Proposed land use plan amendments for allocation of oil shale and tar sands resources on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming and final programmatic environmental impact statement

the long version

Under the Proposed Plan/Final PEIS, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to amend 10 land use plans in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to describe those areas that will be open and those that will be closed to application for commercial leasing, exploration, and development of oil shale and tar sands resources. Specifically, the proposed Plan/Final PEIS will decrease the acreage in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming currently open for application for future leasing and development of oil shale or tar sands. The BLM intends to maintain focus on research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects in order to obtain more information about possible development technologies and their environmental consequences before committing to broad-scale development. Four alternatives (two of which include subalternatives) were considered in the PEIS. As a result of public comments and upon further review, corrections/revisions were made to the alternatives, and changes were made from what was presented as the Preferred Alternative in the Draft PEIS. These changes have resulted in a Proposed Plan Amendment (composed of Alternative 2(b) from the DPEIS, as well as certain elements of the other alternatives) that references new acreage figures. Under the Proposed Plan, approximately 676,967 acres would be open for application for future leasing and development of oil shale and approximately 129,567 acres would be open for potential tar sands leasing and development, but only for RD&D leases.