4778 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 

1761) (https://www.govinfo.gov/link/ 

uscode/43/1761)); ((43 CFR part 2800) 

(https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-43/ 

part-2800)). Approval of this right-ofway grant constitutes the final decision 

of the Department of the Interior and is 

not subject to appeal under 

Departmental regulations at 43 CFR part 

4 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-43/ 

part-4). 

(Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1761 and 43 CFR part 

2800) 

Raymond Suazo, 

State Director. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01042 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–12–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

[PO4820000251] 

Records of Decision and Approved 

Resource Management Plan for Bears 

Ears National Monument and Approval 

of the Amendment to the Manti-La Sal 

National Forest Land and Resource 

Management Plan in Utah 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior; Forest Service, Agriculture 

(USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), and U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service (USDA Forest Service) (jointly 

‘‘the Agencies’’) announce the 

availability of the Records of Decision 

(ROD) for the Approved Resource 

Management Plan (RMP) for BLMadministered portions of the Bears Ears 

National Monument (BENM) and a ROD 

for the Approval of the Amendment to 

the 1986 Manti-La Sal National Forest 

Land and Resource Management Plan 

(LRMP) that adopts the Approved RMP 

for USDA Forest Service-administered 

portions of BENM located in 

southeastern Utah. The Department of 

the Interior Principal Deputy Assistant 

Secretary for Land and Minerals 

Management signed the BLM ROD, 

which constitutes the final decision of 

the BLM and makes the Approved RMP 

effective immediately on BLMadministered lands. The Manti-La Sal 

National Forest Supervisor signed the 

USDA Forest Service ROD approving an 

amendment to the LRMP to adopt the 

Approved RMP. The amendment to the 

LRMP will become effective 30 days 

after the publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register. 

ADDRESSES: The RODs and Approved 

RMP are available online at https://

eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/2020347/510. Printed copies of 

the BLM ROD/Approved RMP are 

available for public inspection at the 

BLM Monticello Field Office, 365 North 

Main, Monticello, Utah 84535, and BLM 

Utah Public Room, 440 West 200 South, 

Ste. 500, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 or 

can be provided upon request by 

contacting BLM Project Manager Jill 

Stephenson at jstephenson@blm.gov or 

435–259–2141. The USDA Forest 

Service ROD/Approved RMP are 

available for public inspection at the 

Manti-La Sal National Forest Monticello 

Ranger District, 397 North Main Street, 

Monticello, Utah 84535 or can be 

provided upon request by contacting 

Michael Engelhart at 

michael.engelhart@usda.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: Jill 

Stephenson, Project Manager, telephone 

435–259–2100; address Bureau of Land 

Management Canyon Country District 

82 E Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532; email 

jstephenson@blm.gov regarding the 

BLM ROD. Michael Engelhart, District 

Ranger, telephone 435–636–3341; 

address Manti-La Sal National Forest 

Monticello District PO Box 820, 

Monticello, UT 84535; email 

michael.engelhart@usda.gov, regarding 

the USDA Forest Service ROD. 

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 for 

contacting Ms. Stephenson. Individuals 

outside the United States should use the 

relay services offered within their 

country to make international calls to 

the point-of-contact in the United 

States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

planning area encompasses 

approximately 1.36 million acres of 

Federal land administered by the BLM 

and USDA Forest Service in San Juan 

County, Utah. Presidential Proclamation 

10285 directs the Agencies to ‘‘prepare 

and maintain a new management plan 

for the entire monument’’ for the 

specific purposes of ‘‘protecting and 

restoring the objects identified [in 

Proclamation 10285] and in 

Proclamation 9558.’’ The RMP’s 

purpose is to provide a management 

framework, including goals, objectives, 

and management direction to guide 

BENM management consistent with the 

protection of BENM objects and the 

management direction provided in 

Proclamation 10285. The USDA Forest 

Service amendment’s purpose is to 

incorporate the approved BENM RMP 

and update land management 

allocations of the BENM boundary area 

into the Manti-La Sal LRMP. 

