Guidance for Permitting 3809 Plans of Operation - Pre-Planning
1340 Financial Boulevard
Reno, NV 89502
United States
3809 (NV920) P
Provide guidance to improve the permitting process for exploration and mine plans of operation.
Mission
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) outlines the requirement for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Nevada to comply with 43 CFR 46.200 (d) (1) and (2) to initiate, at the earliest possible time, coordination among the operator and the appropriate state and federal regulatory agencies. BLM National policy (Washington Office IM 2017-103) is to engage in preplanning with mine operators prior to submittal of mine plans of operation. BLM is also responsible for managing the mine permitting process to ensure all statutory and regulatory requirements are met under 43 CFR 3809 and 40 CFR 1500- 1508 to approve a mine plan of operations (mine plan) in a timely manner while ensuring that the operation does not cause unnecessary or undue degradation under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLMPA).
The BLM encourages operators to initiate pre-planning and coordination as part of the proposed mine plan review process. Pre-submittal meetings are voluntary for operators; however, it is BLM policy to contact the operator prior to submittal of a proposed mine plan to help determine what information, studies, or data may be needed to support National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis or any other analyses necessary to process the mine plan in a timely and effective manner.
The BLM Handbook, Surface Management, H-3809-1 discusses voluntary pre-submittal meetings. Section 4.3.1 of the Handbook states:
The BLM is available to meet with the operator and other local, state, or federal agencies that may be involved in the approval process to discuss (1) what to include in the Plan of Operations and (2) what may be needed to support the NEPA analysis, especially for large projects. It may be beneficial to all parties for the BLM to informally review a preplan, conceptual plan, or study plan prior to the formal filing of the Plan of Operations to give the operator guidance on what to include in the submission and how the review process will be conducted.
BLM Nevada will require District and Field Offices, at the operator's request, to include a preplanning phase in the permitting of a new exploration or mine plan, or major modification to an existing mine plan. The authorized officer will be required to notify operators of this process and encourage pre-planning coordination with the BLM as well as other state and federal agencies in accordance with this policy and regulatory requirements under 43 CFR 46.200. In addition, BLM will inform the operator as soon as practicable of any responsibility they will bear for funding environmental analyses at the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) level associated with their proposed exploration or mine plan (43 CFR 46.200 (e)). For mine plans requiring an EIS level of analysis, District and Field Offices should set up a cost recovery account with the operator as early as possible to include the pre-planning phase in the permitting process.
An outline of the pre-planning process is included in the attachment.
Operators will be informed they could experience potential delays in the permitting process if they elect not to engage and coordinate with the BLM in advance of the submission of an exploration or mine plan. Although not guaranteed, operators participating in this pre-planning process may realize a more efficient and timely post-plan submittal permitting process.
With the issuance of Secretarial Order 3355 (August 31, 2017), BLM has additional responsibilities and requirements to ensure that the NEPA process for federal actions is completed within one year for EISs and 180 days for Environmental Analyses (EAs). BLM is also required to satisfy these requirements with page limitations of 150 pages for ElSs (300 pages for complex EISs) and 75 pages for EAs. Most mining-related EISs will not meet the complexity threshold for a 300 page limitation.
As part of the pre-planning process and in cooperation with the BLM, operators are encouraged to prepare baseline reports including preliminary analyses for affected resources ( e.g. cultural or wildlife resources, etc.) that can be used to prepare the Draft NEPA document. Although the need for additional information may still be identified during the NEPA process, this policy will ensure that all initial baseline studies and preliminary analyses identified at the outset are completed and submitted to the BLM prior to beginning the NEPA process; thus saving the operator time throughout the NEPA process.
Immediately upon receipt.
There may be costs associated with implementing this policy. When implementing this policy, Mining Law Administration funds {L19900000) may be used. In cases where the operator wishes to facilitate the pre-planning process, cost recovery or contributed funds accounts may be used.
Operators make substantial financial and operational commitments to proceed with the development of a mine often years in advance of a formal 43 CFR 3809 plan of operations) submittal to the BLM. Once operators have developed a conceptual design of their proposed operation, permitting efficiencies can be attained by coordinating the baseline testing and characterization studies with the BLM and other state and federal agencies prior to submitting the mine plan.
Operators submitting an exploration or mine plan may experience permitting delays for a variety of reasons. One cause for delay is the submittal of mine plans to the BLM that are accompanied with little to no supporting baseline information. In some cases, the BLM may determine that mine plans are complete pursuant to 43 CFR 3809.401 but recognize that some components of the proposed mine plan may need to be substantiated or revised later in the NEPA process once additional information is obtained. This process often results in extensive and costly delays throughout the NEPA review process while the operator, the BLM, and cooperating agencies await the preparation and submittal of additional baseline studies and reports for review, acceptance by the agency, and incorporation into the NEPA document.
To address these types of delays, pre-planning guidance has been in place in BLM Nevada since 2011 through Instruction Memoranda {IM) NV-2011-004 and IM NV-2014-019. A recent Government Accountability Office {GAO) report (GAO-16-165) evaluated the plan of operations review process for hardrock mines on Federal land and recommended the following:
Take actions to improve the quality of mine plan submissions by, for example, developing guidance for mine operators and agency field officials that instructs them to hold pre-plan submittal meetings whenever possible...
The BLM at the National level concurred with this recommendation and issued guidance in support of the pre-submittal coordination process through Washington Office IM 2017-103. This IM steps down from BLM National policy to convey how this policy is to be implemented in Nevada. This IM supersedes and replaces the previous Nevada IMs NV-2011-004 and NV-2014- 019.
This Instructional Memorandum transmits policy the BLM will incorporate into H-3809-1 at Section 4.3.l during the next revision.
If you have any questions, please contact Kirk Rentmeister, Solid Minerals Program Lead, Minerals Management at 775-861-6451.
BLM Nevada Divisions of NV920 and NV930 and BLM Nevada District Offices.