65984 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 246 / Friday, December 21, 2001 / Notices

Comments should be sent to the BLM,

Montana State Office, at the above

address, and should speak to, but not

necessarily be limited to, the following

information:

1. The quality of the coal resource;

2. The quantity of coal;

3. The mining method or methods

which would achieve maximum

economic recovery of the coal,

including specification of seams to

be mined and the most desirable

timing and rate of production;

4. If this tract is likely to be mined as

part of an existing mine and,

therefore, be evaluated, on a

realistic incremental basis, in

relation to the existing mine to

which it has the greatest value;

5. If this tract should be evaluated as

part of a potential larger mining

unit and evaluated as a portion of

a new potential mine (i.e.; a tract

which does not in itself form a

logical mining unit);

6. The configuration of any larger

mining unit of which the tract may

be a part;

7. Restrictions to mining which may

affect coal recovery;

8. The price that the mined coal

would bring when sold:

9. Costs, including mining and

reclamation, of producing the coal

and the times of production;

10. The percentage rate at which

anticipated income streams should

be discounted, either in the absence

of inflation or with inflation, in

which case the anticipated rate of

inflation should be given;

11. Depreciation and other tax

accounting factors;

12. The value of any surface estate

where held privately;

13. Documented information on the

terms and conditions of recent and

similar coal land transactions in the

lease sale area; and

14. Any comparable sales data of

similar coal lands.

The values given above may or may

not change as a result of comments

received from the public and changes in

market conditions between now and

when final economic evaluations are

completed.

In addition, notice is hereby given

that the coal resources in the lands

previously described in Mercer County,

North Dakota, will be offered for

competitive lease by sealed bid on

Tuesday, February 12, 2002, in

accordance with the provisions of the

Mineral Leasing Act of February 25,

1920, as amended (41 Stat, 437; 30

U.S.C. 181 et seq.).

The lease sale will be held at 11 a.m.,

Tuesday, February 12, 2002, in the BLM

Montana State Office 920 conference

room, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings,

Montana 59101. Bids for the tract will

be in the form of sealed bids. Sealed

bids clearly marked ‘‘Sealed Bid for

NDM90783 Coal Sale—Not to be opened

before 11 a.m., Tuesday, February 12,

2002,’’ must be submitted on or before

10 a.m. Tuesday, February 12, 2002, to

the cashier, BLM, Montana State Office,

5001 Southgate Drive, P.O. Box 36800,

Billings, Montana 59107–6800.

The tract in this lease offering

contains split estate lands. Written

consent is on file from all qualified

surface owners as defined in the

regulations at 43 CFR 3400.0–5.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The tract

will be leased to the qualified bidder of

the highest cash amount provided that

the high bid meets the fair market value

of the coal resource. The minimum bid

for the tract is $100 per acre, or fraction

thereof. No bid that is less than $100 per

acre, or fraction thereof, will be

considered. The bids should be sent by

certified mail, return receipt requested,

or be hand-delivered bid. Bids received

after 10 a.m., Tuesday, February 12,

2002, will not be considered. The

minimum bid is not intended to

represent fair market value. The fair

market value will be determined by the

authorized officer after the sale.

If identical high bids are received, the

tying high bidders will be requested to

submit follow-up sealed bids until a

high bid is received. All tie-breaking

sealed-bids must be submitted within 15

minutes following the Sale Official’s

announcement at the sale that identical

high bids have been received.

A lease issued as a result of this

offering will provide for payment of an

annual rental of $3 per acre, or fraction

thereof; and a royalty payable to the

United States of 12.5 percent of the

value of coal mined 7 by surface

methods and 8.0 percent of the value of

coal mined by underground methods.

The value of the coal shall be

determined in accordance with 30 CFR

206.250.

Bidding instructions for the tract

offered and the terms and conditions of

the proposed coal lease are included in

the Detailed Statement of Lease Sale.

