BLM sets public meetings on oil shale development

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will host several public meetings to answer questions about its oil shale and tar sands Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS). The Draft PEIS being prepared by the BLM will address various management alternatives for future oil-shale and tar-sands activities on public lands. The Notice of Availability of the Draft PEIS was issued in the Federal Register on February 3, 2012. A 90-day public comment period began that day and will close on May 4, 2012.

A meeting in Rock Springs, Wyo., will be held on Thursday, March 15 at the BLM Rock Springs Field Office, where BLM officials will be on hand to take written comments, as well as assist with the commenting process.

An online comment form can be found on the Draft PEIS Website at http://ostseis.anl.gov. Comments may also be submitted by regular mail to: Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic EIS, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, EVS 240, Argonne, IL 60439. Written comments on the Draft PEIS must be submitted by May 4.

Meetings will also be held in Colorado and Utah. The complete list of meetings is below:

Monday, March 12
BLM Colorado River Valley Office
2300 River Frontage Road, Silt, Colorado
7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 13
Westin Plaza Hotel
1684 West Highway 40, Vernal, Utah
7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 14
Grand America Hotel
555 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 15
BLM Rock Springs Field Office
280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming
7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Megan Crandall at 202-912-7411.

Guy V. Padgett has been with WyoFile since October of 2011. He serves as WyoFile’s operations director

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