75338 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 2004 / Notices 

stipulation that precludes development 

of CBNG until the planned Buffalo RMP 

revision, scheduled to begin in FY 2008, 

is completed. Upon revision of the 

Buffalo RMP, lessees subject to this 

restriction may seek modification or 

waiver pursuant to the terms of the 

revised RMP following a 30-day public 

review period. 

5. Maintain existing land use 

allocations and leasing decisions, but 

close to leasing areas within the six 

proposed ACECs. 

6. Adopt a moratorium on lease sales 

until completion of the Buffalo RMP 

revision. 

7. Close the BFO to oil and gas 

leasing. 

Planning Criteria: Criteria proposed 

will include:

—Balancing the level of land use 

restrictions or other management 

practices needed at the leasing stage 

to protect resources, while keeping 

the public lands and resources 

available for public use under FLPMA 

principles of multiple use and 

sustained yield. 

—The potential for the occurrence and 

development of mineral resources, 

including conventional oil and gas 

and coalbed natural gas production. 

—Consistency with the land use plans, 

programs, and policies of other 

Federal agencies, State and local 

governments, and Native American 

tribes. 

—Compliance with all Federal laws 

including the Clean Air Act, Clean 

Water Act, National Historic 

Preservation Act, and the Endangered 

Species Act. 

—Balancing the requirements of FLPMA 

and the Mineral Leasing Act. 

—Because this effort focuses on 

planning-level use restrictions such as 

stipulations that are applied at the 

lease issuance stage, the reexamination of site-specific 

development stage conditions of 

approval for CBNG development and 

production is beyond the scope of this 

EA. Those site-specific mitigation 

issues were examined in detail in the 

PRB EIS which resulted in the 2003 

BFO plan amendment. 

—Those ACECs proposed for 

designation in the PRB EIS will not be 

designated through this analysis. Only 

the measures necessary to protect 

their eligibility will be considered. 

Designation will be deferred until the 

planned Buffalo RMP revision. BLM 

projects that this revision will 

commence in FY 2008.

Dated: November 30, 2004. 

Alan L. Kesterke, 

Associate State Director.

[FR Doc. 04–27579 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[WY–070–05–1310–EJ] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Assessment 

Concerning Oil and Gas Leasing in the 

Buffalo Field Office, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an 

Environmental Assessment that would 

evaluate the leasing for oil and gas of 

421 identified parcels in the Buffalo 

Resource Area leased since February 

2000. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) is commencing 

preparation of an Environmental 

Assessment (EA) under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 

purpose of the analysis is to examine 

particular environmental effects of the 

oil and gas lease issuance decisions 

made since February 2000. This EA 

responds to rulings of the Interior Board 

of Land Appeals (IBLA) and the Tenth 

Circuit Court of Appeals (the Court), 

which held that certain effects of coal 

bed natural gas (CBNG) development 

were not analyzed, or contemplated, in 

the 1985 Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) Buffalo Resource Management 

Plan (RMP) Final Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS). See Pennaco Energy v. 

DOI, 377 F.3d 1147 (10th Cir., filed 

August 10, 2004).

DATES: The public is invited to comment 

on this proposed action, the scope of the 

EA, and alternatives to be considered. 

The BLM can best use comments and 

resource information that are submitted 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice in the Federal Register. BLM 

does not plan to hold scoping meetings 

at this time.

ADDRESSES: Please send written 

comments or questions to the BLM 

Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, 

Buffalo, Wyoming 82834. Written 

comments, or resource information, may 

also be hand-delivered to the BLM 

Buffalo Field Office. Written comments 

must have the Environmental 

Assessment number 070–05–064 written 

on the front page of the comments. 

Comments or questions may also be sent 

electronically to 

BFORet_WYMail@blm.gov. The scoping 

notice and other information regarding 

this project are posted on the Wyoming 

BLM Web site at http://

www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/bfo/. Members of 

the public may examine documents 

pertinent to this proposal by visiting the 

Buffalo Field Office during business 

hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday 

through Friday, except holidays. 

