American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018 - 122

come as domestic crude oil production
hits 10 million barrels a day for the first
time in nearly 50 years.
"NAFTA has been a success story for
energy integration in Mexico, the United
States and Canada that has led to the creation of many new opportunities to improve trade relations across North America," the report describes. "TIPRO supports
a modernized NAFTA that builds on the
success of the program, including the
preservation of investor-state dispute settlements, a key provision that serves to
protect multinational companies that invest

abroad. Increasing trade in North America
supports increased production of domestic
oil and natural gas, and expands both
economic and geopolitical benefits for
our country."
Federal methane emission regulations
are another TIPRO focus, the association
says, as it seeks to roll back what it terms
the overbearing regulatory scheme imposed
by the Obama administration. It calls significant elements of those regulations excessive and uneconomic, and cautions they
may be detrimental to long-term U.S. oil
and gas production without providing cor-

responding environmental benefits.
TIPRO notes that its legal challenge
to the methane regulations is in abeyance,
but the association points out it and an
industry coalition have been working
with EPA to review Subpart OOOOa air
quality performance standards for oil and
gas facilities and to address a lawsuit opposing any regulatory rollback filed by
13 states, the District of Columbia and
the city of Chicago.
TIPRO's State of Energy Report is
available at http://bit.ly/TIPRO2018EnergyReport.
r

BLM Proposes Sage Grouse Changes
WASHINGTON-The Bureau of Land
Management is seeking public comments
on its proposal to ease restrictions on oil
and natural gas leasing in greater sage
grouse habitat areas. The agency published
five separate notices in the May 4 Federal
Register announcing plans to revise the
land use plans in Wyoming, Colorado,
Idaho, Oregon, Utah and a separate notice
covering Nevada and northern California.
The agency reports that acreage in Montana and the Dakotas will be addressed
through other means.
The proposed amendments are authorized
by Secretarial Order 3353 "Greater SageGrouse Conservation and Cooperation with
Western States," signed by Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke on June 7, 2017, and with Secretarial Order 3349, "American Energy Independence," signed on March 29. According
to the documents, the Department of Interior
seeks to improve collaboration and integration of state and local concerns and approaches into sagebrush management and
conservation on federal lands.
According to BLM, it is evaluating
two alternatives. The Colorado Federal
Register notice says one alternative involves
taking no action on current management
documents, while the other would change
oil and gas leasing restrictions near sage
grouse leks and grant state agencies more
authority over wildlife management. The
other Federal Register notices do not
specifically mention oil or gas activities.
The notices include draft resource
management plan amendments and environmental impact statements that will affect land use plans implemented in 2014
and 2015, BLM says. The acreage affected
in each state-including land owned or
managed by BLM, National Park Service,
Forest Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation, as well as state, local and private
properties-is:
* Nevada and Northern California:
70.3 million acres;

* Wyoming: nearly 60.0 million acres;
* Utah: 48.2 million acres;
* Idaho: 39.6 million acres;
* Colorado: 4.1 million acres; and
* Oregon: 60,000 acres.
The public comment periods for the
five notices are open through Aug. 2.
"The action is proposed to enhance
cooperation and improve alignment with
state plans or management strategies, and
contains two alternatives: the no action
alternative and the management alignment
alternative," the Federal Register notices
read. "The management alignment alternative is the preferred alternative. The
amendment process does not replace the
former plans, but rather builds on them
to improve management alignment in
ways that will increase flexibility, maintain
access to public resources and promote
conservation outcomes."
BLM notes it and other parts of the
DOI have worked closely with Western
governors to determine whether some,
none, or all of those greater sage grouse
land use plans should be amended. After
considering the governors' suggestions,
the agencies say they propose to amend
states' RMPs regarding the bird.
"The BLM has had almost three years
of experience with the new plans and has
observed what is working and what is not,"
it states. "It now is time to make adjustments.
The BLM has received a great deal of
feedback from states and other partners
about on-the-ground impacts and outcomes
and aims to be respectful of their concerns.
It is important that the BLM, which manages
the habitat, and the state, which manages
the populations, have management plans
that align with each other."
Planning In The States
"Wyoming is home to more greater
sage grouse than any other state in its
range. As we work through the planning

122 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

process, we take our commitment to the
conservation of the bird and its sagebrush
steppe habitat seriously while facilitating
healthy working rangelands for the American public," says BLM Wyoming State
Director Mary Jo Rugwell.
The greater sage grouse depends on
sagebrush steppe ecosystems for survival,
the Wyoming Federal Register notice
points out, with those areas managed in
partnership by federal, state and local
authorities. According to the agency, the
proposed preferred alternative for BLM
plans in the state would:
* Provide a process for incorporating
future versions of Wyoming's core area
maps;
* Remove the sagebrush focal areas
designated in the conservation plans
adopted in 2015;
* Clarify habitat objective tables in
the 2015 plans;
* Clarify noise stipulations within
priority habitat management areas;
* Develop a process for untripping
adaptive management triggers; and
* Adopt the state's mitigation framework.
The Wyoming notice covers 10 resource management plans in the state,
including Buffalo, Casper, Pinedale and
Green River, DOI says. BLM administers
more than 18 million acres in that planning
area, providing 17 million acres of priority
and general greater sage grouse habitat.
According to the department, in the
other affected states:
* The Utah draft documents cover 14
RMPs, including those covering Box Elder,
Cedar/Beaver/Garfield/Antimony, Grand
Staircase-Escalante, and Horse Range.
The planning areas are in 27 Idaho counties,
with BLM administering 4.0 million acres
of greater sage grouse habitat.
* The Colorado planning area includes
lands in 10 counties. Within the decision
area, BLM manages 1.7 million acres of

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2018

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