93650 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 229 / Wednesday, November 27, 2024 / Notices 

2. Parties receiving service of the 

decision by certified mail shall have 30 

days from the date of receipt to file an 

appeal. 

Parties who do not file an appeal in 

accordance with the requirements of 43 

CFR part 4 shall be deemed to have 

waived their rights. Notices of appeal 

transmitted by facsimile will not be 

accepted as timely filed. 

Matthew R. Lux, 

Land Transfer Resolution Specialist, 

Resolution Group. 

[FR Doc. 2024–27785 Filed 11–26–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–10–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_WY_FRN_MO4500183156] 

Notice of Availability of the Record of 

Decision and Approved Resource 

Management Plan Amendment for the 

Buffalo Field Office, Wyoming 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) announces the 

availability of the Record of Decision 

(ROD) for the Approved Resource 

Management Plan (RMP) Amendment 

for the Buffalo Field Office located in 

Buffalo, Wyoming. The BLM Director 

signed the ROD on November 20, 2024, 

which constitutes the decision of the 

BLM and makes the Approved RMP 

Amendment effective immediately. 

DATES: The BLM Director signed the 

ROD/Approved RMP Amendment on 

November 20, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: The ROD/Approved RMP 

Amendment is available online at: 

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/2021239/510. Printed copies of 

the ROD/Approved RMP Amendment 

are available for public inspection at the 

Buffalo Field Office or can be provided 

upon request by contacting Tom Bills, 

Project Manager, telephone (307) 684– 

1133; or at the address BLM Buffalo 

Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, 

WY 82834; email tbills@blm.gov. 

A copy of the Protest Resolution 

Report is available at: https://

www.blm.gov/programs/planning-andnepa/public-participation/protestresolution-reports. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Bills, Project Manager, 

telephone (307) 684–1133; or at the 

address BLM Buffalo Field Office, 1425 

Fort Street, Buffalo, WY 82834; email 

tbills@blm.gov. Individuals in the 

United States who are deaf, deafblind, 

hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 

TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Approved RMP Amendment addresses a 

United States District Court for the 

District of Montana order (Western 

Organization of Resource Councils, et 

al. v. BLM; CV 00076–GF–BMM; 8/3/ 

2022). The Approved RMP Amendment 

changes the existing 2015 Buffalo 

Approved RMP. 

The RMP Amendment approved by 

the ROD includes land use allocations 

of areas acceptable for further 

consideration for coal leasing and those 

that are not. The Approved RMP 

Amendment is Alternative A (No 

Leasing) from the Final Supplemental 

Environmental Impact State (EIS), 

making no BLM administered coal 

acceptable and 413,250 acres 

unavailable for further consideration for 

coal leasing within the Buffalo Field 

Office planning area. The Approved 

RMP Amendment does not affect the 

area with coal development potential or 

the area determined to be suitable for 

surface coal mining. The Approved 

RMP Amendment includes the updated 

coal screens (43 CFR 3420.1–4(e)) using 

current data and evaluated the issues 

identified through internal and public 

scoping. Application of coal screen 1 

(development potential) identified 

approximately 413,250 acres of BLMadministered coal as having 

development potential. The Approved 

RMP Amendment also addresses the 

NEPA deficiencies identified by the 

court order associated with the 

application of the multiple-use screen. 

Specifically, the application of a 

multiple-use climate change criterion 

that uses greenhouse gas emissions as a 

proxy for climate change. Reducing 

availability of BLM-administered coal 

for leasing consideration reduces the 

contribution of greenhouse gas 

emissions from the development and 

combustion of BLM-administered coal 

from the planning area. 

The BLM determined that additional 

leasing of BLM-administered coal is not 

necessary based on the current analysis 

in the Final Supplemental EIS. The 

analysis indicates that operating mines 

in the planning area collectively have 

existing leases with sufficient coal 

reserves to maintain projected mine 

production levels into 2041. 

The BLM published a notice of 

availability for the Draft Supplemental 

EIS and Potential RMP Amendment in 

the Federal Register on May 8, 2023, 

which initiated a 90-day comment 

period (88 FR 29691). On May 31, 2023, 

the BLM hosted a public meeting in 

Gillette, Wyoming, to present the Draft 

Supplemental EIS/RMP Amendment to 

the public and solicit comments. The 

BLM also hosted an on-line public 

meeting on June 5, 2023. During the 

public comment period, the BLM 

received 25 unique written submissions 

containing 147 substantive comments. 

The Draft Supplemental EIS comments 

helped the BLM refine the Final 

Supplemental EIS and guided the 

development of the Proposed RMP 

Amendment. 

The BLM provided the Proposed RMP 

Amendment for public protest on May 

17, 2024 (89 FR 43431), for a 30-day 

protest period, and received five valid 

protests. The BLM Assistant Director for 

Planning and Resources resolved all 

protests. Responses to protest issues 

were compiled and documented in a 

Protest Resolution Report (see 

ADDRESSES). No changes were made to 

the Approved RMP Amendment as a 

result of protest resolution. 

The BLM provided the Proposed RMP 

Amendment to the Governor of 

Wyoming for a 60-day Governor’s 

consistency review. The State Director 

made no changes to the Proposed RMP 

Amendment as a result of the 

Governor’s review. On September 13, 

2024, the Governor submitted an appeal 

to the BLM Director on the State 

Director’s response to the Governor’s 

consistency review. In accordance with 

planning regulations (1610.3–2), the 

Director notified the Governor on 

November 6, 2024, of the reasons for the 

determination to reject the Governor’s 

recommendations. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR 1610.5– 

1) 

Tracy Stone-Manning, 

BLM Director. 

[FR Doc. 2024–27677 Filed 11–26–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–26–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_MT_FRN_MO4500182720] 

Notice of Availability of the Record of 

Decision and Approved Resource 

Management Plan Amendment for the 

Miles City Field Office, Montana 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1