Your response is important and will 

be considered in the environmental 

analysis process. If you respond, we will 

keep you informed of the availability of 

environmental documents that address 

impacts that occur from this proposal. 

Please note that comments and 

information submitted regarding this 

project, including names, e-mail 

addresses, and street addresses of the 

respondents, will be available for public 

review and disclosure at the above 

address. Individual respondents may 

request confidentiality. If you wish to 

withhold your name, e-mail address, or 

street address from public view or from 

disclosure under the Freedom of 

Information Act, you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

written comment. Such requests will be 

honored to the extent allowed by the 

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: Paul 

Beels, Project Manager, BLM, Buffalo 

Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, 

Wyoming 82401. Mr. Beels may also be 

reached by telephone at (307) 684–1168.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

action has been prompted by a recent 

ruling of the IBLA and the Court 

concerning the adequacy of the 1985 

Buffalo RMP EIS and developmental 

NEPA documents, such as the Wyodak 

EIS, to support certain oil and gas 

leasing decisions. In August 2004, the 

Court reversed a Federal District court 

and affirmed the decision of the IBLA 

that concluded that BLM had 

insufficient NEPA analysis to make a 

decision in February 2000 to issue three 

leases for oil and gas in an area where 

CBNG was likely to be produced. The 

Court reinstated IBLA’s remand of the 

issuance of these three leases to BLM for 

‘‘additional appropriate action.’’

In the course of its opinion, the Court 

stated that the NEPA analysis upon 

which the BLM relied in issuing three 

leases ‘‘did not consider pre-leasing 

options, such as not issuing leases at 

all.’’ Accordingly, the BLM will evaluate 

whether to affirm, modify, or cancel the 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 2004 / Notices 75339

leases, which include the right to 

develop CBNG. Recognizing that the 

leases have been issued, the alternatives 

to be considered in the EA will analyze 

whether to modify the leasing decisions 

in light of the remedial issue analysis 

(i.e., after consideration of the 

appropriate environmental issues 

foreseeable at the time the leases were 

offered for sale.) 

The rationale of the Court ruling 

requires that BLM consider those 

environmental issues found to have 

been inadequately considered in the 

1985 Buffalo RMP EIS. This EA may, 

however, examine a broader array of 

environmental issues associated with 

CBNG leasing decisions that were 

reasonably foreseeable prior to the 

issuance of these leases. An array of 

environmental issues was subject to indepth re-examination in the Powder 

River Basin Oil and Gas Project (PRB) 

EIS and RMP Amendment Record of 

Decision (ROD) that was signed April 

30, 2003. The ROD amended the 1985 

Buffalo RMP to raise the anticipated 

level of use of the resource area for oil 

and gas and to develop appropriate 

resource use restrictions to mitigate 

impacts to other resources. 

In the PRB EIS, the BLM carefully 

analyzed the cumulative effects on air, 

water, and other resources of the 

potential development of 51,000 CBNG 

wells. The BLM determined that with 

the leasing stipulations in the 1985 

Buffalo RMP and new mitigation 

measures approved in the PRB EIS, the 

51,000 wells would not result in any 

social, environmental, or economic 

effects that would preclude 

accomplishment of one or more of the 

1985 Buffalo RMP objectives as long as 

appropriate conditions of use are 

required. This EA may substantially 

incorporate by reference impact 

analyses from the PRB EIS. 

BLM is including in the scope of the 

EA the three leases that were the subject 

of the Court and IBLA’s decisions, as 

well as 418 additional oil and gas leases 

that have been issued since February 

2000 within the Buffalo Field Office 

administrative area. BLM will take a 

‘‘hard look’’ at the environmental 

consequence of each alternative and has 

not foreclosed, simply because of the 

difficulty of implemention, choosing to 

implement any of the alternatives under 

review. 

In addition to this EA, BLM is 

preparing an EA to consider continued 

implementation of the leasing decisions 

in the Buffalo RMP in future years. 

