[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 236 (Friday, December 6, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 64658-64660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31098]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
43 CFR Parts 2200, 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270
[WO-420-1800-00-24 1A]
RIN 1004-AC58
Exchanges: General Procedures; State Exchanges; National Park
Exchanges; Wildlife Refuge Exchanges; Miscellaneous Exchanges
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to streamline its
exchange regulations at 43 CFR group 2200 by amending Sec. 2200.0-7 of
part 2200 and by removing parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270. Section
2200.0-7 would be rewritten to state clearly that, apart from the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, 43 U.S.C.
1701 et seq. (FLPMA), other statutes exist which govern site- and type-
specific land exchanges that may involve BLM-managed lands or interests
in lands. If BLM lands or interests are involved, these other statutes
will prevail over the regulations in part 2200 where they conflict with
those regulations. BLM also would simultaneously remove parts 2210,
2240, 2250, and 2270 because the regulations in those parts largely
restate the substance of the exchange statutes referenced in them and
are, in that respect, redundant and unnecessary.
DATES: Any comments must be received by BLM at the address below on or
before January 6, 1997. Comments received after the above date will not
necessarily be considered in the decisionmaking process on the final
rule.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may hand-deliver comments to the
Bureau of Land Management (630), Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620
L St., NW., Washington, DC; or mail comments to the Bureau of Land
Management, Administrative Record, Room 401LS, 1849 C Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20240. You also may transmit comments electronically via
the Internet to [email protected] Please include ``attn: RIN AC58''
in your message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system
that we have received your internet message, contact us directly at
(202) 452-5030. You will be able to review comments at BLM's Regulatory
Affairs Group office, Room 401, 1620 L Street, NW., Washington, D.C.,
during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.) Monday through
Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Fontecchio, Bureau of Land
Management, Regulatory Affairs Group, at (202) 452-5012.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Public Comment Procedures
II. Background and Discussion of Proposed Rule
III. Procedural Matters
I. Public Comment Procedures
Written Comments
Written comments on the proposed rule should be specific, should be
confined to issues pertinent to the proposed rule, and should explain
the reason for any recommended change. Where possible, comments should
reference the specific section or paragraph of the proposal which the
commenter is addressing. BLM may not necessarily consider or include in
the Administrative Record for the final rule comments which BLM
receives after the close of the comment period (see DATES) or comments
delivered to an address other than those listed above (see ADDRESSES).
II. Background and Discussion of Proposed Rule
Land exchanges involving BLM lands and interest in lands are
generally governed by FLPMA and the rules at 43 CFR part 2200. However,
various other statutes authorize certain site- and type- specific land
exchanges that may involve BLM lands or interests in lands. These
statutes may not be fully consistent with the exchange requirements of
FLPMA or with BLM's exchange regulations in part 2200. When these
inconsistencies occur, the site- or type-specific statute is intended
to prevail over the part 2200 regulations. Provisions currently found
at 43 CFR parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270 reiterate some of these
site- and type- specific statutory commands.
However, in light of the regulatory reform initiative's goals of
streamlining the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the proposed rule
would remove these parts which merely restate statutory terms and would
amend section 2200.0-7 to advise the public that other statutes
governing certain site- and type- specific exchanges will preempt the
general exchange regulations at part 2200, to the extent that they
conflict. This can be accomplished without significantly affecting the
rights of the United States, BLM's customers, or the public at large.
The parts which would be removed, 43 CFR parts 2210, 2240, 2250,
and 2270, are almost entirely devoted to repeating statutory
provisions. To the extent that they are duplicative, these regulations
serve only to provide information that can be found in the statutes
themselves. Furthermore, the only provisions in these parts which go
beyond the statutes are provisions which can and should be removed.
For example, removing section 2240.0-3(f) would delete: (1) The
requirement that States, political subdivisions thereof, or any
interested party who requests public hearings to consider an exchange
do so in writing; and (2) the definitions of National Park System and
miscellaneous areas. These provisions constitute substance beyond that
already contained in the Act of July 15, 1968, 16 U.S.C. 460l-22.
However, BLM has determined that deleting these provisions will not
meaningfully alter its administration of the Act's exchange provisions
or significantly affect the rights of the United States or the public.
BLM believes the benefits of streamlining and deleting unnecessary
material such as part 2240 outweigh the impact of these minor
substantive changes.
[[Page 64659]]
Next, removing part 2250 would eliminate regulatory language
stating that lands eligible for exchange under the Act of August 22,
1957, 16 U.S.C. 696, include federally owned property in Florida
classified by the Secretary as suitable for exchange or disposal. In
fact, the statute requires that lands be ``federally owned property in
the State of Florida under [the Secretary of the Interior's]
jurisdiction* * *.'' Therefore, any suggestion by the existing 43 CFR
2250.0-3(c) that the land need only be Federal land in Florida,
regardless of the Secretary's jurisdiction, contradicts the law.
Removing part 2250 would eliminate this confusion and would delete
otherwise unnecessary language.
