The Bureau of Land Management has published a final rule to make its right-of-way regulations consistent with statutory changes. The final rule, which appears in today's Federal Register, amends one section of BLM's regulations to remove a 60-day waiting period after notifying Congress before approving a right-of-way grant for pipelines 24 or more inches in diameter.

This final rule makes BLM regulations consistent with existing law (P.L. 101-475), which allows the Secretary of the Interior to issue a right-of-way for a pipeline 24 inches or more in diameter as soon as the Secretary notifies the appropriate committees of the Congress. After the effective date of the final rule, the BLM may issue pipeline grants in accordance with that statute without being in violation of its own regulations.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land—261 million surface acres—than any other Federal agency. Most of the country's BLM-managed public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. These lands, once remote, now provide the growing communities of the West with open space that gives the region much of its character. The Bureau, which has a budget of $1.8 billion and a workforce of 10,000 employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the Nation. The BLM's "multiple use" mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The BLM accomplishes this by managing for such resources as livestock grazing, energy and mineral development that helps meet the nation's energy needs, providing opportunities for outdoor recreation and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public lands.

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