What's in the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic EIS

The Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) evaluates potential impacts associated with the development of a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Summary

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act), Public Law 109-58 (H.R. 6), enacted August 8, 2005, directs the Secretary of the Interior (the Secretary) to complete a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) for a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands with an emphasis on the most geologically prospective lands within each of the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The Programmatic EIS evaluates the amendment of existing applicable Resource Management Plans to address oil shale and tar sands resources leasing in these three states (see below for more information on Resource Management Plans). The following plans could be amended as a result of this PEIS:

What is the scope of the analysis in the Draft PEIS?

The scope of the PEIS includes a qualitative assessment of the potential positive and negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of making lands available for future leasing of oil shale and tar sands resources on BLM-administered federal lands located in northwestern Colorado, eastern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming, and a discussion of relevant mitigation measures to address these potential impacts. The Draft PEIS proposes land use plan amendments to designate lands available for oil shale and tar sands leasing and future development activities.

The study area for oil shale resources includes the most geologically prospective areas of the Green River Formation, which is located in the Green River, Piceance, Uinta and Washakie Basins of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. This encompasses about 2,296,297 acres.

For tar sands resources, the study area includes those locations designated as Special Tar Sands Areas (STSAs) by Congress in the Combined Hydrocarbon Leasing Act of 1981. The total acreage in these 11 areas is approximately 1,026,000 acres.

Maps of the oil shale and tar sand resources included in the study area are available.

What alternatives are analyzed in the Oil Shale and Tar Sands PEIS?

1. Alternative A – the no action alternative;
   
   
2. Alternative B – designation of approximately 2 million acres of public lands for oil shale and 430,000 acres of public lands for tar sands as available for application for leasing; and
   
   
3. Alternative C - designation of approximately 830,000 acres of public lands for oil shale and 230,000 acres of public lands for tar sands as available for application for leasing.

What impacts and issues are addressed in the Oil Shale and Tar Sands PEIS?

The BLM is soliciting comments and suggestions for consideration in the preparation of the PEIS. Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by BLM personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals and user groups.

The major issues that will be addressed in the PEIS include:

• Management of the oil shale and tar sands resources;
• Surface and groundwater protection;
• Air quality protection;
• Wildlife and wildlife habitat quality and fragmentation;
• Protection of wilderness, riparian, and scenic values;
• Cultural resource protection;
• Threatened and endangered species and habitat protection;
• Multiple mineral development; and
• Socioeconomic impacts on local economies.

After the BLM has gathered public input on issues the plan should address, the BLM will categorize comments as follows:

1. Issues to be addressed in the PEIS;
2. Issues to be resolved through policy, regulation, or administrative action; or
3. Issues beyond the scope of the PEIS.

What are land use plans?

A land use plan is a set of decisions that establish management direction for land within a BLM administrative area, as prescribed under the planning provisions of FLPMA; it is an assimilation of land-use-plan-level decisions developed through the planning process outlined in 43 CFR 1600, regardless of the scale at which the decisions were developed. The term includes both resourec management plans (RMPs) and management framework plans (MFPs). Land use plan decisions establish desired outcomes and actions needed to achieve them. Decisions are made using the planning process defined in 43 CFR 1600.

The land use planning process is the key tool used by the BLM to protect resources and designate the BLM uses on BLM-administered lands. These plans help ensure that the public lands are managed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations under the principles of multiple use and sustained yield; recognizing the Nation's need for domestic sources of minerals, food, timber, and fiber while protecting the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water, and archaeological values.