The comment period is closed for the following proposed regulations.

• 43 CFR Part 1600--Land Use Planning (Federal Register, July 20, 2004, 69 FR 43378-43383).  The comment period for the proposed rule closed on September 20, 2004.  The proposed rule would modify the BLM's planning regulations to--
  • Define cooperating agency and cooperating agency status;
  • Clarify the responsibility of managers to offer this status to qualified agencies and governments, and to respond to requests for this status; and
  • Make clear the role of cooperating agencies in the various steps of BLM's planning process.

• 43 CFR Part 4100--Grazing Administration--Exclusive of Alaska   [pdf]--RIN 1004-AD42  (Federal Register, December 8, 2003, 68 FR 68451-68474). The proposed rule extended comment period and correction notice closed on March 2, 2004 (Federal Register, January 16, 2004, 69 FR 2559-2560).  The proposed Grazing Administration rule would--
  • Remove provisions in the present regulations concerning "conservation use" grazing permits;
  • Revise existing definitions and add new ones; and
  • Provide for the Bureau of Land Management to approve temporary nonuse on an annual basis for purpose of rangeland stewardship.

• 43 CFR Part 3800--Mining Claims Under the General Mining Laws; Surface Management; reopening of comment period--RIN 1004-AD44  (Federal Register, April 12, 2002, 67 FR 17962-17963).  The comment period closed on May 12, 2002.  The purpose of reopening the comment period is to--
  • Allow the public an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule published on October 30, 2001 (66 FR 54683-54870);
  • Obtain further public comment on changes to the Surface Management regulations adopted in a final rule also published on October 30, 2001 (66 FR 54833-54862); and
  • Seek comment on other changes in the regulations that were not directly addressed in the final rule of October 30, 2001.

• 43 CFR Part 3800--Mining Claims Under the General Mining Laws; Surface Management--RIN 1004-AD44  (Federal Register, October 30, 2001, 66 FR 54863-54870).  The comment period closed on December 30, 2001.  The proposed rule would--
  • Give the public an additional opportunity to comment on final regulations  [pdf] published in the Federal Register on October 30, 2001 (see 66 FR 54833-54862); and
  • Define casual use as including the use of gas drywashers of less than 10 horsepowers.

• 43 CFR Groups 3000, 3100, 3200, 3400, 3500, 3600, and 3800-Oil and Gas Leasing; Geothermal Resources Leasing; Coal Management; Management of Solid Minerals Other Than Coal; Mineral Materials Disposal; and Mining Claims Under the General Mining Laws; Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period [also known as Cost Recovery]--RIN 1004-AC64 (Federal Register, April 16, 2001, 66 FR 19413).  The extended comment period closed on July 2, 2001.  The proposed rule of December 15, 2000, would--
  • Amend BLM's mineral resources regulations to increase many fees and to impose new fees to cover BLM's costs of processing certain documents relating to its minerals programs; and
  • Respond to the Office of Inspector General's recommendations.

• 43 CFR Parts 2800 and 2880--Rights-of-Way, Principles and Procedures; Rights-of-Way Under the Mineral Leasing Act--Extension of Comment Period--RIN 1004-AC74.  (Federal Register, 10/13/99, 64 FR 55452).  The extended comment period closed on November 12, 1999.  The proposed rule [pdf]  of June 15, 1999, would--
  • Establish customer service standards.
  • Increase processing and monitoring fees and allow them to change as the rate of inflation or deflation changes. (The current rule established fixed processing and monitoring fees which can only be changed by changing the regulations.)
  • Establish fees for right-of-way grant renewals.
  • Include material on handling hazardous materials on rights-of-way, currently found only in a Manual section.
  • Increase the maximum liability rate from $1 million to $5 million.
  • Clarify how BLM will apply the rent schedule to right-of-way grants affecting communication sites.

• 43 CFR Part 2530--Indian Allotments--RIN 1004-AB10 (Federal Register, 7/15/99, 64 FR 38172-28173). BLM reopened the comment period on July 15, 1999, for 60 days primarily to allow comments on the information burden imposed by the regulations and the application form.  This rule would convert existing regulations to plain English and remove those portions of the current rule that relate to procedural matters.  The reopening comment period closed on September 12, 1999.
• 43 CFR Parts 3100, 3110, 3120, 3130, 3140, 3150, 3160, 3170, and 3180--Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing and Operations [pdf]-- RIN 1004-AC94 (Federal Register, 12/3/98, 63 FR 66839-66937).
  The extended comment period closed on July 19, 1999 (Federal Register, 6/1/99, 64 FR 29256-29257).  This proposed rule would revise BLM's current Federal oil and gas leasing and operations regulations, except those concerning drainage, combined hydrocarbon leasing (part 3140), and oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska (part 3130) and would--
• Use performance standards in certain places instead of prescriptive requirements, to allow more flexibility for operators and protect the environment and Federal royalty interests;
  
