§ 3141.1 - Purpose.

§ 3141.1 General.

(a) Combined hydrocarbons or tar sands within a Special Tar Sand Area shall be leased only by competitive bonus bidding.

(b) Oil and gas within a Special Tar Sand Area shall be leased by competitive bonus bidding as described in 43 CFR part 3120 or if no qualifying bid is received during the competitive bidding process, the area offered for competitive lease may be leased noncompetitively as described in 43 CFR part 3110.

(c) The authorized officer may issue either combined hydrocarbon leases, or oil and gas leases for oil and gas within such areas.

(d) The rights to explore for or develop tar sand deposits in a Special Tar Sand Area may be acquired through either a combined hydrocarbon lease or a tar sand lease.

(e) An oil and gas lease in a Special Tar Sand Area does not include the rights to explore for or develop tar sand.

(f) A tar sand lease in a Special Tar Sand Area does not include the rights to explore for or develop oil and gas.

(g) The minimum acceptable bid for a lease issued for tar sand shall be $2 per acre.

(h) The acreage of combined hydrocarbon leases or tar sand leases held within a Special Tar Sand Area shall not be charged against acreage limitations for the holding of oil and gas leases as provided in section 3101.2-1 of this title.

(i)

(1) The authorized officer may noncompetitively lease additional lands for ancillary facilities in a Special Tar Sand Area that are shown by an applicant to be needed to support any operations necessary for the recovery of tar sand. Such uses include, but are not limited to, mill siting or waste disposal. An application for a lease or permit to use additional lands shall be filed under the provisions of part 2920 of this title with the proper BLM office having jurisdiction of the lands. The application for additional lands may be filed at the time a plan of operations is filed.

(2) A lease for the use of additional lands shall not be issued under this part when the use can be authorized under part 2800 of this title. Such uses include, but are not limited to, reservoirs, pipelines, electrical generation systems, transmission lines, roads and railroads.

(3) Within units of the National Park System, permits or leases for additional lands for any purpose shall be issued only by the National Park Service. Applications for such permits or leases shall be filed with the Regional Director of the National Park Service.

[47 FR 22478, May 24, 1982, as amended at 70 FR 58615, Oct. 7, 2005]

Purpose.

The purpose of this subpart is to provide for the competitive leasing of lands and issuance of combined hydrocarbon leases, oil and gas leases, or tar sand leases within special tar sand areas.