(BILLINGS, Mont.) -The Bureau of Land Management has opened a 30-day public comment period on an Environmental Assessment (EA) with an unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for 110 nominated oil and gas lease parcels located in Park, Musselshell, Sweet Grass, Stillwater, Carbon, Chouteau, Liberty, Blaine, Hill, Glacier, Phillips and Valley counties in Montana, and McKenzie County in North Dakota.
The BLM-administered lands proposed for inclusion in this lease sale are in keeping with the Administration’s goals of promoting America’s energy independence, and are in accordance with all applicable approved resources management plans and plan amendments.
The EA, unsigned FONSI, parcel list, and maps are available on the BLM e-Planning website at: http://bit.ly/2wJpFm6, http://bit.ly/2wXMsKo, http://bit.ly/2vUJmKe, and http://bit.ly/2w43idW. The 30-day comment period will end on Oct. 30, 2017.
The EA will be updated as needed after a review and consideration of the public comments received. Prior to the issuance of any leases, the Decision Record and FONSI will be finalized and posted for public review on the BLM e-Planning website.
The lease sale is tentatively scheduled to be held online at EnergyNet.com, with bidding starting on March 12, 2018 and ending on March 13, 2018. The parcels to be included in the sale are determined after the full public review process.
To comment on Montana parcels, email BLM _MT_Great Falls_Lease_EA@blm.gov, or mail comments to: Bureau of Land Management, North Central Montana District, Division of Oil and Gas, Attention: Oil and Gas EA, 1220 38th Street N, Great Falls, MT 59405.
To comment on North Dakota parcels, email BLM_MT_North_DakotaFO_Lease_EA@blm.gov, or mail comments to: North Dakota Field Office, Attention: Oil and Gas EA Lead, 99 23rd Avenue West, Suite A, Dickinson, North Dakota 58601.
Those who provide comments are advised that their entire comment, including personally identifiable information such as name, address, phone number and email address, may be made publicly available at any time. While those commenting can ask in their comments to withhold personally identifiable information from public review, the BLM cannot guarantee that they will be able to do so.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
