Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 13 / Thursday, January 20, 2000 / Notices 3243

DATES: The meeting will be from 8:00

a.m. to 10:00 a.m. January 20, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David B. Hunsaker, Bureau of Land

Management, National Historic Oregon

Trail, Interpretive Center, P.O. Box 987,

Baker City, OR 97814, (Telephone 541–

523–1845).

Richard T. Watts,

Vale ADM/Operations-Field Services.

[FR Doc. 00–1267 Filed 1–19–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–33–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT–912–00–0777–XQ]

Notice of Meeting; Utah Resource

Advisory Council

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Notice of Meeting of the Utah

Advisory Council.

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land

Management’s Utah Statewide Resource

Advisory Council meeting will be held

on January 20–21, 2000, in Provo, Utah.

The purpose of this meeting is to

provide the Council with an overview of

Utah’s recreation management program

as well as developing guidelines for

recreation management.

The meeting will be held at the

Hampton Inn, (Sundance Room), 1511

South 40 East, Provo, Utah. It is

scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on January

20 and conclude at noon on January 21.

A public comment period, where

members of the public may address the

Council, is scheduled from 12:30–1:00

p.m. on January 20. All meetings of the

BLM’s Resource Advisory Council are

open to the public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sherry Foot, Special Programs

Coordinator, Utah State Office, Bureau

of Land Management, 324 South State

Street, Salt Lake City, 84111; phone

(801) 539–4195.

Dated: January 10, 2000.

Sally Wisely,

Utah BLM State Director.

[FR Doc. 00–1291 Filed 1–19–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–DQ–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY–040–00–1330–DB]

Kemmerer and Rock Springs Field

Office Areas, Wyoming, Planning

Review Concerning Proposed Closure

to Oil and Gas Leasing in Trona Mining

Areas to Protect Health and Safety

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to conduct a

planning review and request for public

participation concerning closing

portions of the trona mining areas to oil

and gas leasing for protection of health

and safety, with potential to amend the

Kemmerer and Green River (Rock

Springs) Resource Management Plans

(RMPs) to modify mineral management

objectives.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given in

accordance with 43 CFR 1610.2(C) that

the Rock Springs and Kemmerer Field

Offices of the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) are proposing to

close the Special Sodium Drilling

Area—A in southwest Wyoming to oil

and gas leasing and coincidental

development of oil and gas reserves on

existing oil and gas leases to provide for

the continued health and safety of

underground miners. A planning review

of existing land-use decisions would be

conducted to evaluate how to best

manage mineral resource and to provide

for the recognized health and safety of

underground miners. Any needed

changes in existing management or any

new management actions to be

prescribed for the area will be identified

and if necessary, the Kemmerer and

Green River RMPs amended.

The Joint Industry Committee (JIC),

representing trona, and oil and gas

industry groups and interests, has

worked for four years addressing issues

on the complexities of coincidental

development of underground trona and

deep oil and gas within the Mechanical

Mining Trona Area (MMTA). Technical

studies and analysis with safety and

economic comparisons show that the

mineable trona within the MMTA

should be completely extracted before

development of deep natural gas

resources. The JIC has recommended the

following approach:

• Expand the MMTA boundary to

include a one-mile lateral safety buffer,

known as the Special Sodium Drilling

Area-A (SSDA–A). The SSDA–A

consists of 218,613 acres of Federal

minerals managed by the BLM, 30,959

acres of State of Wyoming-owned

mineral estate, and 223,873 acres of

privately held minerals.

• Amend the RMPs to close the

SSDA–A to oil and gas leasing and

development of deep natural gas wells.

Drilling of deep natural gas wells would

be prohibited until completion of

conventional underground trona mining

and abandonment of the underground

trona mines. Hydrocarbon resources in

the MMTA would be conserved for

future development.

• Adopt special rules for drilling

operations, well completion,

production, and abandonment of

shallow natural gas wells within the

SSDA–A. Shallow gas drilling could be

allowed within the SSDA–A on existing

oil and gas leases, subject to special

rules currently under development.

• Outside of the SSDA–A but within

the Known Sodium Leasing Area, allow

oil and gas leasing, and drilling of deep

natural gas wells utilizing the special

rules for drilling operations, well

completion, production, and

abandonments procedures as adopted

by the Wyoming Oil and Gas

Conservation Commission (WOGCC) for

the entire Special Sodium Drilling Area.

Closure to oil and gas leasing and

development of the deep natural gas

reserves within the SSDA–A and

adoption of these recommendations is

problematic due to existing federal and

State of Wyoming oil and gas leases

within the SSDA–A. These existing

leases do not provide limitations on the

depth of oil and gas drilling operations.

The JIC and BLM have identified several

options for addressing this problem:

1. Maintain the current suspension on

existing oil and gas leases until

conventional underground mining of

trona has been completed and miners

are no longer working underground.

2. Allow current suspensions to

expire and place conditions of approval

on applications to drill in order to

prevent drilling of deep natural gas

wells. Development of shallow natural

gas wells may be allowed subject to

special rules (once they are adopted by

the WOGCC).

3. Existing Federal and State lessees

could be given preferential right to trade

oil and gas leases within the SSDA–A

for other Federal or State leases of

comparable value.

4. Purchase existing Federal and State

oil and gas leases by one or more of the

following:

(A) Give the leaseholder a royalty

credit against future oil and gas

production on other leases held by the

lessee.

(B) Allocate a portion of future

sodium royalties to purchase oil and gas

leases from the lessee.