§ 1610.5-4 - Maintenance.

§ 1610.5-4 Preparation of the draft resource management plan and selection of preferred alternatives.

(a) The responsible official shall prepare a draft resource management plan based on Director and deciding official guidance, the planning assessment, the planning issues, and the estimation of the effects of alternatives. The draft resource management plan and draft environmental impact statement shall:

(1) Describe any changes made to the preliminary alternatives and preliminary procedures, assumptions, and indicators;

(2) Evaluate the alternatives; and

(3) Identify one or more preferred alternatives, if one or more exist, and explain the rationale for the preference or absence of a preference. The identification of one or more preferred alternatives remains the exclusive responsibility of the BLM.

(b) The resulting draft resource management plan and draft environmental impact statement shall be forwarded to the deciding official for publication and filing with the Environmental Protection Agency.

(c) This draft resource management plan and draft environmental impact statement shall be provided for comment to the Governor(s) of the State(s) involved, and to officials of other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and Indian tribes that have requested to be notified of opportunities for public involvement or that the deciding official has reason to believe would be interested (see § 1610.3-2(c)). This action constitutes compliance with the requirements of § 3420.1-7 of this title.

Maintenance.

Resource management plans and supporting components shall be maintained as necessary to reflect minor changes in data. Such maintenance is limited to further refining or documenting a previously approved decision incorporated in the plan. Maintenance shall not result in expansion in the scope of resource uses or restrictions, or change the terms, conditions, and decisions of the approved plan. Maintenance is not considered a plan amendment and shall not require the formal public involvement and interagency coordination process described under §§ 1610.2 and 1610.3 of this title or the preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement. Maintenance shall be documented in plans and supporting records.

[48 FR 20368, May 5, 1983, as amended at 81 FR 89661, Dec. 12, 2016; 82 FR 60555, Dec. 21, 2017]