What Happened
With the recent issuance of IM-2025-009 and its attachments, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) provided updated guidance to improve the efficiency of processing mining plans of operations under surface management regulations (43 CFR subparts 3802 and 3809). This guidance outlines a process for early coordination with the BLM and other agencies prior to submitting a mine plan of operations. This pre-plan coordination allows potential conflicts to be addressed early in the process, thereby shortening review times. Under this guidance, BLM will direct field offices to encourage operators to engage in pre-plan coordination with the BLM, other Federal agencies, state and local governments, and Tribes prior to submitting their mine plan and application to BLM. Early coordination allows the plan to be modified as necessary to address concerns and helps the operator plan for baseline data acquisition to support the pending National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis. It includes the following steps:
- Initial Meeting: The operator meets with the BLM Field Office (FO) Manager and/or Planner to determine what information the BLM would like to see for a pre-meeting with the BLM Interdisciplinary Team (ID Team).
- Project Presentation: The operator presents their proposed project to the BLM FO Manager and ID Team. This presentation includes preliminary information…
