Comment on FR Doc # E7-23551

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposed rule. Alyeska is the agent for the owners of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System which transports crude oil from Alaska?s North Slope to the marine terminal at Valdez on Alaska's southern coast. As agent, Alyeska processes the annual use payments for the federal Grant and Agreement (FF-12505/AA-5847) for the oil pipeline right- of-way and its appurtenances and approximately 150 other related rights-of-way for access roads and other facilities which are termed to expire in 2034. Over the past 30 years, Alyeska has reviewed numerous appraisals conducted to calculate the ?use charge? for the TAPS rights-of-way by BLM and contract personnel. Alyeska stated in its May 30, 2007 comments on the Bureau?s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that consideration should be given to extending the linear schedule to federal lands Alaska. In reviewing the subject Proposed Rule, we note that considerable care has been taken to update the schedule. While we may have concerns with some of the individual elements in the formula, we believe that taken together within the complete formula, the schedule is well structured and should be extended, as described, to Alaska. The proposed rule requests input on defining the boundaries of the five NASS census areas for Alaska. Regarding the census areas which might apply to TAPS, we note that the simplest solution would be to extend the Fairbanks area boundaries along TAPS from the North Slope to Thompson Pass which marks the crest of the Chugach Mountain Range. This proposed boundary also makes sense because the pipeline passes through the Fairbanks vicinity and follows the two public highways which either begin or end in Fairbanks. We do note, however, that the 2002 appraisal completed for the TAPS rights-of- way concludes a value less than the minimum land value for Zone 3 in the new schedule ($501) for 90% of the federal lands occupied by TAPS. 37% of these lands, including those in the Delta area, were appraised at a value closer to the maximum in Zone 1 ($251) than to the minimum in Zone 3 (Fairbanks). None were appraised higher than the maximum value in Zone 3. Because of this unique situation, we suggest consideration of adopting for the initial term of the schedule use in Alaska the average segment value calculated from the ?2002 TAPS Appraisal? for those segments of federal lands north of the Yukon River ($391). During the interim, the Bureau and NASS would be able to acquire data to further define the area/zone boundaries for this part of Alaska. Another suggestion to resolve this unique discrepancy is to use the actual 2002, average, per-acre, L/B value for Alaska ($367), for the initial schedule term. Adopting either of these suggestions would result in the northerly right-of-way lands being placed in the Schedule?s Zone 2. Regarding the revisions to the payment frequency described in Section 2885.21(a) (2)(ii), the first billing notices for those requiring the ten-year payment should be sent early enough to allow the accelerated payments to be included in Alyeska?s budget which is based on the calendar year and finalized well in advance. Please let us know if you have any questions related to these comments.