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Weston County to review BLM final EIS and draft comments on federal conservation rule; consultant authorized to bill county
Summary
County staff told commissioners a BLM final EIS for Newcastle is expected soon; commissioners authorized consultant Drew to draft a letter on the BLM 'conservation' rule and approved having the county pay for that work directly.
County staff updated commissioners on ongoing federal land planning matters on Sept. 16, including a near‑term final environmental impact statement (EIS) from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the Newcastle planning area and separate rulemaking affecting national public lands.
Drew (consultant) told the board the BLM has briefed headquarters on a final EIS and that the county will likely have 30 days to review and determine whether to protest the document once it is published: "Once that comes out, we will have 30 days to review that document and determine if there are any … if there is anything we need to protest," she said.
Staff also reported that the Forest Service’s Black Hills plan revision has experienced repeated delays and that a federal rulemaking on roadless areas is open for scoping (documented in the meeting as having a near‑term comment period). Separately, BLM posted a proposed ‘‘conservation’’ or public lands rule; the meeting recorded a comment deadline of Nov. 10 for that docket.
Commissioners voted to authorize consultant Drew to prepare a county comment letter on the BLM conservation/public‑lands rule and to bill the county directly for that work rather than use existing FINERPA contracts. A commissioner moved and another seconded; the board recorded the motion as carried with aye votes.
Because the conservation‑rule comment period is time‑limited, staff also proposed scheduling a special meeting on Friday to review a draft letter; commissioners agreed to aim for a Friday morning meeting so members could review a draft and sign before the federal deadline if no changes were needed.
Ending: The county will review the final BLM Newcastle EIS when it is published and will submit comments on the conservation rule; the board authorized the consultant to prepare and bill for a draft comment letter and scheduled a tentative special meeting to consider the draft.
