Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical Changes and Corrections

AGENCY:

Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

On September 30, 2014, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published in the Federal Register with a 60-day comment period a proposed rule, to facilitate responsible solar and wind energy development and to receive fair market value for such development. (79 FR 59021) The proposed rule would promote the use of preferred areas for solar and wind energy development and establish competitive processes, terms, and conditions (including rental and bonding requirements) for solar and wind energy development rights-of-way both inside and outside these preferred areas. The proposed rule would also make technical changes, corrections, and clarifications to existing rights-of-way regulations. Some of these changes would affect all rights-of-way and some provisions would affect particular types of actions, such as transmission lines with a capacity of 100 Kilovolts (kV) or more, or pipelines 10 inches or more in diameter.

The BLM received requests to extend the comment period of this proposed rule. In response to these requests, the BLM is extending the comment period for 15 days beyond the end of the initial comment period. As a result of this extension, the comment period will now close on December 16, 2014.

DATES:

Send your comments on this proposed rule to the BLM on or before December 16, 2014. The BLM need not consider, or include in the administrative record for the final rule, comments that the BLM receives after the close of the comment period or comments delivered to an address other than those listed below (see ADDRESSES).

ADDRESSES:

Mail: U.S. Department of the Interior, Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, Mail Stop 2134 LM, 1849 C St. NW., Washington, DC 20240, Attention: 1004-AE24. Personal or messenger delivery: Bureau of Land Management, 20 M Street SE., Room 2134 LM, Attention: Regulatory Affairs, Washington, DC 20003. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions at this Web site.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ray Brady, Bureau of Land Management, at 202-912-7312, for information relating to the BLM's solar and wind renewable energy programs, or the substance of the proposed rule. For information pertaining to the changes made for any transmission line with a capacity of 100 kV or more, or any pipeline 10 inches or more in diameter you may contact Lucas Lucero at 202-912-7342. For information on procedural matters or the rulemaking process you may contact Jean Sonneman at 202-912-7405. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, to contact the above individuals.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Comment Procedures

If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any one of the several methods listed in the ADDRESSES section.

Please make your comments as specific as possible by confining them to issues directly related to the content of the proposed rule, and explain the basis for your comments. The comments and recommendations that will be most useful and likely to influence agency decisions are:

1. Those supported by quantitative information or studies; and

2. Those that include citations to, and analyses of, the applicable laws and regulations.

The BLM is not obligated to consider or include in the Administrative Record for the rule comments received after the close of the comment period (see DATES) or comments delivered to an address other than those listed above (see ADDRESSES).

Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the address listed under ADDRESSES during regular hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.

Before including your address, telephone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be advised that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask in your comment to withhold from public review your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.