Similarly, removing part 2270 would eliminate a few minor
inconsistencies with the governing statutes, but in each case BLM's
intention is that these deletions would not have any substantive
effect. For example, section 2271.0-3(a) adds the word
``approximately'' to the requirement that exchanges of Indian
Reservation land under the Act of April 21, 1904, 43 U.S.C. 149, must
be ``equal'' in area and value. In this particular statutory context,
BLM has generally interpreted the word ``equal'' to mean
``approximately equal'' to allow the exchanging parties some
flexibility in making the exchange as close to equal as is reasonably
possible, without risking failure over negligible differences. Although
removing part 2270 will eliminate this interpretation from the CFRs,
BLM advises that it will continue to interpret the term ``equal'' in
this way. BLM also advises that eliminating part 2270 will cause
several other minor changes, but none that involve any significant
substance.
To sum up, BLM believes that there are no variances between the
statute and the regulations being removed which are significant enough
to justify continued publication of these otherwise redundant and
unnecessary regulations. Consequently, BLM believes that the proposed
rule can be implemented without materially affecting the rights and
duties of the United States or the rights of the public at large, as is
the intent.
Finally, please note that BLM is proposing to delete 43 CFR subpart
2202 in a separate rulemaking. Subpart 2202 is concerned with proposals
relating to National Forest land exchanges administered by the
Secretary of Agriculture through the Forest Service.
III. Procedural Matters
National Environmental Policy Act
The BLM has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) and has found
that the proposed rule would not constitute a major federal action
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment under
section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C). The BLM has placed the EA and the Finding
of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on file in the BLM Administrative
Record at the address specified previously. The BLM invites the public
to review these documents by contacting us at the addresses listed
above (see ADDRESSES) and suggests that anyone wishing to submit
comments in response to the EA and FONSI do so in accordance with the
Written Comments section above, or contact BLM directly.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The rule does not contain information collection requirements which
the Office of Management and Budget must approve under the Paperwork
Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
Congress enacted the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), 5
U.S.C. 601 et seq., to ensure that government regulations do not
unnecessarily or disproportionately burden small entities. The RFA
requires a regulatory flexibility analysis if a rule would have a
significant economic impact, either detrimental or beneficial, on a
substantial number of small entities. The BLM has determined under the
RFA that this proposed rule would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Executive Order 12866
According to the criteria listed in section 3(f) of Executive Order
12866, BLM has determined that the proposed rule is not a significant
regulatory action. As such, the rule is not subject to Office of
Management and Budget review under section 6(a)(3) of the order.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
Revising 43 CFR 2200.0-7 and removing parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and
2270 will not result in any unfunded mandate to State, local or tribal
governments in the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 million
or more in any one year.
Executive Order 12612
The proposed rule will not have a substantial direct effect on the
States, on the relationship between the national government and the
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government. Therefore, in accordance with Executive
Order 12612, BLM has determined that this proposed rule does not have
sufficient federalism implications to warrant preparation of a
Federalism Assessment.
Executive Order 12630
The proposed rule does not represent a government action capable of
interfering with constitutionally protected property rights. Section
2(a)(1) of Executive Order 12630 specifically excludes actions
abolishing regulations or modifying regulations in a way that lessens
interference with private property use from the definition of
``policies that have takings implications.'' Since the primary function
of the proposed rule is to abolish unnecessary regulations, there will
be no private property rights impaired as a result. Therefore, BLM has
determined that the rule would not cause a taking of private property
or require further discussion of takings implications under this
Executive Order.
Executive Order 12988
It has been determined that this rule meets the applicable
standards provided in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order
12988.
Author: The principal author of this proposed rule is
Christopher D. Fontecchio, Regulatory Affairs Group, Bureau of Land
Management, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240; Telephone
(202) 452-5012.
List of Subjects
43 CFR Part 2200
Land Management Bureau; National forests; Public lands.
43 CFR Part 2210
Land Management Bureau; Public lands.
43 CFR Part 2240
Land Management Bureau; National parks; Recreation and recreation
areas; Seashores.
43 CFR Part 2250
Land Management Bureau; Wildlife refuges.
43 CFR Part 2270
Indians-lands; Land Management Bureau; National trails system;
National wild and scenic rivers system; Public lands.
[[Page 64660]]
Dated: November 27, 1996.
Sylvia V. Baca,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, and under the authority of
43 U.S.C. 1740, parts 2200, 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270, subchapter B,
chapter II of Title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations are proposed
to be amended as set forth below:
1. The authority for part 2200 is revised to read as follows:
Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1716, 1740.
Sec. 2200.0-7 [Amended]
2. Section 2200.0-7 is amended by revising paragraph (b) to read as
follows:
* * * * *
(b) The rules contained in this part apply to all exchanges, made
under the authority of the Secretary, involving Federal lands, as
defined in 43 CFR 2200.0-5(i). Apart from the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976, as amended, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. (FLPMA),
there are a variety of statutes, administered by the Secretary, that
authorize trades which may include Federal lands, as for example,
certain National Wildlife Refuge System and National Park System
exchange acts. The procedures and requirements associated with or
imposed by any one of these other statutes may not be entirely
consistent with the rules in this part, as the rules in this part are
intended to implement the FLPMA exchange provisions. If there is any
such inconsistency, and if Federal lands are involved, the inconsistent
procedures or statutory requirements will prevail. Otherwise, the
regulations in this part will be followed. The regulations in this part
also apply to the exchange of interests in either Federal or non-
Federal lands including, but not limited to, minerals, water rights,
and timber.
PARTS 2210, 2240, 2250, 2270--[REMOVED]
3. Parts 2210, 2240, 2250, and 2270 are removed in their entirety.
[FR Doc. 96-31098 Filed 12-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P
