Draft EIS Appendix 27 

APPENDIX 27—PROCEDURES FOR PROCESSING 

APPLICATIONS FOR PERMIT TO DRILL 

Upon receipt, an application (Application for Permit to Drill [APD] or Notice of Staking [NOS]) is posted

for a 30-day public review. The APD is checked for completeness by the fluids minerals staff and entered

into various databases. Bonding and lease adequacy, including any inclusions in other administrative 

categories such as units or communization agreements, is determined. Spacing and location requirements 

are within the jurisdiction of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (WOGCC), and these 

requirements are checked as described in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Bureau 

of Land Management (BLM) and WOGCC. Sometimes these requirements result in hearings before the

WOGCC that delay the APD approval process. Any discrepancies in adjudication, wildlife, cultural 

resources, and any perceived deficiency in the surface use plan or drilling plan is communicated to the 

operator within 7 days of the receipt of the APD and the operator has 45 days to correct these deficiencies

or the APD is returned. 

In conjunction with posting an APD, specialist requests are sent to each resource specialist to review the

project’s site-specific details to determine conformance with the Resource Management Plan (RMP) and

any other environmental plan (Environmental Impact Statement [EIS] or Environmental Assessment

[EA]) that encompasses the project location. These specialists are paleontology/geology, cultural, range 

(grazing), soils/water (hydrology), realty, transportation, and wildlife. Each specialist is intimately 

familiar with specific resource attributes within the various plans. In almost all cases, each site-specific 

location is visited by the specialists to identify the precise character at that site. In some cases, it is

necessary to obtain more specialized input from outside agencies, such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and these consultations are included in the appropriate

specialist’s comments. The individual specialist’s expertise and judgment is communicated to the fluid

minerals natural resource specialist (NRS) who compiles the information and generates an appropriate

site-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document. In this process, the NRS reviews the

proposal in the context of existing environmental documents and the RMP to determine whether existing 

documentation is adequate. If existing documentation is adequate, the NRS prepares an Administrative

Determination (AD). If existing documentation is insufficient or nonexistent, the NRS prepares NEPA 

documentation as needed, using the appropriate format (see BLM NEPA Handbook. H-1790-1). 

The NRS also generates reasonable conditions of approval (COA), based on sound science and each

specialist’s requirement to protect or mitigate the various resources (see Wyoming Instruction 

Memorandum WY-90-346). The COAs are included in the approved application as a contractual 

requirement for that specific project. Because the COAs represent decisions of the authorized officer,

they can be appealed if the operator considers the COAs too onerous to exercise the benefits of the lease. 

Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), COAs are also be continuously evaluated to

determine their effectiveness and necessity. 

In specified seasonally restricted areas, an approved APD generally includes a seasonal COA because (1)

the APD is valid for 1 year from date of issuance and BLM does not control the start-up date for project 

activity; and (2) field conditions during the crucial period cannot be predicted at the time of APD

approval. The need for a COA must be documented in an appropriate site-specific NEPA document and

must consider the reasonableness of the restriction. 

Rawlins RMP A27-1 
Appendix 27 Draft EIS 

PROCEDURES FOR HANDLING SPLIT ESTATE REQUESTS FOR ACCESS 

ON FEDERAL SURFACE

A right-of-way grant is required for access roads and well sites on federal surfaces overlying state or fee

minerals. The procedure to acquire this right-of-way and other cooperative regulatory requirements is 

defined in an MOU between BLM and the State of Wyoming WOGCC, dated September 13, 1994, BLM 

MOU WY920-94-09-79. The MOU was entered into by and between BLM and the WOGCC in

accordance with Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). The other cooperative regulatory 

requirements are underground injection, units and communitization agreements, well spacing, and 

geophysical operations. Appendix 2–I-A-3 of the MOU states that the BLM agrees to: “Notify the

Commission within ten working days after receipt of the APD by the appropriate BLM office of any

critical environmental problems regarding surface operations (i.e., big game crucial winter range, known 

cultural resources, presence of threatened and endangered species, etc.). Prior to notifying the 

commission, critical environmental problems will be confirmed and justified through on-site inspections 

by the BLM to verify potential problems. The existence of big game crucial winter range will not be used 

as the sole reason for denying access to a location.” 

The right-of-way grant is administered by Lands and Realty and is essentially processed in same manner

as an APD. Specialist requests are sent to each resource specialist to review the project’s site-specific 

requirements to determine conformance with the RMP and any other environmental plan (EIS or EA) that 

encompasses the project location. After the resource specialists’ requests are returned, the realty

specialist compiles the information and generates an appropriate site-specific NEPA document. In this

process, the realty specialist reviews the proposal in the context of existing environmental documents and

the RMP to determine whether existing documentation is adequate. If existing documentation is 

adequate, the realty specialist prepares an AD. If existing documentation is insufficient or nonexistent, 

the realty specialist prepares NEPA documentation as needed, using the appropriate format (see BLM

NEPA Handbook H-1790-1). The realty specialist generates stipulations and attaches these to the rightof-way grant. These grants are, in most cases, written for 30 years and may have processing cost

reimbursement and rental fee requirements. 

A27-2 Rawlins RMP