Sent comments via email to: [email protected] February 8, 2017 Cindy Ledbetter Bureau of Land Management Richfield Field Office 150 East 900 North Richfield, UT 84701 RE: Comments to the Utah BLM June 2017 Oil and Gas Lease Sale EA and Parcels UT-0517-004, 005, 018, 020, 021, 022 and 025. Dear Ms. Ledbetter, Please accept the following comments on the Utah BLM’s Color Country Environmental Assessment (EA) for Parcels UT-0517-004, -018, -020, -021, -022, and -025 proposed for the June 2017 oil and gas lease sale. These parcels are located within the Richfield BLM Field Office. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this sale. Trout Unlimited (TU) has 154,000 members nationwide and approximately 1,500 members associated with eight chapters throughout Utah including chapters in the areas these parcels are located. Our mission is to protect and restore coldwater fisheries and their habitats in Utah and across the West. Consistent with that mission, it is TU’s policy to encourage energy development in a way that meets the needs of people while eliminating, minimizing, or mitigating the impacts to coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. Our members enjoy fishing and hunting on these lands in addition to working on restoration projects in order to maintain and improve fisheries habitat. On behalf of our members, we offer the following comments. Concerns Regarding Lack of Fisheries and Watershed Information in EA We are concerned about the lack of analysis for watersheds and the associated fisheries in the June 2017 EA. Many of the parcels being offered for lease have a nexus to streams that bear coldwater fisheries and a state of Utah Blue Ribbon designation. The EA fails to mention any fishery issues or the potential impact associated with the proposed actions to fisheries and this watershed. Our main concerns include: The EA’s lack of analysis of oil and gas activities and the sale of these lease parcels located within Utah’s native Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) habitat. The EA’s lack of analysis on these parcels and the associated oil and gas impacts to the East Fork Sevier River, especially the stretch of Blue Ribbon designation and its recreational value. The EA’s lack of analysis on climate change and the high risk factors to fisheries and waters from oil and gas activities. Native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Habitat The BLM, the state of Utah, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others, are signatories and contributors to the Bonneville Cutthroat Conservation Agreement1 and the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Conservation Strategy2 which contains site- specific details of conservation goals and actions. The parcels for this sale are located in the Southern Bonneville GMU (Geographic Management Unit). Conservation objectives for this species include restoring and maintaining at least 53 conservation populations throughout 294 streams miles within the five GMUs in the region, and eliminate or minimize threats to BCT and its habitat.3 These conservation measures were enacted in order to prevent BCT from being listed as a sensitive species by state and federal agencies and thus, TU has concerns when oil and gas lease parcels are being offered in their habitat. In a 2015 Utah survey along stretches of the East Fork of the Sevier River, biologists’ data indicates that the potential for further BCT expansion throughout the East Fork Sevier River drainage is significant and represents a boon for BCT conservation.4 Maintaining quality habitat conditions and continuation of habitat improvement projects reflects the ability to keep BCT populations at a stronghold that steadily increases over time. In fact, the results of this survey indicates to the biologists that with the help of additional restoration efforts, the potential to make the East Fork Sevier drainage one of the significant strongholds for BCT in the southern Bonneville Basin exists during the next decade. Streams including Lost Creek (Parcel 004), Otter Creek and Otter Creek Reservoir (Parcels 020, 021, 022), East Fork Sevier River (Parcel 022) and Antimony Creek (Parcels 018 and 025) (see Figure 1) all contain native Bonneville cutthroat trout conservation, expansion and historic habitat, and according to Utah DWR and Trout Unlimited’s science-based analysis5 these waters are important cutthroat trout reintroduction opportunities. This is in addition to their popularity for offering the public recreational fishing opportunities for rainbow, brown and brook trout. Equally important to the state of Utah, an estimated 30 miles of the East Fork Sevier River is designated a Blue Ribbon fishery. This entire stretch of Blue Ribbon fisheries could be impacted from upstream oil and gas activities on these parcels being offered. Protecting surface water quality in these streams is important to preserve both fisheries habitat and recreational 1 Bonneville Cutthroat Trout State of Utah Conservation Team. 2008. Conservation agreement for Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki utah) in the State of Utah. