BLM to hold scoping meetings

RBC I The Bureau of Land Management is hosting two public open house meetings this week to help identify issues to be addressed in the Roan Plateau Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
Last month the BLM announced it would conduct additional environmental analysis for the Roan Plateau planning area in northwestern Colorado.
The new planning effort and supporting environmental analysis will address deficiencies in BLM’s earlier environmental analysis and Resource Management Plan Amendment identified by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
The announcement initiated a public scoping period, which is an opportunity for the public to identify issues and review planning criteria.
For more information about the SEIS and how to provide scoping comments, visit http://on.doi.gov/ WYIQ0S.
The BLM is holding hold two scoping meetings to help answer questions and take written comments. The public is invited to stop by anytime between 4 and 7 p.m. on Feb. 28 in Grand Junction at the Clarion Inn, 755 Horizon Dr.
Scoping comments need to be received by March 30, 2013 and may be sent to: email [email protected]; fax 970-876-9090; mail Bureau of Land Management, Colorado River Valley Field Office, Roan Plateau Comments, 2300 River Frontage Road, Silt, Colo., 81652.
Following the scoping period, BLM will begin drafting management alternatives to be analyzed in the SEIS. When a draft of these alternatives is complete, it will be released for public review and comment.
The BLM will develop a new management plan and a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) that will analyze a full range of alternatives for extracting the natural gas resources associated with the plateau, including the so-called “community alternative” and a no action alternative, and consider the cumulative effects on air quality of oil and gas drilling in the surrounding region.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment — including your personal identifying information — may be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.