Copies of the statement and the

proposed coal lease are available at the

Montana State Office. Casefile NDM

90783 is also available for public

inspection at the Montana State Office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Connie Schaff (Land Law Examiner) at

406–896–5060, Rebecca Good (Coal

Coordinator) at 406–896–5080 or Doug

Burger, (North Dakota Field Office

Manager) at 701–225–9148.

Dated: December 7, 2001.

Randy D. Heuscher,

Chief, Branch of Solid Minerals.

[FR Doc. 01–31403 Filed 12–20–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–$$–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY–040–1320–EL, WYW154595]

Federal Coal, Environmental Document

and Notice of Scoping

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

environmental document on one lease

application received for one Federal

coal tract in the decertified Green River/

Hamms Fork Coal Production Region,

Wyoming, and Notice of Scoping.

The type of environmental document

(Environmental Assessment or

Environmental Impact Statement), will

be determined after the scoping process

is completed. If analysis shows that a

plan amendment is necessary, the Green

River Resource Management Plan (RMP)

will be amended.

SUMMARY: BLM received a competitive

coal lease application on September 28,

2001, from Bridger Coal Company. The

tract applied for is approximately

7,054.34 acres in size, and contains

approximately 110 million tons of inplace coal reserves. The tract is adjacent

to the Bridger Mine in Sweetwater

County, Wyoming. The tract, which is

referred to as the Ten Mile Rim Lease by

Application (LBA) Tract, was assigned

case number WYW154595.

The tract was applied for as a tract

LBA under the provisions of 43 CFR

3425.1. As part of the LBA process, BLM

will prepare an environmental analysis

in accordance with the requirements of

the National Environmental Policy Act,

develop possible stipulations regarding

mining operations, determine the fair

market value (FMV) of the Federal coal

included in the tract, and evaluate the

maximum economic recovery (MER) of

the coal in the tract. The purpose of the

public scoping period and public

scoping meeting is to allow interested

parties to submit comments and/or

relevant information that BLM should

consider in preparing an environmental

analysis and in evaluating the FMV and

MER of the Federal coal included in this

coal lease application.

DATES: Scoping comments must be

received by 30 days after publication of

this notice in order to be fully

considered in the draft environmental

analysis. A public scoping meeting at

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 246 / Friday, December 21, 2001 / Notices 65985

the BLM Rock Springs Field Office, 280

Highway 191 North, Rock Springs,

Wyoming will be announced in local

media.

If you have concerns or issues that

you believe the BLM should address in

processing this LBA proposal, you can

express them verbally at the scoping

meeting; or you can mail, e-mail or fax

written comments to BLM at the

addresses given below.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions,

comments or concerns to the BLM Rock

Springs Field Office, Attn: Teri Deakins,

280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs,

Wyoming 82901, fax them to 307–352–

0329, or email them to the attention of

Teri Deakins at teri_deakins@blm.gov.

Please refer to Ten Mile Rim Lease in

the subject field.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teri

Deakins or Ted Murphy at the above

address, or phone: 307–352–0256.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

September 28, 2001, Bridger Coal

Company filed a coal lease application

for the following lands adjacent to the

Bridger Mine in Sweetwater County,

Wyoming:

Ten Mile Rim—WYW154595

T. 21 N., R. 100 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Section 2: Lots 5–8, S2N2, S2;

Section 4: Lots 5–8, S2N2, S2;

Section 6: Lots 8–14, S2NE, SENW, E2SW,

SE;

Section 8: All;

Section 10: All;

Section 12: W2;

Section 14: All.

T. 22 N., R. 100 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Section 30: Lots 5–8, E2W2, E2;

Section 32: All;

Section 34: All;

T. 22 N., R. 101 W., 6th P.M., Wyoming

Section 26: Lots 1–16;

Section 34: Lots 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 13, NESE,

SWSE.

Containing 7,054.34 acres, more or less.

The tract includes an estimated 110

million tons of in place coal reserves.

According to the application the coal

would be required to provide fuel to the

nearby Jim Bridger Power Plant for an

additional 15 to 20 years. Land

ownership in the area is checkerboard,

where BLM manages for the Federal

government approximately every even

numbered section.