The Approved RMP is based on the 

Proposed RMP from the Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), 

with minor changes to management 

actions, goals, and best practices. All 

changes are described in each Agency’s 

ROD (section 1.2 in the BLM ROD and 

section 3 and 6 in the USDA Forest 

Service ROD). The Agencies were 

informed in the development of the 

Approved RMP by input from the 

public, including from the scoping and 

public comment periods on the EIS and 

from the protest period, cooperating 

agencies, State and local governments, 

including the Utah Division of Wildlife 

Resources, government-to-government 

consultation with Tribal Nations, the 

Monument Advisory Committee, the 

National Historic Preservation Act 

consultation, the Endangered Species 

Act consultation, and the Governor’s 

consistency review. The Approved RMP 

includes designation of the Aquifer 

Protection Area of Critical 

Environmental Concern, retains other 

existing Areas of Critical Environmental 

Concern, and closes portions of BENM 

to recreational shooting, among other 

management direction. 

The BLM and USDA Forest Service 

provided the Proposed RMP/Final EIS 

to the public on October 4, 2024, for a 

30-day protest period and received 40 

protest letters. The USDA Forest Service 

adopted the BLM’s administrative 

review protest procedures, as provided 

by 36 CFR 219.59(a). The BLM and 

USDA Forest Service jointly signed a 

memorandum documenting the 

resolutions of all protests for both 

Agencies. The BLM Assistant Director 

for Resources and Planning resolved all 

protests. Responses to protest issues 

were compiled and documented in a 

Protest Resolution Report (see 

ADDRESSES). While no protests were 

granted, the Agencies made several edits 

to the Approved RMP text to improve 

clarity based on input received during 

the protest period. 

The BLM provided the Proposed 

RMP/Final EIS to the Governor of Utah 

for a 60-day Governor’s consistency 

review on October 4, 2024. The 

Governor’s Office identified concerns 

and inconsistencies between the 

Proposed RMP/FEIS and the State and 

local plans, policies, and programs in a 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 4779 

letter received December 3, 2024. The 

BLM considered the concerns, and 

where not in conflict with the purposes, 

policies and programs of Federal laws 

and regulations applicable to public 

lands, accepted recommendations, 

which are described in sections 1.2 of 

the BLM ROD. As the changes were 

within the range of alternatives 

considered in the RMP/EIS, the BLM 

did not seek public comments on the 

recommendations that were accepted. 

On January 8, 2025, the Governor 

appealed to the BLM Director the Acting 

State Director’s decision not to accept or 

address all the State’s 

recommendations, consistent with 43 

CFR 1610.3–2. After careful review and 

consideration of the Governor’s points, 

the Department of the Interior 

determined that the planning effort 

properly considered all applicable State 

and local plans, policies, and programs, 

and that no further changes are 

necessary to provide for a reasonable 

balance between the national interest 

and the State’s interest. The BLM has 

published the reasons for the 

Department of the Interior’s 

determination to reject the Governor’s 

appeal and recommendations on its 

website (see ADDRESSES). 

The Department of the Interior 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Land and Minerals Management signed 

the BLM ROD. The Manti-La Sal 

National Forest Supervisor signed the 

USDA Forest Service ROD. 

(Authority: 36 CFR 219.13, 36 CFR 219.16, 36 

CFR 219.17, 40 CFR 1501.9, 43 CFR 1610.2, 

and 43 CFR 1610.5–1) 

Matthew A. Preston, 

BLM Utah State Director, Acting. 

Barbara Van Alstine, 

Manti-La Sal National Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00863 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–25–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[PO #4820000251] 

Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Oil and Gas 

Leasing Decisions in Seven States 

From February 2015 to December 2020 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) intends to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) for approximately 3,224 oil and 

gas leases sold in Colorado, Montana, 

New Mexico, North Dakota, South 

Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming and issued 

pursuant to 74 individual lease sale 

decisions. The EIS will provide a 

comprehensive analysis of the potential 

environmental impacts from these 

leases, which have been remanded to 

BLM for further review, including the 

impacts of greenhouse gas emissions (to 

include the social cost of carbon) and 

other common impacts. 

