Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Which BLM officials will sign final sage grouse documents?

The greater sage grouse planning strategy is such a massive undertaking for the Bureau of Land Management that officials are unsure who will sign the final environmental documents. “I don’t think that’s been determined yet,” said Mitch Snow, a spokesman for the BLM’s Washington, D.C., office. The agency has 60 days to figure it out. Although typically a final environmental impact statement, or EIS, would be signed by the state director, the agency is discussing whether to have the director of the BLM, the assistant secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell sign the documents. “Given the nationwide scope of the sage grouse plan, who that will be I don’t know,” said Al Nash, chief of communications for BLM’s Montana/Dakotas office in Billings. Last week, the BLM announced that it had completed environmental impact statements for areas in 10 western states, including Wyoming. Since they have been finalized, the only way to alter the documents now is for a group or individual to file a protest before June 29. The documents also must pass a governor’s consistency review. Each state has 60 days to conduct that assessment. “Then we can move forward and operate under the new plan,” Nash said...more

Its so massive they can't even figure out who should sign it (them)!




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