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USDA/FS

RIN: 0596-AC20

Publication ID: Spring 2007

Title: Onshore Oil and Gas Operations; Federal and Indian Oil and Gas Leases; Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1, Approval of Operations
Abstract: Through a joint Federal Register publication, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), acting as lead agency, and the Forest Service are proposing to revise the current 1983 Onshore Oil and Gas Order Number 1 (Order). The new proposed Order is being jointly published by the Forest Service and the BLM to facilitate common conservation practices and procedures across agency boundaries. The Order provides the requirements necessary for the approval of all proposed oil and gas exploratory, development, or service wells on all Federal and Indian (except Osage Tribe) onshore oil and gas leases. The revision is necessary due to provisions of the 1987 Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, legal opinions, court cases since the Order was issued in 1983, and other policy and procedural changes. The revised Order would address the submittal of a complete Application for Permit to Drill or Deepen package, including a Drilling Plan, Surface Use Plan or Operations, evidence of bond coverage, operator certification, and clarification as to when a BLM right-of-way grant or Forest Service special use permit are needed to authorize secondary uses supporting the oil and gas operation. The proposed rule changes to 36 CFR part 228 would include: (1) Removal of a specific reference to the 1983 Order to a reference that plans of operations or master development plans be submitted "in accordance with the current applicable Onshore Oil and Gas Order," (2) removal of the appendix (text of 1983 Order), and (3) removal of a non-existent cross-reference to appeal procedures at 36 CFR part 217 and replacing that reference with "the current applicable agency appeal procedures," and (4) inclusion of 5 congressionally-mandated categorical exclusions promulgated in section 390 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Agency: Department of Agriculture(USDA)	Priority: Substantive, Nonsignificant
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda	Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Completed Actions
Major: No	Unfunded Mandates: No
CFR Citation: 36 CFR 228
Legal Authority: 30 USC 223 et seq

Legal Deadline: None

Timetable:

Action	Date	FR Cite
NPRM	07/27/2005	70 FR 43349
NPRM Comment Period End	08/26/2005
Final Action	03/09/2007	72 FR 10608

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: No	Government Levels Affected: None
Small Entities Affected: No	Federalism: No
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No
Related Agencies: Joint: DOI/BLM;
Agency Contact: Michael McGee Regulatory Analyst Department of Agriculture Forest Service MS 1134, ATTN: ORMS, D&R Branch, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-0003 Phone:202 205-2601 Fax:202 260-6539 Email: mmcgee01@fs.fed.us