Publicly Accessible Bureau of Land Management Websites for Coal Leasing Information

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

(/)

BUREAU OF LAND
MANAGEMENT (/)

PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE BUREAU OF LAND
MANAGEMENT WEBSITES FOR
INFORMATION REGARDING FEDERAL
COAL PROGRAM LEASING
PIM 2018-005
Instruction Memorandum
United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Washington, DC 20240
http://www.blm.gov (http://www.blm.gov)

March 7, 2018
In Reply Refer To:
3425 and 3432 (320) P
Permanent Instruction Memorandum No. 2018-005
To: All Washington Office and Field Officials
From: Assistant Director, Energy, Minerals and Realty Management
Subject: Publicly Accessible Bureau of Land Management Websites for
Information Regarding Federal Coal Program Leasing
Program Area: Coal Management.

https://www.blm.gov/policy/pim-2018-005

4/10/2020

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Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum (IM) directs the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) offices to post and update specified Federal coal program
leasing information on BLM websites, including information about Federal
coal leases and lease modifications and their applications. The Washington
Office (WO) Communications Directorate staff will provide website formatting
and software guidance.
This IM replaces internally available IM No. 2017-035, Publicly Accessible
Bureau of Land Management Websites for Information Regarding Federal
Coal Program Leasing, Exploration Licensing, and Royalty Rate Reductions,
published January 19, 2017.
Policy/Action: The BLM State offices (SO) and the WO are directed to
maintain their publicly accessible webpages as outlined below. To provide the
public consistency across SO webpages, table templates are provided as
attachments to this IM. The attachment also includes templates for the WO
webpage tables.
Each SO will develop and maintain tables on its SO coal data webpage
containing an up-to-date list of information on each coal lease application
(LBA) and coal lease modification application (LMA). Each SO webpage will
also include a table that, at a minimum, lists all LBA and LMA actions
completed in the previous five fiscal years (including current fiscal year
actions) and all pending applications, as of the date of each update. Please
be aware that information made available to the public must not
contain confidential business information or information, which, if
released, might harm the Applicant’s commercial interests.
The SO webpages should include:
◾ A summary of each individual LBA and LMA. Table 1 in the
attachment is provided as a template. The summary of LBA or LMA
webpages should remain posted for each application in process or
completed (issued, withdrawn, or rejected) and should be included in
Table 2 (see below) for the previous five fiscal years (including current
fiscal year actions) and be revised as of the date of each update.
◾ A list of competitive lease sales and lease modification offers for the
previous five full fiscal years (including current fiscal year actions)

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and all applications in process, as of the date of each update. Table 2
in the attachment is provided as a template.
At a minimum, the SOs will update the tables on or before the first business
day of each quarter reflecting any change to the information contained therein.
In addition to the above, the SOs will provide the necessary summary
information to the Washington Office Division of Solid Minerals (WO-320)
Coal Program Lead(s) in order for it to maintain the WO National Coal
Leasing website the following two tables (templates for which are provided in
Attachment Table 3 and 4 respectively):
◾ Total Federal Coal Leases in Effect, Total Acres under Lease, and
Successful and Unsuccessful Lease Sales by Fiscal Year, and
◾ Total Federal Coal Lease Modifications, Successful (Issued) and
Unsuccessful Lease Modification (LMA) Offers by Fiscal Year.
WO-320 will ensure that the WO National Coal Leasing website provides links
to the SO Coal Program websites to assist in making the SO sites easily
accessible to the public. The national information will be revised once a year
after the Public Lands Statistics (PLS) have been published.
Timeframe: Effective June 6, 2018. Updates will be completed by the first
business day of each quarter.
Budget Impact: Minimal.
Background: In response to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Report to Congressional Requesters, COAL LEASING: BLM Could Enhance
Appraisal Process, More Explicitly Consider Coal Exports, and Provide More
Public Information (GAO-14-140), the BLM committed to providing certain
information on coal leasing to the public via its publically accessible website.
This IM seeks to improve transparency in the BLM’s administration of the
Federal coal program.
Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: None.
Coordination: State, district and field office coal specialists, Washington
Office Solid Minerals Division, and Washington Office Communications
Directorate staff coordinated the development of the publicly accessible
websites and PLS reports for coal leases, LBA, and LMA information.

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Contact: If you have any questions concerning the content of this Instruction
Memorandum, please contact me at 202-208-4201, or your staff may contact
Al Elser, Acting Division Chief for Solid Minerals (WO-320) at 202-912-7114
or aelser@blm.gov (mailto:aelser@blm.gov); or John A. Lewis, 202912-7117, or j35lewis@blm.gov (mailto:j35lewis@blm.gov).
Signed by:
Timothy R. Spisak
Acting Assistant Director
Energy, Minerals and Realty Management
Authenticated by:
Catherine Emmett
WO-870, IT Policy and Planning
Attachment
1 - Guidance for Table Formatting and Coal Program Leasing Information (6
pp)

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Return to the Policies (/media/blm-policy/Instruction%
20Memorandum)

ATTACHMENTS
Guidance for Table Formatting and Coal Program Leasing
Information.pdf (/download/file/fid/22888)

FISCAL YEAR
2018

https://www.blm.gov/policy/pim-2018-005

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