On November 4, 2008, the BLM Royal Gorge Field Office published a “Notice of Realty Action” for the OTR* Project. BLM is seeking public comments on this action and its decisions (described below). Comments are due on or before December 15, 2008. ROAR is preparing comments and will post them on this website after they have been submitted to BLM.
This is the second in a long, formulaic regulatory process BLM must follow in order to review and evaluate the OTR proposal prior to making any decision to approve or deny OTR’s application.
When BLM gets a proposal to use BLM-managed federal lands for a project like OTR, it must first decide whether the application is complete. After multiple submittals of thousands of pages of irrelevant information from OTR as its “plan”, BLM apparently has decided that it has enough information to evaluate the proposal.
Next BLM determines:
(1) Whether the federal lands involved in the proposal are even “available” for
the proposed activity;
(2) Whether the proposed activity should be by “non-competitive” bid,
or opened for competitive bidding (such as in oil and gas leasing); and
(3) If the proposal is in conformance with the BLM’s current “resource
management plan” (this is sort of a zoning document where BLM has evaluated
all the lands and resources in the area, determined sensitive areas based
on environmental factors, wildlife, etc., and which are open for development
activities).
The “Notice of Realty Action” describes BLM’s decision that:
(1) The OTR proposal is for BLM-managed lands that are available for the
proposed activity;
(2) The application will be reviewed by BLM under its non-competitive procedures;
and
(3) The OTR proposal is in conformance with the 1996 Royal Gorge Resource
Management Plan (1996 RMP).
BLM also identifies issues that it will address in its environmental impact statement.
What happens then?
BLM next considers any comments it receives by the December 15 deadline and then it will sustain, vacate or remedy the realty action. If no adverse comments are received, then the Notice of Realty Action becomes a final determination as to this stage of the process, and BLM moves on to the next step.
Next steps for BLM/OTR
A. BLM will next estimate the costs of processing the OTR proposal, and Christo will have to pay that full amount to BLM before they get started.
B. BLM will hire, at Christo’s expense, a third party consultant to begin to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS). This could take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. Christo’s “plan” purports to have already done this analysis by his own contractors, so ROAR will be vigilant in making sure Christo does not try to short circuit the legal process.
C. BLM will publish a draft EIS and invite public comments on this. There will be public meetings and usually a 60 day period for the public to provide written comments. ROAR will alert its members and supporters to these opportunities to make our concerns known.
D. BLM will take 6 to 18 months to review and respond to public comments, prepare any additional analysis, and prepare a final EIS.
E. Sometimes BLM has a comment period after publishing a final EIS, and sometimes it does not. A final decision on approving or denying the OTR application can only be made by BLM after finalizes the EIS. This decision is appealable.
What else happens in the meantime?
In addition to the BLM application and environmental review, Christo needs other permits, including permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Colorado Department of Transportation, county approvals and many others. Christo likely will be applying for these at the same time as the EIS is being prepared.
Some of these permits have public review and comment processes, and ROAR will alert its members to opportunities to participate as they arise.
* OTR = “Over the River.” You are in federal government land
now, in which all verbiage is peppered with TLAs (three letter acronyms).