• Cite industry standards and incorporate them by reference rather than repeating those standards in the rule itself;
  
• Incorporate the requirements of the Onshore Oil and Gas Orders and national notices to lessees into the regulations to eliminate their overlap with the current regulations;
  
• Increase bonding for statewide and lease bonding;
• Add a fair market value user fee for geophysical exploration;
• Revise and replace BLM's current unitization regulations with a more flexible unit agreement process; and
  
• Eliminate redundancies, clarify procedures and regulatory requirements and streamline procedures.

43 CFR Part 2610–Carey Act--RIN 1004-AC80 (Federal Register, 9/10/96, 61 FR 47725-47726).  The public comment period closed on October 10, 1996. This rule would remove these regulations because the provisions are obsolete. Since 1980 when regulations were issued, only one public land State has applied for a grant of desert lands under the Carey Act.

Correcting Amendments

• 43 CFR Part 4100--Grazing Administration--Exclusive of Alaska; correction--RIN 1004-AD42 (Federal Register, 6/21/04, 69 FR 34425.  The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) is publishing the notice to correct a printer error in the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on December 8, 2003 (68 FR 68451).  The proposed rule stated that cooperative range improvements approved by BLM after February 6, 2004, would be titled in the name of the United States and the grazing allottee who participated in its construction.  The correction notice will change the date to "60 days after publication of the final rule."  The OFR calculated a date 60 days after publication of the proposed rule, which turned out to be February 6, 2004.

• 43 CFR Part 4100--Grazing Administration--Exclusive of Alaska; proposed rule; correction; extension of comment period.--RIN 1004-AD42 (Federal Register, 1/16/04, 69 FR 2559-2560).  The BLM is extending the public comment period on a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on December 8, 2003 (68 FR 68452).  This will allow additional time for public comment following publication on January 6, 2004, of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) associated with this proposed rule.  BLM is also announcing public meetings on the DEIS and correcting the proposed rule to conform it to a final rule published recently by the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of the Interior.

• 43 CFR Parts 3710, 3730, 3810, 3820, 3830-3840, and 3850--Locating, Recording, and Maintaining Mining Claims or Sites; Correction--RIN 1004-AD31 (Federal Register, 12/23/03, 68 FR 74196-74197).   This document corrects the final rule published in the Federal Register on October 24, 2003.  As published, the final rule contained editorial and typographical errors in the preamble and regulatory text, some of which may prove to be misleading.

• 43 CFR Part 3800--Mining Claims Under the General Mining Laws; Correction--RIN 1004-AD44 (Federal Register, 6/2/03, 68 FR 32656.  The amendment corrects a nonexistent cross-reference section 3809.800(c) which may confuse or mislead the public.  The BLM has changed the cross-reference from section 3809.800(c) to section 3809.802.  The final rule was published on November 21, 2000, in the Federal Register.  See 65 FR 69997-70046.

• 43 CFR Parts 3600, 8200, and 8360--Mineral Materials Disposal; Natural History Resource Management:  Procedures; Visitor Services--Correcting amendments--RIN 1004-AD29 (Federal Register, 11/13/02, 67 FR 68778).  This document--
  • Corrects BLM's final rule on mineral materials disposal published November 23, 2001 (66 FR 58893), by adding changes in several cross references to the regulations on mineral materials disposal that appear elsewhere in BLM regulations.  These cross reference amendments should have appeared in the original final rule on November 23, 2001.
  • Corrects typographical and editorial errors in the 2001 final rule.

• 43 CFR Part 3200--Geothermal Resources Leasing and Operations; Correction--RIN 1004-AB18 (Federal Register, 5/16/01, 66 FR 27040).  This document contains a correction to the current regulations for geothermal resources leasing and operations published in the Federal Register on September 30, 1998 (63 FR 52356).

• 43 CFR Part 3160--Oil and Gas Leasing; Onshore Oil and Gas Operations--RIN 1004-AC54 (Federal Register, 5/11/01, 66 FR 24073).  This document contains corrections to the amendatory instructions of the final regulations on protecting Federal and Indian oil and gas resources from drainage published in the Federal Register on Janaury 10, 2001 (66 FR 1883) and delayed on February 8, 2001 (66 FR 9527).

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    For more information on any of these
regulatory actions, please contact: Edna Taylor