DATES: This notice initiates the public 

scoping process for the EIS. Comments 

on issues, impacts, and potential new 

alternatives to be analyzed, as well as on 

relevant information, studies, or 

analyses, may be submitted in writing 

until March 17, 2025. The BLM will 

announce on its website any additional 

venues for commenting during scoping. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/ 

eplanning-ui/project/2036015/510. 

• Mail: BLM, Headquarters, Division 

of Fluid Minerals, Attention—Oil and 

Gas litigated leases EIS, 301 Dinosaur 

Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Janna Simonson, Project Lead, or John 

Ajak, Division Chief, via email at bllm_

hq_litigated leases_EIS@blm.gov, or via 

telephone at 505–954–2000; or by mail 

at Bureau of Land Management, 301 

Dinosaur Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87508. 

You may also request to be added to the 

mailing list for the EIS. The 2022 

supplemental EA may be found at the 

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

project/2022218/510. 

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 for 

contacting Ms. Headen. Individuals 

outside the United States should use the 

relay services offered within their 

country to make international calls to 

the point-of-contact in the United 

States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM 

will review the environmental analyses 

for the leasing decisions that were 

challenged in the following lawsuits: 

WildEarth Guardians v. BLM, 19–cv– 

00505 (D.N.M.), 20–2146 (10th Cir.) 

(challenging leasing decisions in New 

Mexico); WildEarth Guardians v. 

Bernhardt, 16–cv–01724 (D.D.C.) 

(challenging leasing decisions in 

Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming); 

WildEarth Guardians v. Bernhardt, 20– 

cv–00056 (D.D.C.) (challenging leasing 

decisions in Colorado, Montana, New 

Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, 

Utah, and Wyoming); WildEarth 

Guardians v. Bernhardt, 21–cv–00175 

(D.D.C.) (challenging leasing decisions 

in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and 

Wyoming); and WildEarth Guardians v. 

Bernhardt, 21–cv–00004 (D. Mont.) 

(challenging leasing decisions in 

Montana, North Dakota and South 

Dakota). Impacts to other resources were 

also raised in the subject complaints. 

The BLM may elect to include 

additional analysis in the EIS for 

resources and impacts beyond 

greenhouse gas emissions, climate 

change, and the social cost of 

greenhouse gases. 

The area encompassed by the 

challenged oil and gas leases includes 

approximately 3.5 million acres within 

the States of Colorado, Montana, New 

Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, 

Utah, and Wyoming. In September 2022, 

the BLM prepared and solicited public 

comments on the Supplemental 

Environmental Assessment Analysis for 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Related to 

Oil and Gas Leasing in Seven States 

from February 2015 to December 2020. 

In consideration of new science and 

information related to greenhouse gas 

emissions, climate change, and the 

social cost of greenhouse gases (e.g., the 

Department’s adoption, on October 16, 

2024, of new estimates of the social cost 

as the best available science), and the 

number of oil and gas leases under 

consideration across seven States, the 

BLM is electing to prepare an EIS, with 

associated opportunities for public 

comment. The number of leases and 

amount of acreage at issue may also 

warrant analysis of other common 

impacts, such as those to wildlife, water 

resources, and night skies. 

The purpose of this public scoping 

process is to solicit information from the 

public related to these leases. 

Information received during this process 

will influence the development of the 

EIS and guide the scope of the 

environmental analysis. 

The leasing decisions that will be 

analyzed in this EIS arise from BLM’s 

responsibility under the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act and the 

Mineral Leasing Act. The purpose and 

need for the EIS is to address issues 

raised in multiple civil lawsuits about 

the adequacy of the environmental 

analyses for the various decisions at 

issue and to ensure compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act, 

applicable Executive and Secretarial 

Orders, and Departmental policies 

regarding analysis of the impacts from 

greenhouse gas emissions and the social 

cost of greenhouse gases—including 

Executive Order 13990, Secretary’s 

Order 3399, and new information 

provided in the 2023 BLM Specialist 

Report on Annual Greenhouse Gas 


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