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Notice of Intent To Revise the Platte River Resource Management Plan and Prepare an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: June 20, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 119)]
[Notices]
[Page 37020-37022]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20jn03-115]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-060-03-1610-DO]
Notice of Intent To Revise the Platte River Resource Management
Plan and Prepare an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to revise the Platte River Resource Management
Plan (RMP), to be titled and referred to in the future as the Casper
RMP, and prepare an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS);
solicitation of public comments on resource issues and preliminary
planning criteria; and call for coal and other resource information for
the Casper RMP planning area, Wyoming.
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SUMMARY: This document (1) provides notice that the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) intends to prepare a revised RMP with an associated
EIS, (2) solicits public comments regarding resource issues and
preliminary planning criteria, and, (3) solicits resource information
for coal and other resources for the Casper planning area. The planning
area, encompassing approximately 1.4 million acres of BLM-administered
public land surface and 4.7 million acres of BLM-administered Federal
mineral estate, is located in Converse, Goshen, Natrona, and Platte
counties, Wyoming. The Platte River RMP (1985) will continue to guide
management actions and decisions for the planning area until the Casper
RMP is completed and approved.
Preparation of the Casper RMP and associated EIS will fulfill the
obligations set forth by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Federal
regulations.
DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. The BLM can
best utilize public comments and resource information submissions
submitted within 60 days of publication of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Please send written comments and resource information
submissions via mail to the BLM, Casper Field Office, 2987 Prospector
Drive, Casper, Wyoming 82604; or electronically to crmp_
wymail@blm.gov. Members of the public may examine documents pertinent
to this proposal in the Casper Field Office. To be considered, all
comments must include legible full name and address on the envelope,
letter, postcard, facsimile, or e-mail. Comments, including names and
street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at
the Casper Field Office during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to
4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be
published as part of the EIS process. 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, please state this prominently at the beginning of your
written comment. The BLM will honor such requests to the extent allowed
by law. All submissions from organizations and businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection in
their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information or to have your name
added to the Casper RMP mailing list, contact Linda Slone at the above
address or by telephone at (307) 261-7600, or electronically to rmp_
wymail@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM will work collaboratively with
interested parties to identify the management decisions that are best
suited to local, regional, and national interests. The public scoping
process will help identify planning issues, provide for public comment
on the proposed planning criteria, and provide an opportunity to
comment on documents published throughout the RMP revision process.
The Cedar Ridge-Badwater Creek area, located along the southern
border of the Big Horn Mountains in Natrona County, has been evaluated
as a traditional cultural property (TCP). The TCP is a sensitive
cultural resource of high significance eligible for inclusion in the
National Register of Historic Places. During the Casper RMP planning
process, the Cedar Ridge-Badwater Creek area will be evaluated as a
Special Management Area (SMA.)
1. Preliminary Issues
Emerging resource issues and changing laws necessitate preparation
of the Casper RMP. Preliminary issues and management concerns have been
identified by BLM personnel, other
[[Page 37021]]
agencies, and in meetings with individuals and user groups. These
issues represent the BLM's knowledge to date on the existing issues and
concerns with current management. The major issue themes that may be
addressed in the planning effort include:
A. Energy and mineral resource exploration and development;
B. Access to and transportation on BLM lands;
C. Recreation and off-highway vehicle (OHV) management;
D. Wildlife habitat and management of crucial habitat and migration
corridors;
E. Management and the cumulative effect of land uses and human
activities on threatened, endangered, candidate, and sensitive species
and their habitats;
F. Vegetation, including impacts of invasive non-native species;
G. Management of cultural and paleontological resources, including
national historic trails;
H. Landownership adjustments;
I. Fire management;
J. Livestock grazing;
K. Visual resource management; and
L. Air and water quality.
These preliminary issues are not final and may be added to and
refined throughout the public participation process. The BLM is
requesting the help of the public in identifying additional issues to
be addressed in the planning effort. Decisions in the RMP will adhere
to the goals and objectives of the President's National Energy Policy.
2. Categorization of Issues
After gathering public comments on what issues the Casper RMP
should address, the BLM will place suggested issues in one of three
categories: issues to be resolved in the RMP, issues resolved through
policy or administrative action, and issues beyond the scope of the
RMP.
Rationale will be provided in the EIS for the Casper RMP for issues
to be resolved through policy or administrative action and issues
beyond the scope of the EIS. In addition to major issues, a number of
management concerns will be addressed in the RMP. The public is
encouraged to help identify these concerns throughout the public
scoping process.
3. Preliminary Planning Criteria
The BLM identified the following preliminary planning criteria to
guide resolution of the issues considered in the planning effort. The
BLM may revise these criteria during the planning process or in
response to public comment.
