Bureau of Land Management

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-060-1310-00]

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Final Environmental Impact

Statement.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and

implementing regulations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces

the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for

the Wyodak Coalbed Methane Development Project. The FEIS analyzes the

potential impacts and cumulative effects of proposed coalbed methane

(CBM) development on Federal and non-Federal lands in Campbell,

Johnson, and Converse Counties, Wyoming.

The FEIS is published in abbreviated format. Reviewers will need

the ``Wyodak Coalbed Methane Project Draft Environmental Impact

Statement'' (DEIS), BLM, May 1999, for review of the complete EIS.

Additional analysis and/or specific changes (errata) to the text of the

DEIS are found in each chapter of this FEIS.

DATES: BLM will accept comments on the FEIS for a period of 30 days

from the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes their

Notice of Availability (NOA) of the FEIS in the Federal Register. We

anticipate that EPA will publish its NOA on October 1, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Field Manager, Bureau of Land

Management, Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, WY 82834.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Zander, phone: (307) 684-1100.

Copies of the FEIS may be obtained from the following BLM offices:

Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82834, (307)

684-1100; Casper Field Office, 1701 East E Street, Casper, Wyoming

82601 (307) 261-7600; and Wyoming State Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road,

Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009, (307) 775-6256.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BLM received fifty-two comment letters on

the DEIS addressing six basic topics: groundwater (the water model and

monitoring); surface water (amounts produced, water management plans,

and wetlands); air quality (modeling, authorizing actions, emissions,

and air quality related values); geology (development conflicts, coal

fires, methane seepage, and subsidence); wildlife and fisheries

(programmatic versus site specific analysis, unanticipated new

development, and mitigation); and land use (wilderness study area

impacts, access, on lease/off lease Federal authority, and

reclamation). All comment letters received have been reproduced in the

FEIS. All comments were considered and included as part of the BLM

decisionmaking process.

Based on new and additional information provided by commenters, the

groundwater model was rerun. This yielded a better calibrated

prediction of modeled drawdowns under the Proposed Action and under

Alternative One.

Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will

be available for public review at the Bureau of Land Management,

Buffalo Field Office, 1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming, during

regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday,

except holidays, and may be published as part of the Record of

Decision. 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 of officials of organizations or

businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their

entirety.

Dated: September 28, 1999.

Alan L. Kesterke,

Associate State Director.

[FR Doc. 99-25687 Filed 10-1-99; 8:45 am]

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