The United States Bureau of Land Management’s Price field office will host several public meetings to discuss the federal agency’s draft environmental impact statement for the west Tavaputs Plateau natural gas full field development proposal.
The BLM encourages Carbon County residents to submit public comments on the draft statement, which evaluates a proposal to develop natural gas resources on the west Tavaputs Plateau, predominantly located in northeastern Carbon County.
The local meeting is scheduled March 12 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, located at 838 Westwood Boulevard in Price.
The last meeting hosted by the BLM on the Tavaputs Plateau gas development DEIS is slated March 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Library, 210 East 400 South.
Released Feb. 1 for public review and comment, the draft EIS considers a long-term development proposal, including drilling up to 807 natural gas wells in 538 locations during a period of eight years. Individual wells have the potential to produce gas for up to 20 years.
Project infrastructure would include development and construction of roads and pipelines, compression stations and other facilities to accommodate natural gas delivery.
The BLM is currently evaluating five alternatives in detail in an effort to address a broad spectrum of issues and uses specific to the area.
The range of alternatives includes:
•Applying best management practices for oil and gas development.
•Optimizing opportunities for directional drilling and additional mitigation measures developed to address sensitive issues.
The west Tavaputs Plateau is an area that has seen oil and gas development since the 1950s.
More than 100 gas wells have been drilled within the proposed project area, the majority of which are currently in production.
A substantial network of roads, pipelines and compressor stations already exists on federal, state and private lands within the project area in support of past and present natural gas production.
Public comments on the draft EIS will be accepted through May 1 and should be as specific as possible.
Comments which express only opinions or preferences will not receive a formal response. However, the input will be considered in the federal agency’s decision-making process.
The most useful comments will identify issues that should be considered in the analysis, according to the Price BLM office.
Comments will be accepted by letter, facsimile or e-mail. Carbon County residents may send comments by May 1 to Bureau of Land Management, Attn: West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field Development Plan DEIS, Price Field Office, 125 S. 600 West, Price, UT 84501.
Comments on the Tavaputs DEIS may also be faxed to the field office at (435) 636-3657 or e-mail to UT_Pr_Comments@blm.gov.
Before including postal or e-mail addresses, telephone numbers or personal identifying information in comments, Carbon County residents should be aware that the entire comment may be made publicly available at any time, pointed out the federal agency.
While residents may ask to have personal identifying information withheld from public review, the federal agency cannot guarantee that the BLM will be able to comply with the requests.
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the BLM Price field office Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding federal holidays.
In addition, public comments regarding the Tavaputs draft EIS may be published as part of the NEPA document and related documents, pointed out the Price BLM field office.
All submissions from organizations or businesses will be made available for public inspection in entirety.
For additional information, Carbon County residents may contact Brad Higdon at 636-3613.
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