Fact Sheet: Public Comment on Environmental Assessments for Oil Shale RD&D Leasing in Colorado

The procedure that the BLM used to develop the Environmental Assessments (EAs) for the oil shale RD&D proposals in Colorado went beyond the usual steps required in the NEPA regulations of the Bureau, the Interior Department, and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Development of these EAs included an opportunity for public review of and comment on preliminary versions of the documents.  Public comment on preliminary, or “draft,” versions of EAs is not typical and is not required by either BLM or CEQ regulations.

The BLM published preliminary versions of these EAs and invited public comment on them to ensure that the Final EAs considered all available information about environmental effects of the proposed projects. 

Comments were received by letter, fax and e-mail, and were submitted by individuals, non-governmental organizations (environmental and industry-related), and government agencies (state, county and municipal).  Most submissions contained more than one comment.

The BLM received a total of 72 submissions that comprised more than 800 comments.   

The preliminary EA for Chevron’s proposed project was the subject of 15 submissions containing 217 comments. 

The preliminary EA for Shell’s proposed projects was the subject of 37 submissions containing 311 comments.

The preliminary EA for EGL Resources’ proposed project was the subject of 20 submissions containing 282 comments.

During the BLM’s analysis of comments on all three preliminary EAs, these general areas of concern, or comment themes, were identified:

 •            air quality
•             water
•             socio-economic impacts
•             lease terms
•             permitting by State or local governments
•             preparing an EA rather than an EIS
•             Purpose and Need statement
•             range of Alternatives
•             preference-right acreage
•             comments outside the scope of the RD&D EAs

 -BLM-