Sent via electronic mail (comments only) and hand delivery (comments and exhibits) April 16, 2015 Bureau of Land Management Attn: Gina Jones Uncompahgre Field Office 2465 South Townsend Avenue Montrose, Colorado 81401 Email: [email protected] RE: Comments Regarding the Bull Mountain Unit Master Development Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement DOI-BLM-CO-SO50-2013-0022-EIS Dear Ms. Jones, The following comments are submitted by Western Environmental Law Center (“WELC”) on behalf of Citizens for a Healthy Community (“CHC”), High Country Conservation Advocates (“HCCA”), Western Colorado Congress (“WCC”), Great Old Broads for Wilderness (“Broads”), the Crystal River Caucus (“CRC”), EcoFlight, WildEarth Guardians (“Guardians”), Rocky Mountain Wild (“RMW”), Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter, Rocky Mountain Recreation Initiative, and Wilderness Workshop (together, “Citizen Groups”) in response to the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) Uncompahgre Field Office (“UFO”) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) for the Bull Mountain Unit Master Development Plan (“MDP”), DOI-BLM-CO-SO50-2013-0022-EIS. Given the critical impacts that this proposed development would have on the region’s environment, and, more broadly, on climate change, we appreciate the opportunity to participate and comment on this Draft, as well as BLM’s commitment to integrate the following concerns into its NEPA analysis. See 43 C.F.R. § 1610.2; 42 U.S.C. § 4332. Citizen Groups hereby incorporate by reference our supplemental information letter, submitted June 3, 2011, providing BLM with new information and circumstances affecting the Bull Mountain Unit (“Unit”) (attached as Exhibit 1); comments for the preliminary EA/FONSI for the Bull Mountain Unit (attached as Exhibit 2) and exhibits (“EA Exhibits”), submitted April 23, 2012; and our supplemental comments on the Bull Mountain EIS submitted February 14, 2014 (attached as Exhibit 3). Bull Mountain Master Development Plan DEIS 1 DOI-BLM-UT-G010-2009-0217-EIS Citizens for a Healthy Community (“CHC”) is a grass-roots organization with more than 375 members formed in 2010 for the purpose of protecting people and their environment from irresponsible oil and gas development in the Delta County region. CHC’s members and supporters include organic farmers, ranchers, vineyard and winery owners, sportsmen, realtors, and other concerned citizens impacted by oil and gas development. CHC members have been actively involved in commenting on BLM’s oil and gas activities. High Country Conservation Advocates (“HCCA”) is located in Crested Butte, Colorado with over 800 members. HCCA was founded in 1977 to protect the health and natural beauty of the land, rivers, and wildlife in and around Gunnison County now and for future generations. HCCA has engaged on oil, natural gas, and coal bed methane development in Gunnison County for over a decade to prevent irreparable harm to its members' interests. HCCA's members and supporters live in, use, and enjoy the communities and landscapes that the proposed Bull Mountain development would affect. Western Environmental Law Center (“WELC”) uses the power of the law to defend and protect the American West’s treasured landscapes, iconic wildlife and rural communities. WELC combines legal skills with sound conservation biology and environmental science to address major environmental issues in the West in the most strategic and effective manner. WELC works at the national, regional, state, and local levels; and in all three branches of government. WELC integrates national policies and regional perspective with the local knowledge of our 100+ partner groups to implement smart and appropriate place-based actions. Western Colorado Congress (“WCC”) is an alliance for community action empowering people to protect and enhance their quality of life in Western Colorado. We have been working for land conservation and the responsible use and development of our natural resources for 35 years. We have over 1,500 members across Western Colorado. Great Old Broads for Wilderness (“Broads”) is a national conservation organization with 5,200 members, including 700 in Colorado. Broads engages and ignites the activism of elders to preserve and protect wilderness and wild lands, giving voice to the millions of older Americans who want to protect their public lands as Wilderness for this and future generations. We bring experience, commitment, and humor to the movement to protect the last wild places on Earth. The Crystal River Caucus (“CRC”) represents the residents and landowners in the Crystal River Valley in Pitkin County, Colorado. In Colorado, a caucus is a voter-approved entity that provides a recommendatory function to County Commissioners. The