As used in this part and parts 3910 through 3930 of this chapter, the term:

Acquired lands means lands which the United States obtained through purchase, gift, or condemnation, including mineral estates associated with lands previously disposed of under the public land laws, including the mining laws.

Act means the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.).

BLM means the Bureau of Land Management and includes the individual employed by the Bureau of Land Management authorized to perform the duties set forth in this part and parts 3910 through 3930.

Commercial quantities means production of shale oil quantities in accordance with the approved Plan of Development for the proposed project through the research, development, and demonstration activities conducted on the research, development, and demonstration (R, D and D) lease, based on, and at the conclusion of which, there is a reasonable expectation that the expanded operation would provide a positive return after all costs of production have been met, including the amortized costs of the capital investment.

Department means the Department of the Interior.

Diligent development means achieving or completing the prescribed milestones listed in § 3930.30 of this chapter.

Entity means a person, association, or corporation, or any subsidiary, affiliate, corporation, or association controlled by or under common control with such person, association, or corporation.

Exploration means drilling, excavating, and geological, geophysical or geochemical surveying operations designed to obtain detailed data on the physical and chemical characteristics of Federal oil shale and its environment including:

(1) The strata below the Federal oil shale;

(2) The overburden;

(3) The strata immediately above the Federal oil shale; and

(4) The hydrologic conditions associated with the Federal oil shale.

Exploration license means a license issued by the BLM that allows the licensee to explore unleased oil shale deposits to obtain geologic, environmental, and other pertinent data concerning the deposits. An exploration license confers no preference to a lease to develop oil shale.

Exploration plan means a plan prepared in sufficient detail to show the:

(1) Location and type of exploration to be conducted;

(2) Environmental protection procedures to be taken;

(3) Present and proposed roads, if any; and

(4) Reclamation and abandonment procedures to be followed upon completion of operations.

Fair market value (FMV) means the monetary amount for which the oil shale deposit would be leased by a knowledgeable owner willing, but not obligated, to lease to a knowledgeable purchaser who desires, but is not obligated, to lease the oil shale deposit.

Federal lands means any lands or interests in lands, including oil shale interests underlying non-Federal surface, owned by the United States, without reference to how the lands were acquired or what Federal agency administers the lands.

Infrastructure means all support structures necessary for the production or development of shale oil, including, but not limited to:

(1) Offices;

(2) Shops;

(3) Maintenance facilities;

(4) Pipelines;

(5) Roads;

(6) Electrical transmission lines;

(7) Well bores;

(8) Storage tanks;

(9) Ponds;

(10) Monitoring stations;

(11) Processing facilities—retorts; and

(12) Production facilities.

In situ operation means the processing of oil shale in place.

Interest in a lease, application, or bid means any:

(1) Record title interest;

(2) Overriding royalty interest;

(3) Working interest;

(4) Operating rights or option or any agreement covering such an interest; or

(5) Participation or any defined or undefined share in any increments, issues, or profits that may be derived from or that may accrue in any manner from a lease based on or under any agreement or understanding existing when an application was filed or entered into while the lease application or bid is pending.

Kerogen means the solid, organic substance in sedimentary rock that yields oil when it undergoes destructive distillation.

Lease means a Federal lease issued under the mineral leasing laws, which grants the exclusive right to explore for and extract a designated mineral.

Lease bond means the bond or equivalent security given to the Department to assure performance of all obligations associated with all lease terms and conditions.

Maximum economic recovery (MER) means the prevention of wasting of the resource by recovering the maximum amount of the resource that is technologically and economically possible.

Mining waste means all tailings, dumps, deleterious materials, or substances produced by mining, retorting, or in-situ operations.

MMS means the Minerals Management Service.

Oil shale means a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing:

(1) Organic matter which was derived chiefly from aquatic organisms or waxy spores or pollen grains, which is only slightly soluble in ordinary petroleum solvents, and of which a large proportion is distillable into synthetic petroleum; and

(2) Inorganic matter, which may contain other minerals. This term is applicable to any argillaceous, carbonate, or siliceous sedimentary rock which, through destructive distillation, will yield synthetic petroleum.

Permit means any of the required approvals that are issued by Federal, state, or local agencies.

Plan of development (POD) means the plan created for oil shale operations that complies with the requirements of the Act and that details the plans, equipment, methods, and schedules to be used in oil shale development.

Production means:

(1) The extraction of shale oil, shale gas, or shale oil by-products through surface retorting or in situ recovery methods; or

(2) The severing of oil shale rock through surface or underground mining methods.

Proper BLM office means the Bureau of Land Management office having jurisdiction over the lands under application or covered by a lease or exploration license and subject to the regulations in this part and in parts 3910 through 3930 of this chapter (see subpart 1821 of part 1820 of this chapter for a list of BLM state offices).

Public lands means lands, i.e., surface estate, mineral estate, or both, which:

(1) Never left the ownership of the United States, including minerals reserved when the lands were patented;

(2) Were obtained by the United States in exchange for public lands;

(3) Have reverted to the ownership of the United States; or

(4) Were specifically identified by Congress as part of the public domain.

Reclamation means the measures undertaken to bring about the necessary reconditioning of lands or waters affected by exploration, mining, in situ operations, onsite processing operations or waste disposal in a manner which will meet the requirements imposed by the BLM under applicable law.

Reclamation bond means the bond or equivalent security given to the BLM to assure performance of all obligations relating to reclamation of disturbed areas under an exploration license or lease.

Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

Shale gas means the gaseous hydrocarbon-bearing products of surface retorting of oil shale or of in situ extraction that is not liquefied into shale oil. In addition to hydrocarbons, shale gas might include other gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, helium, sulfur, other residual or specialty gases, and entrained hydrocarbon liquids.

Shale oil means synthetic petroleum derived from the destructive distillation of oil shale.

Sole party in interest means a party who alone is or will be vested with all legal and equitable rights and responsibilities under a lease, bid, or application for a lease.

Surface management agency means the Federal agency with jurisdiction over the surface of federally-owned lands containing oil shale deposits.

State Director means an employee of the Bureau of Land Management designated as the chief administrative officer of one of the BLM's 12 administrative areas administered by a state office.

Surface retort means the above-ground facility used for the extraction of kerogen by heating mined shale.

Surface retort operation means the extraction of kerogen by heating mined shale in an above-ground facility.

Synthetic petroleum means synthetic crude oil manufactured from shale oil and suitable for use as a refinery feedstock or for petrochemical production.

(a) OMB has approved the information collection requirements in parts 3900 through 3930 of this chapter under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. The table in paragraph (d) of this section lists the subpart in the rule requiring the information and its title, provides the OMB control number, and summarizes the reasons for collecting the information and how the BLM uses the information.

(b) Respondents are oil shale lessees and operators. The requirement to respond to the information collections in these parts are mandated under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EP Act) (42 U.S.C. 15927), the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 351-359), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., including 43 U.S.C. 1732).

(c) The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 requires us to inform the public that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and you are not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

(d) The BLM is collecting this information for the reasons given in the following table:

The BLM may issue oil shale leases under this part on all Federal lands except:

(a) Those lands specifically excluded from leasing by the Act;

(b) Lands within the boundaries of any unit of the National Park System, except as expressly authorized by law (Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area);

(c) Lands within incorporated cities, towns and villages; and

(d) Any other lands withdrawn from leasing.

Any party adversely affected by a BLM decision made under this part or parts 3910 through 3930 of this chapter may appeal the decision under part 4 of this title. All decisions and orders by the BLM under these parts remain effective pending appeal unless the BLM decides otherwise. A petition for the stay of a decision may be filed with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA).

(a) All necessary documents must be filed in the proper BLM office. A document is considered filed when the proper BLM office receives it with any required fee.

(b) All information submitted to the BLM under the regulations in this part or parts 3910 through 3930 will be available to the public unless exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), under part 2 of this title, or unless otherwise provided for by law.

(a) The granting of an exploration license or lease for the exploration, development, or production of deposits of oil shale does not preclude the BLM from issuing other exploration licenses or leases for the same lands for deposits of other minerals. Each exploration license or lease reserves the right to allow any other uses or to allow disposal of the leased lands if it does not unreasonably interfere with the exploration and mining operations of the lessee. The lessee or the licensee must make all reasonable efforts to avoid interference with other such authorized uses.

(b) Subsequent lessee or licensee will be required to conduct operations in a manner that will not interfere with the established rights of existing lessees or licensees.

(c) When the BLM issues an oil shale lease, it will cancel all oil shale exploration licenses for the leased lands.

(a) Any lease or exploration license issued under this part or parts 3910 through 3930 of this chapter will be issued in conformance with the decisions, terms, and conditions of a comprehensive land use plan developed under part 1600 of this chapter.

(b) Before a lease or exploration license is issued, the BLM, or the appropriate surface management agency, must comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

(c) Before the BLM approves a POD, the BLM must comply with NEPA, in cooperation with the surface management agency when possible, if the surface is managed by another Federal agency.

(a) Public lands. Unless consent is required by law, the BLM will issue a lease or exploration license only after the BLM has consulted with the surface management agency on public lands where the surface is administered by an agency other than the BLM. The BLM will not issue a lease or an exploration license on lands to which the surface managing agency withholds consent required by statute.

(b) Acquired lands. The BLM will issue a lease on acquired lands only after receiving written consent from an appropriate official of the surface management agency.

(c) Lands covered by lease or license. If a Federal surface management agency outside of the Department has required special stipulations in the lease or license or has refused consent to issue the lease or license, an applicant may pursue the administrative remedies to challenge that decision offered by that particular surface management agency, if any. If the applicant notifies the BLM within 30 calendar days after receiving the BLM's decision that the applicant has requested the surface management agency to review or reconsider its decision, the time for filing an appeal to the IBLA under part 4 of this title is suspended until a decision is reached by such agency.

(d) The BLM will not issue a lease or exploration license on National Forest System Lands without the consent of the Forest Service.

(e) Ownership of surface overlying Federal minerals by states, charitable organizations, or private entities. Where the United States has conveyed title to the surface of lands to any state or political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including a college or any other educational corporation or association, to a charitable or religious corporation or association, or to a private entity, the BLM will send such surface owners written notification by certified mail of the application for exploration license or lease. In the written notification, the BLM will give the surface owners a reasonable time, not to exceed 90 calendar days, within which to suggest any lease stipulations necessary for the protection of existing surface improvements or uses and to set forth the facts supporting the necessity of the stipulations, or to file any objections it may have to the issuance of the lease or license. The BLM makes the final decision as to whether to issue the lease or license and on what terms based on a determination as to whether the interests of the United States would best be served by issuing the lease or license with the particular stipulations. This is true even in cases where the party controlling the surface opposes the issuance of a lease or license or wishes to place restrictive stipulations on the lease.

The BLM will specify stipulations in a lease or exploration license to protect the lands and their resources. This may include stipulations required by the surface management agency or recommended by the surface management agency or non-Federal surface owner and accepted by the BLM.