4331-10
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_AK_FRN_MO4500180306]
Notice of Availability of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) Withdrawals Final Environmental
Impact Statement, Alaska
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as
amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) 17(d)(1) Withdrawals Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The BLM held public meetings on the Draft EIS
and subsistence-related hearings to receive comments on the Draft EIS and the project's
potential to impact subsistence resources and activities. The Final EIS considers those
comments.
DATES: The BLM will publish the Record of Decision for the project no earlier than 30
days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of
Availability of the Final EIS in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The Final EIS and documents pertinent to this proposal are available for
review on the BLM ePlanning project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanningui/project/2018002/510, and in-person at the BLM Anchorage Field Office, and at the
BLM Alaska State Office, BLM Alaska Public Information Center.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Racheal Jones, BLM Project
Manager, telephone (907) 290-0307; address ANCSA 17(d)(1) EIS, BLM Anchorage
District Office, Attn: Racheal Jones, 4700 BLM Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99507; email

rajones@blm.gov. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, blind, hard of hearing,
or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services for contacting Ms. Jones. Individuals outside the
United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make
international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), BLM Alaska State Office, prepared
this EIS to evaluate the effects of any Secretarial decision to revoke withdrawals
established following enactment of ANCSA Section 17(d)(1) affecting the lands
described in Public Land Order (PLO) Nos. 7899 through 7903. The potential revocation
of these 17(d)(1) withdrawals is hereafter referred to as the 2021 Action. PLO Nos.
7900, 7901, 7902, and 7903, which would revoke withdrawals on lands in the Ring of
Fire, Bay, Bering Sea-Western Interior, and East Alaska planning areas, respectively,
were signed on January 15 and 16, 2021; however, they were never published in the
Federal Register. PLO No. 7899, which would revoke withdrawals on lands in the
Kobuk-Seward Peninsula planning area, was signed on January 11, 2021, and published
in the Federal Register on January 19, 2021 (86 FR 5236). Subsequently, the DOI
identified certain procedural and legal defects in the decision-making process for these
PLOs, as described in the April 16, 2021, Federal Register notice (86 FR 20193),
including insufficient analysis under NEPA. The DOI extended the opening order for
PLO No. 7899 until August 31, 2024, to provide an opportunity to review the decision
and to ensure the orderly management of the public lands (88 FR 21207). The BLM used
this time to address identified deficiencies and to update the NEPA analysis.
The 2021 Action under review is revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals
as described in PLO No. 7899, 7900, 7901, 7902, and 7903, affecting approximately 28
million acres in total. This EIS evaluates the resource conditions on these lands and

incorporates and describes additional coordination with other Federal agencies; State and
local governments; Federally recognized Tribes; Alaska Native Corporations; and other
stakeholders to ensure that the environmental analyses previously conducted are updated
and expanded upon as appropriate. This additional analysis is necessary to ensure display
of the impacts of revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals; to correct errors in the
previous decision-making process regarding these withdrawals; and to ensure that
opening these lands is consistent with the purposes of ANCSA 17(d)(1), which requires
that “the public interest in these lands is properly protected,” including factors such as
subsistence hunting and fishing, habitat connectivity, protection of cultural resources, and
protection of threatened and endangered species. This evaluation is needed to make an
informed public interest determination to support revocation in full, revocation in part, or
retention in full of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals.
The BLM considered alternatives that represent retention or revocation of the
17(d)(1) withdrawals and different configurations of the areas affected in each of the five
planning areas (Bay, Bering Sea-Western Interior, East Alaska, Kobuk-Seward, and Ring
of Fire). Each of the alternatives identifies 17(d)(1) withdrawals in the five planning
areas as retained or revoked. The alternatives range from retaining the withdrawals on all
lands (Alternative A) to revoking the withdrawals on all lands (Alternative D).
Alternatives B and C include partial revocations based on natural resource factors.
Full or partial revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals would result in changes to
land use that could affect local residents, wildlife, vegetation, cultural resources,
subsistence, and recreation. No development plans have been submitted, and no
stipulations are attached to selected lands that would prevent any specific development
from taking place. Therefore, the EIS provides a reasonably foreseeable development
scenario that identifies and quantifies potential development activity in the decision area,
including the extraction of leasable, locatable, and salable minerals, as well as the

establishment of associated rights-of-way, assuming the land is not withdrawn from
availability for such activities.
Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)
requires the BLM to evaluate the effects of the alternatives presented in the Final EIS on
subsistence uses and needs and to hold public hearings if it finds that any alternative may
significantly restrict subsistence uses.
The BLM found in the evaluation of subsistence impacts that Alternatives B, C,
or D, in combination with the cumulative case as analyzed in the Draft EIS, may
significantly restrict subsistence uses in many communities. Therefore, the BLM held
public hearings on subsistence resources and activities in conjunction with the public
meetings on the Draft EIS in the vicinity of potentially affected communities. In
consideration of public comments received on the Draft EIS and at the public hearings,
the BLM revised the ANILCA Section 810 evaluation, published as Appendix C of the
Final EIS, but did not change its ‘‘may significantly restrict subsistence uses’’ findings
for the identified communities.
The input of Alaska Native Tribes and Corporations is of critical importance to
this EIS. Therefore, during the NEPA process, the BLM consulted with potentially
affected Federally recognized Tribes on a government-to-government basis, and with
affected Alaska Native Corporations in accordance with Executive Order 13175, as well
as Pub. L. 108–199, Div. H, sec. 161, 118 Stat. 452, as amended by Pub. L. 108–447,
Div. H, sec. 518, 118 Stat. 3267, and other Department and Bureau policies.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6(b))

Steven M. Cohn,
State Director.

[FR Doc. 2024-14658 Filed: 7/3/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/5/2024]