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. 2004. Bonneville Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki utah) Conservation Agreement and Strategy in the State of Utah Post Implementations Assessment. Publication Number 04-31. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, 1594 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. 72 pp. 3 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. February 8, 2016: Bonneville cutthroat trout webpage. https://wildlife.utah.gov/get-permit/check-your-progress/135-learn/cutthroat-trout.html and https://wildlife.utah.gov/cutthroat/BCT/index.html. Webpage accessed February 7, 2017. 4 Michael J. Hadley and Golden, Michael E. 2016. 2015 Survey of Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in the East Fork Sevier River Drainage, Utah. Publication Number 16-02. Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT. February 2016. 5 Trout Unlimited. 2015. http://www.tu.org/stateofthetrout. 2 TU Comments – Utah BLM June 2017 Oil/Gas Lease Sale Figure 1: Overview of lease parcels in East Fork Sevier River drainage and Bonneville cutthroat trout habitat. value in the EA. We recommend strong protective buffers that will help minimize potential impacts from oil and gas activities. Trout Unlimited considers 500-feet to be the minimum buffer that should be applied to surface disturbing activities associated with oil and gas development near coldwater fisheries. We encourage the BLM to apply stronger buffers than 500-feet and generally recommend a one- 3 TU Comments – Utah BLM June 2017 Oil/Gas Lease Sale quarter mile buffer where native trout exist. Recent studies have shown that streams located in or near areas with high densities of oil and gas development have “consistently low discharge, extreme temperature fluctuations, elevated dissolved and suspended constituents” when compared to streams in undeveloped areas.6 Finally, further BCT expansion throughout the East Fork Sevier River drainage (Figure 2) remains a high priority for Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and will help establish long term viability for BCT populations. Plans continue, according to the 2015 survey report, to remove non-native trout and establish BCT populations in upper reaches of streams draining from Escalante Mountain into upper John’s Valley include interconnected tributaries covering more than 31 miles of potential BCT habitat along the East Fork Sevier River watershed. These plans are estimated to occur sometime between 2018 and 2025. 6 Girard, Carlin E., The Effects of Oil and Natural Gas Development on Water Quality, Aquatic Habitat, and Native Fish in Streams along the Wyoming Range, at p. 27, M.S., Department of Zoology and Physiology, August 2015, attached hereto) 4 TU Comments – Utah BLM June 2017 Oil/Gas Lease Sale Figure 2: East Fork Sevier River drainage and important BCT habitat near June BLM Lease parcels. Because of this important information and the potential for harm to this fishery we request that the BLM consider the following: . Withdraw the parcel located directly within the East Fork Sevier River (the southern- most section of Parcel 022 on the west side of the River). This small parcel runs through expansion habitat for BCT populations and could have direct negative impacts downstream and affect future stability for BCT populations in addition to directly impacting a state Blue Ribbon fisheries and recreational area. Otter Creek Reservoir contains conservation populations of BCT. In addition, portions of Otter Creek that drain into the East Fork of the Sevier River contain expansion and historic BCT habitat (Parcels 020, 021, and 022 along Otter Creek and Otter Creek Reservoir) and we request that stronger stipulations be implemented on these leases, including a minimum 500-foot buffer NSO. Current stipulations identified in the EA do not provide enough protection measures. For that portion of Parcel 018 that borders or is within Antimony Creek and for Parcel 5 TU Comments – Utah BLM June 2017 Oil/Gas Lease Sale 025 that is above Antimony Creek drainage, we ask for increased stipulations. For Parcel 018 we recommend BLM withdraw that small northern portion of the lease parcel that is within the drainage. For the remaining portions of both parcels, we request a 500-foot buffer along any drainage that drains into Antimony Creek. The buffer would help prevent soil erosion, sedimentation and surface contamination deposition from oil and gas activities, including road access, on these parcels, since any type of soil erosion or contamination would flow into Antimony Creek and eventually have the potential to affect East Fork Sevier River. For Parcel 004 (Figure 3) a portion of the parcel has Lost Creek running through or adjacent to it. We recommend an increase of protective riparian buffers to a minimum of 500 feet in order to prevent erosion and sedimentation from impacting this important expansion habitat for BCT. Figure 3: Lost Creek BCT habitat adjacent to Parcel 004.