WOComment@blm.gov

2002 Final Regulations and Correcting Amendments

1. 43 CFR Part 1820--Application Procedures; Correction, 5/31/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 38009
2. 43 CFR Part 1820--Application Procedures [BLM Oregon State Office New Address], 5/6/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 30328-30329
3. 43 CFR Part 2880--Rights-of-Way Under the Mineral Leasing Act; Timing of Approvals, 9/30/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 61274-61276
4. 43 CFR Parts 2930 and 8370--Permits for Recreation on Public Lands, 10/1/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 61731-61745  PDF
5. 43 CFR Parts 3130 and 3160--National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska--Unitization, 4/11/02, Federal Register, Part V, 67 FR 17865-17894  PDF
6. 43 CFR Parts 3430 and 3470--Coal Management:  Noncompetitive Leases; Coal Management Provisions and Limitations, 10/15/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 63565-63567
7. 43 CFR Parts 3730, 3820, 3830, and 3850--Locating, Recording, and Maintaining Mining Claims or Sites, 6/3/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 38203-38206 [administrative final rule]

• 43 CFR Parts 3430 and 3470--Coal Management:  Noncompetitive Leases; Coal Management Provisions and Limitations, 10/15/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 63565-63567.  The final rule--
  • Corrects a technical error relating to coal lease modifications made in a 1999 final rule; and
  • Amends the regulations to reflect the statutory increase in the maximum acreage of Federal leases for coal that an individual or entity may hold in any one state and nationally.

• 43 CFR Parts 2930 and 8370--Permits for Recreation on Public Lands, 10/1/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 61731-61745.  The final rule--
  • Updates the regulations on recreation permits for organized groups and events, competitive events and activities, commercial recreational operations, and individual recreational use of special management areas;
  • Establishes a new system for determining costs for reimbursement to BLM, helping to ensure a fair return to the public for special uses of the public lands;
  • Adds new regulations on how to obtain Recreation Use Permits for fee areas, such as campgrounds, certain day use areas, and recreation-related services;
  • Meets the policy goal of reorganizing the regulations in a more systematic way; and
  • Relocates the regulations to the subchapter dealing with other land use authorizations, reorganizes them into an order that flows more logically, and simplifies the language.

• 43 CFR Part 2880--Rights-of-Way Under the Mineral Leasing Act; Timing of Approvals, 9/30/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 61274-61276.  The final rule will allow BLM to approve rights-of-way grants for pipelines 24 inches or more in diameter as soon as it notifies the appropriate congressional committees.

• 43 CFR Parts 3730, 3820, 3830, and 3850--Locating, Recording, and Maintaining Claims or Sites, 6/3/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 38203-38206.  The administrative final rule amends regulations on locating, recording, and maintaining mining claims or sites to respond to a recent law extending the following provisions until September 30, 2003--
  • Require claimants to pay location and maintenance fees on unpatented mining claims or sites; and
  • Allow qualified "small miners" to seek a waiver from the annual maintenance fee.

  The BLM collected these fees and provided waivers under the existing regulations based on a previous law that expired on September 30, 2001.

• 43 CFR Part 1820--Application Procedures; Correction, 5/31/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 38009.  The final rule corrects a final rule published on May 6, 2002, in the Federal Register containing the new address of the BLM Oregon State Office which moved in January 2002.  Inadvertently, the amendatory language was omitted in the final rule.

• 43 CFR Part 1820--Application Procedures, 5/6/02, Federal Register, 67 FR 30328-30329.  The final rule amends the regulation showing the location of BLM State Offices to show the new address of the BLM Oregon State Office, which moved in January 2002.

• 43 CFR Parts 3130 and 3160--National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska--Unitization, 4/11/02, Federal Register, Part V, 67 FR 17865-17894. [pdf]  The final rule adds a new subpart to BLM's oil and gas regulations implementing new statutory authority allowing operators to form units in the National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska (NPR-A).  Units allow for the sharing of costs and spreading of revenues among several leases, and allow for production to be attributed to committed leases in the unit.  The final rule also--
  • Allows for waiver, suspension, or reduction of rental of royalty for NPR-A leases;
  • Allows for suspension of operations and production for NPR-A leases;
  • Amends existing regulatory language to set the primary lease term for an NPR-A lease at 10 years.  Current regulations allow 10 years, or a shorter term if it is in the notice of sale; and
  • Adds a new subpart to the NPR-A regulations on subsurface storage agreements.  Subsurface storage agreements allow operators to store gas in existing geologic structures on Federal lands.

  This rule also makes clear that existing suspension and royalty reduction regulations do not apply to the NPR-A.

• 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.