UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Washington, D.C. 20240

 

October 16, 2007

 

In Reply Refer To:

3483 (320) P

EMS TRANSMISSION

Instruction Memorandum No. 2008-011

Expires: 09/30/2009

 

To:                   State Directors

From:               Assistant Director, Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection

Subject:            Continued Operation Statistics for the Fiscal Year 2007 Public Land Statistics                                       DD: 10/31/2007

 

Program Area: Coal Management

 

Purpose:  Request for data from State offices concerning diligent development and continued operation compliance for all Federal coal leases.

 

Policy/Action: The Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), as amended, requires that Federal coal leases be diligently developed and maintained in continued operation. Beginning with Fiscal Year 2007, a new table will be added in the Public Land Statistics (PLS) to summarize compliance with the diligent development and continued operation requirements for Federal coal leases.

 

For all authorized Federal coal leases as of September 30, 2007, that are under your management, please indicate as illustrated in Attachment “A”, how each lease has most recently complied with the diligent development and continued operation requirements of the MLA, as amended. Other than for Alaska, the Federal coal lease serial numbers provided in Attachment “A” are all coal leases with an authorized case disposition in the LR2000 Database as of August 30, 2007.

 

The Washington Office will check the total authorized coal leases for each state from the LR2000 Database as of September 30, 2007, as a part of our preparation of the annual PLS Report. Any variance between the LR2000 total leases and the total leases provided under this Instruction Memorandum must be reconciled. Please provide the name and phone number of a contact person to facilitate such reconciliation as needed. 

 

Timeframe: The diligent development and continued operation data must be received by Washington Office 320 on or before October 31, 2007.

 

Budget Impact: Minimal

Background: These requests are received several times each year for summary level statistics for the number of producing Federal coal leases or to demonstrate compliance with the diligence requirements. Reporting this information annually will provide a consistent basis to respond to such requests in the future with minimal impact on the state or field offices. 

 

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None

 

Coordination: None

 

Contact Persons: Mitchell Leverette, Solid Mineral Division, at 202-452-5088 or William Radden-Lesage 202-452-0360.

 

 

1 Attachment

    1 –   Federal coal lease compliance with diligent development and continued operation requirements (15 pp)