Completed
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Farmington RMP: Mancos-Gallup Amendment
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Farmington Field Office is preparing a Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment with an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to address issues relating to oil and gas in the Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation.
The initial scoping period, announced by Federal Register Notice of Intent on February 25, 2014, offered the public an opportunity to comment on planning criteria and issues related to the BLM’s RMPA/EIS. After the close of the public scoping period on the RMPA/EIS, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) formally joined the EIS process as a joint lead agency and intends to use this planning effort to inform its subsequent mineral leasing and associated activity decision-making processes. The BIA will use the EIS as the analytical basis for decisions pertaining to the leasing of Tribal trust and individual Indian allotted minerals within the Planning Area.
The RMP Amendment/EIS will analyze the impacts of additional development in what was previously considered a fully developed oil and gas play within the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico. The Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation was analyzed in the 2002 Reasonable Foreseeable Development (RFD) Scenario and current Farmington Field Office 2003 Resource Management Plan (RMP)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Subsequent improvements and innovations in horizontal drilling technology and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing have enhanced the economics of developing this stratigraphic horizon. With favorable oil prices, the oil play in the southern part of the Farmington Field Office boundary has drawn considerable interest and several wells are being drilled and planned. As full-field development occurs, especially in the shale oil play, additional impacts may occur that previously were not anticipated in the RFD or analyzed in the current 2003 RMP/EIS which will require an EIS-level plan amendment and revision of the RFD for complete analysis of the Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation.
Decisions in the Mancos-Gallup RMPA/EIS will be focused on the following resource programs: fluid leasable minerals; vegetation management; lands and realty; and lands with wilderness characteristics. All other resources are outside of the scope of this planning effort. However, impacts of the decisions for the resources being addressed will be analyzed on all affected resources.