A. The revised RMP will recognize valid existing rights.
B. The revised RMP will comply with all applicable laws,
regulations, policy, and guidance.
C. Planning decisions will cover BLM-administered public lands,
including split-estate lands where the subsurface minerals are severed
from the surface right, and the BLM has legal jurisdiction over one or
the other.
D. The RMP planning effort will be collaborative and multi-
jurisdictional in nature. The BLM will strive to ensure that its
management decisions are complimentary to other planning jurisdictions
and adjoining properties, within the boundaries described by law and
regulation.
E. The environmental analysis will consider a reasonable range of
alternatives that focus on the relative values of resources and respond
to the issues. Management prescriptions will reflect the principles of
multiple use and sustained yield.
F. The BLM will use current scientific information, research, new
technologies, and the results of resource assessments, monitoring, and
coordination to determine appropriate local and regional management
strategies that will enhance or restore impaired ecosystems.
G. The Wyoming Standards for Healthy Rangelands will apply to all
activities and uses.
H. The BLM will address socioeconomic conditions and environmental
justice.
I. The BLM will provide for public safety and welfare relative to
fire, hazardous materials, and abandoned mine lands.
J. Visual Resource Management (VRM) class designations will be
analyzed and modified to reflect present conditions and future needs.
K. The BLM will consider present and potential uses of the public
lands through the development of reasonably foreseeable future
development and activity scenarios based on historical, existing, and
projected levels of use.
L. Planning decisions will include the preservation, conservation,
and enhancement of cultural, historical, paleontological, and natural
components of public land resources, while considering energy
development and other surface-disturbing activities.
M. The BLM will coordinate with Native American tribes to identify
sites, areas, and objects important to their cultural and religious
heritage.
N. Planning decisions will comply with the Endangered Species Act
and the BLM interagency agreements with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service regarding consultation.
O. Areas potentially suitable for ACECs or other special management
designations will be identified, and where appropriate, brought forward
for analysis in the EIS.
P. Waterway segments have been classified and determinations of
eligibility and suitability made in accordance with Section 5(d) of the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Appropriate management prescriptions for
maintaining or enhancing the outstanding remarkable values and
classifications of waterway segments meeting suitability factors will
be part of the RMP revision.
Q. OHV management decisions in the revised RMP will be consistent
with the BLM's National OHV Strategy.
R. Decisions in the revised RMP will adhere to the goals and
objectives of the National Energy Policy as well as the Energy Policy
and Conservation Act.
S. Known areas in the Casper planning area with coal development
potential are located in northeastern Converse County. Coal screening
determinations were made on these areas during planning efforts for the
Buffalo RMP and the Thunder Basin National Grasslands Land and Resource
Management Plan. No additional coal screening determinations or coal
planning decisions are planned for the Casper RMP, unless public
submissions of coal resource information or surface resource issues
indicate a need to update these determinations.
4. Call for Coal and Other Resource Information
Parties interested in leasing and development of Federal coal in
the planning area should provide coal resource data for their area(s)
of interest. Specifically, information is requested on the location,
quality, and quantity of Federal coal with development potential, and
on surface resource values related to the 20 coal unsuitability
criteria described in 43 CFR part 3461. This information will be used
for any necessary updating of coal screening determination (43 CFR
3420.1-4) in the area and in the environmental analysis for the Casper
RMP.
In addition to coal resource data, the BLM seeks resource
information and data for other public land values (e.g., air quality,
cultural and historic resources, fire/fuels, fisheries, forestry, lands
and realty, non-energy minerals and geology, oil and gas (including
coalbed methane), paleontology, rangeland management, recreation, soil,
water, and wildlife) in the planning area. The purpose of this request
is to assure that the planning effort has
[[Page 37022]]
sufficient information and data to consider a reasonable range of
resource uses, management options, and alternatives for the public
lands.
Proprietary data marked as confidential may be submitted in
response to this call for coal and other resource information. Please
submit all proprietary information submissions to the Casper Field
Manager at the address listed above. The BLM will treat submissions
marked as ``Confidential'' in accordance with the laws and regulations
governing the confidentiality of such information.
5. Public Participation
The BLM will announce public meetings and comment periods through
one or more of the following: local news media, newsletters, and the
Casper Field Office Web site, http://www.wy.blm.gov/cfo/info.htm,
at least 15 days prior to the event. Meetings will
tentatively be held in the fall of 2003 in Casper, Douglas, Torrington,
and Wheatland, Wyoming. The minutes and list of attendees for each
meeting will be available to the public and open for 30 days so that
attendees may clarify the views they expressed. The BLM will also provide
additional opportunities for public participation throughout the RMP
revision process.
Dated: May 2, 2003.
Robert A. Bennett,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-15602 Filed 6-19-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P