As part of the coal leasing process,

BLM will evaluate the tract

configuration and may decide to add or

subtract Federal coal to avoid bypassing

coal or to increase estimated FMV.

The Bridger Mine, which is adjacent

to the Ten Mile Rim LBA Tract, has an

approved mining and reclamation plan

from the Land Quality Division of the

Wyoming Department of Environment

Quality (DEQ) and an approved air

quality permit from the Air Quality

Division of the Wyoming DEQ.

The Office of Surface Mining

Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM)

will be a cooperating agency in the

preparation of the environmental

document. If the tract is leased as a tract

then the lease must be incorporated into

the existing Jim Bridger Mining and

Reclamation Plan and the Secretary of

the Interior must approve the revision to

the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) mining

plan before the Federal coal in the tract

can be mined. OSM is the Federal

agency that would be responsible for

recommending approval, approval with

conditions, or disapproval of the revised

MLA mining plan to the office of the

Secretary of the Interior if the tract were

leased.

Tentative issues have been identified

as occurring in the area of the Ten Mile

Rim LBA Tract or during the processing

of previous applications to lease Federal

coal in the State of Wyoming. These

include:

1. The need for resolution of conflicts

between existing and proposed oil and

gas development, including coal bed

methane, and coal mining on the tracts

proposed for leasing;

2. Potential impacts on air and water

quality, and the Great Divide Basin

Watershed.

3. Subsidence.

4. Potential impacts to surface

resources including crucial winter

range, raptor nesting, sage grouse, and

listed, proposed for listing, candidate,

and BLM-sensitive plant and animal

species.

Comments, including names and

street addresses of respondents, will be

available for public review at the

address listed above during regular

business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.),

Monday through Friday, except

holidays. Individual respondents may

request confidentiality. If you wish to

withhold your name or street address

from public review 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 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.

Preparation of the environmental

analysis may include actions that upon

review could require an amendment to

the Green River RMP. Should actions be

found that are not in conformance with

the Green River RMP, a planning review

of existing land-use decisions would be

conducted at that time.

Dated: November 16, 2001.

Darla D. Pindell,

Acting Chief, Branch of Solid Minerals.

[FR Doc. 01–31407 Filed 12–20–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

ES–930–01–1300–241A: MSES 46775,

MSES 46780, MSES 46782, MSES

46788, MSES 46798, MSES 46800,

MSES 46803, MSES 46806, MSES

46809 MSES 47871, MSES 48069,

MSES 48070 and MSES 48071; Notice

of Proposed Reinstatement of

Terminated Oil and Gas Leases

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Per Public Law 97–451, the

lessees timely filed a petition for

reinstatement of oil and gas leases

MSES 46775, MSES 46780, MSES

46782, MSES 46788, MSES 46798,

MSES 46800, MSES 46803, MSES

46806, MSES 46809 MSES 47871, MSES

48069, MSES 48070 and MSES 48071,

Wayne and Jones Counties, Mississippi.

The lessee paid the required rentals

accruing from the date of termination.

The Bureau of Land Management has

not issued any leases affecting the lands.

The lessee paid the $500 administration

fee for the reinstatement of each lease.

The lessee has met the requirements for

reinstatement of the leases per Sec.

31(d) and (e) of the Mineral Leasing Act

of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 188). We are

proposing to reinstate the leases,

effective the date of termination, subject

to:

• The original terms and conditions

of the leases;

• The increased rental of $5 per acre

(Non Competitive)

• The increased rental of $10 per acre

(Competitive Leases);

• The increased royalty rate of 162⁄3

percent of 4 percentages above the

existing competitive royalty rate;

• The $158 cost of publishing this

Notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ida

V. Doup, Chief, Branch of Use

Authorization, Division of Resources,

Planning, Use and Protection, BLM

Eastern States Office, 7450 Boston

Boulevard, Springfield, Virginia 22153,

(703) 440–1541.