 

as a basis for impact assessment. 

• The BLM will work cooperatively 

with interested parties to identify the 

management decisions that are best 

suited to local, regional, and national 

interests. A local citizen-based 

stewardship group, the Northwest 

Colorado Stewardship (NWCOS), will 

engage with the BLM in the RMP 

revision. NWCOS is an independent 

community-centered stewardship group 

that will focus its efforts on a 

community assessment, developing a 

community vision for the landscape, 

and a community alternative.

Dated: September 24, 2004. 

John E. Husband, 

Field Manager.

[FR Doc. 04–25618 Filed 11–17–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–GG–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation 

California Bay-Delta Public Advisory 

Committee Public Meeting

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, the 

California Bay-Delta Public Advisory 

Committee will meet jointly with the 

California Bay-Delta Authority on 

December 8 and 9, 2004. The agenda for 

the joint meeting will include reports 

from the Lead Scientist and the 

Independent Science Board; a 

presentation on climate change by Dr. 

Dettinger and Francis Chung; an update 

on the California Water Plan, the Delta 

Improvements Package, and the 

Operations Criteria and Plan for the 

Central Valley Project and the State 

Water Project; and discussion and a 

possible recommendation on the 10-

Year Finance Plan and the Annual 

Statement of Progress and Future 

Priorities for the CALFED Bay-Delta 

Program with State and Federal agency 

representatives.

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Wednesday, December 8, 2004, from 9 

a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Thursday, 

December 9, 2004, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

If reasonable accommodation is needed 

due to a disability, please contact 

Pauline Nevins at (916) 455–5511 or 

TDD (800) 735–2929 at least 1 week 

prior to the meeting.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Sheraton Hotel in the Grand 

Ballroom, 1230 J Street, Sacramento, 

California.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Heidi Rooks, California Bay-Delta 

Authority, at (916) 445–5511, or Diane 

Buzzard, Bureau of Reclamation, at 

(916) 798–5022.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Committee was established to provide 

recommendations to the Secretary of the 

Interior, other participating Federal 

agencies, the Governor of the State of 

California, and the California Bay-Delta 

Authority on implementation of the 

CALFED Bay-Delta Program. The 

Committee makes recommendations on 

annual priorities, integration of the 

eleven Program elements, and overall 

balancing of the four Program objectives 

of ecosystem restoration, water quality, 

levee system integrity, and water supply 

reliability. The Program is a consortium 

of State and Federal agencies with the 

mission to develop and implement a 

long-term comprehensive plan that will 

restore ecological health and improve 

water management for beneficial uses of 

the San Francisco/Sacramento and San 

Joaquin Bay Delta. 

Committee and meeting materials will 

be available on the California Bay-Delta 

Authority Web site at http://

calwater.ca.gov and at the meeting. This 

meeting is open to the public. Oral 

comments will be accepted from 

members of the public at the meeting 

and will be limited to 3–5 minutes.

(Authority: The Committee was established 

pursuant to the Department of the Interior’s 

authority to implement the Fish and Wildlife 

Coordination Act, 16 U.S.C. 661 et seq., the 

Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq., and the Reclamation Act of 1902, 43 

U.S.C. 371 et seq., and the acts amendatory 

thereof or supplementary thereto, all 

collectively referred to as the Federal 

Reclamation laws, and in particular, the 

Central Valley Project Improvement Act, Pub. 

L. 102–575.)

Dated: November 3, 2004. 

Allan Oto, 

Special Projects Officer, Mid-Pacific Region.

[FR Doc. 04–25666 Filed 11–17–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MN–M

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree 

Under the Comprehensive 

Environmental Response, 

Compensation, and Liability Act of 

1980

Notice is hereby given that on 

November 5, 2004 a proposed Consent 

Decree in United States v. the Atlantic 

Richfield Company, an action under 

Sections 107 and 113 of the 

Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation, and Liability 

Act of 1980 (‘‘CERCLA’’) as amended, 

42 U.S.C. 9607 and 9613, was lodged 

with the United States District Court for 

the District of Utah, Case No. 

2:04CV01028 BSJ. 

In this action, the United States 

sought the recovery of costs incurred 

and to be incurred by the United States 

in response to releases or threatened 

releases of hazardous substances at and 

from the Eureka Mills NPL Site located 

in Eureka, Utah (the ‘‘Site’’). The United 

States alleged that the Atlantic Richfield 

Company was liable under CERCLA 

Section 107(a)(1) and (2), 42 U.S.C. 

9607(a)(1) and (2), as a past owner and 

operator of a portion of the Site at the 

time of disposal and as a present owner 

of a portion of the Site upon which 

hazardous substances have been 

released, for those response costs set 

forth in CERCLA Section 107(a)(4)(A)–

(D), 42 U.S.C. 96707(a)(4)(A)–(D). 

The settlement between the United 

States and the Atlantic Richfield 

Company provides that the Atlantic 

Richfield Company will implement the 

remedy for the Site selected by the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(‘‘EPA’’) on those portions of the Site on 

which the United States has alleged that