Surface Management Regulations

Draft ( ) Final (X)

The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

1. Type of Action: Administrative (X) Legislative ( )

2. Abstract:   BLM is proposing to change the regulations in 43 CFR subpart 3809 for its program to manage operations conducted under the General Mining Law of 1872, as amended, and section 302 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). This action is intended to modernize and improve the regulations, while increasing environmental protection and facilitating coordination and cooperation with state regulatory agencies having a role in mine permitting.

This final environmental impact statement (EIS) is a national-level, programmatic EIS. It documents the economic, social, environmental, and ecological impacts that would result from alternative frameworks for the BLM surface management program regulating locatable mineral operations on public lands. The Proposed Action is to adopt the recently proposed regulations at 43 CFR 3809. Other program alternatives analyzed in this EIS include the following: maintaining the existing regulations (No Action), allowing each state to regulate locatable mineral operations on public lands within its borders (State Management), adopting regulations that maximize environmental protection while still allowing locatable mineral activities (Maximum Protection), and adopting the recommendations of the National Research Council report Hardrock Mining on Federal Lands (NRC Recommendations).

3. For further information contact:

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