Crystal River Caucus represents approximately 700 Pitkin County residents. EcoFlight educates and advocates for the protection of remaining wild lands and wildlife habitat through the use of small aircraft. The aerial perspective and our educational programs encourage an environmental stewardship ethic among citizens of all ages. Rocky Mountain Wild (“RMW”) is a conservation advocacy organization focused on protecting wildlands for wildlife throughout the Southern Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, eastern Utah, southern Wyoming, and northern New Mexico). The organization has around 600 members who are passionate about protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem health throughout the Bull Mountain Master Development Plan DEIS 2 DOI-BLM-UT-G010-2009-0217-EIS region. RMW advocates for its members’ interests through participating in administrative processes, collaboration, education, and, when necessary, litigation. Wilderness Workshop (“WW”) is a non-profit organization engaged in research, education, legal advocacy and grassroots organizing to protect the ecological integrity of local landscapes and public lands. WW not only defends pristine public lands from new threats, but also strives to restore the functional wildness of a landscape fragmented by human activity. WW works to protect and preserve existing wilderness areas, advocate for expanding wilderness, defend roadless areas from development that would destroy their wilderness character, and safeguard the ecological integrity of all federal public lands in the vicinity of the White River National Forest. Wilderness Workshop has a long history of participation in forest planning on the White River National Forest, the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest, and adjacent Bureau of Land Management lands. WW has a long history of engagement with oil and gas issues in and around the Bull Mountain Unit. The Sierra Club’s members and supporters are more than 2.4 million of your friends and neighbors across the country; more than 50,000 here in Colorado. Inspired by nature, we work together to protect our communities and the planet. The Sierra Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. Our mission is to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet. WildEarth Guardians (“Guardians”) is a western U.S.-based organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. Headquartered in Santa Fe, Guardians was founded 26 years ago and has offices in Denver and other western states. With the support of more than 44,000 members, including more than 5,000 members in Colorado, Guardians works to defend our public lands from the impacts of climate change and fossil fuel development. Guardians has long been active in efforts to protect public lands in the North Fork Valley of Colorado from the impacts of fossil fuel development. Rocky Mountain Recreation Initiative (“RMRI”) is a small grassroots organization that strives to protect wilderness quality lands and maintain landscape integrity in Colorado by developing policies that promote sustainable development of recreational trails. I. National Environmental Policy Act A. The BLM is required to issue a moratorium on all oil and gas development in the Uncompahgre area for as long as the UFO RMP remains uncompleted. As identified in Citizen Groups’ earlier comments to BLM, a moratorium on all oil and gas development within the UFO is required, pending revision to the Resource Management Plan (“RMP”) and environmental impact statement (“EIS”). Proceeding with oil and gas development while the RMP revision is pending would prejudice the development of the RMP EIS. Moreover, the existing UFO RMP is completely out-of-date and can no longer serve as the foundation for decisions on oil and gas development within the UFO. See Scoping Comments at 11-14; EA Comments at 2-4. NEPA requires that, until an agency issues a Record of Decision for a pending NEPA Bull Mountain Master Development Plan DEIS 3 DOI-BLM-UT-G010-2009-0217-EIS document, “no action concerning the proposal shall be taken which would: (1) have an adverse environmental impact; or (2) limit the choice of reasonable alternatives.” 40 C.F.R. § 1506.1(a)(1), (2). NEPA prohibits agencies from making an “irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources.” 40 C.F.R. §§ 1502.2(f); Conner v. Burford, 848 F.2d 1441, 1446 (9th Cir. 1986); see also Pacific Rivers Council v. Thomas, 30 F.3d 1050, 1056-57 (9th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 1793 (1995) (interpreting identical language in ESA). “The purpose of an EIS is to apprise decisionmakers of the disruptive environmental effects that may flow from their decisions at a time when they ‘retain[] a maximum range of options.’” Conner, 848 F.2d at 1446.