Potential Alternatives: For the 

purposes of analysis, the BLM has 

developed the following reasonable 

range of comprehensive alternatives, 

and will analyze particular 

environmental issues that were 

foreseeable at the time the leases were 

offered for sale: 

1. No Action Alternative: Affirm the 

issuance of 421 leases on the terms 

prescribed in the 1985 RMP, as 

amended. 

2. Modify leases to add stipulations to 

address issues such as water disposal, 

use of diesel engines, slopes, erosive 

soils, and proposed Areas of Critical 

Environmental Concern (ACEC). 

3. Modify leases to subject them to 

less restrictive stipulations consistent 

with the 1985 RMP, as amended. 

4. Modify leases to preclude 

development of CBNG. We believe that 

this is what the Court meant by ‘‘not 

issuing the leases at all,’’ since the Court 

found no problems with the adequacy of 

existing NEPA analyses to support 

leasing for conventional oil and gas.

Dated: November 30, 2004. 

Alan L. Kesterke, 

Associate State Director.

[FR Doc. 04–27580 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[CO–600–05–1610–DF] 

Notice of Public Meetings, Southwest 

Colorado Resource Advisory Council 

Meetings

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY: 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) Southwest 

Colorado Resource Advisory Council 

(RAC) will meet as indicated below.

DATES: The Southwest Colorado RAC 

meetings will be held January 21, 2005; 

March 4, 2005; May 6, 2005; and July 

22, 2005.

ADDRESSES: The Southwest Colorado 

RAC meetings will be held January 21, 

2005, at the Bill Heddles Recreation 

Center, located at 530 Gunnison River 

Dr., Delta, CO; March 4, 2005, at the 

Holiday Inn Express, located at 1391 S. 

Townsend Ave., in Montrose, CO; May 

6, 2005, at the Gunnison County 

Fairgrounds, Multipurpose Building, 

275 S. Spruce St., in Gunnison, CO; and 

July 22, 2004, at the Avon Hotel, 144 E. 

10 St., in Silverton, CO. 

The Southwest Colorado RAC 

meetings will begin at 8 a.m. and 

adjourn at approximately 3 p.m. Public 

comment periods regarding matters on 

the agenda will be at 2 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barbara Sharrow, BLM Uncompahgre 

field office manager, 2505 S. Townsend 

Ave., Montrose, CO; telephone 970–

240–5300; or Melodie Lloyd, Public 

Affairs Specialist, 2815 H Rd., Grand 

Junction, CO, telephone 970–244–3097.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Southwest Colorado RAC advises the 

Secretary of the Interior, through the 

Bureau of Land Management, on a 

variety of public land issues in 

Colorado. 

Topics of discussion for all Southwest 

Colorado RAC meetings may include the 

BLM National Sage Grouse Conservation 

Strategy, committee reports, recreation, 

fire management, land use planning, 

invasive species management, energy 

and minerals management, travel 

management, wilderness, land exchange 

proposals, cultural resource 

management, and other issues as 

appropriate. 

These meetings are open to the 

public. The public may present written 

comments to the RACs. Each formal 

RAC meeting will also have time, as 

identified above, allocated for hearing 

public comments. Depending on the 

number of persons wishing to comment 

and time available, the time for 

individual oral comments may be 

limited.

Dated: December 8, 2004. 

Barbara Sharrow, 

Uncompahgre Field Office Manager, 

Designated Federal Official for the Southwest 

Colorado RAC.

[FR Doc. 04–27515 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–JB–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

Potential for Oil Shale Development, 

Extension of Public Comment Period

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The BLM published a Federal 

Register on November 22, 2004 seeking 

public input on the terms to be included 

in leases of small tracts for oil shale 

research and development within the 

Piceance Creek Basin, northwestern 

Colorado; the Uinta Basin, southeastern 

Utah: and the Green River and Washakie 

Basins, western Wyoming. BLM 

received a request to extend the