Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado; Oil and Gas Leasing Analysis Environmental Impact Statement

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In November of 1997, the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland Record of Decision (ROD) for the Revision of the Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), which included the Oil and Gas Leasing Analysis on the Pawnee National Grassland (PNG), was signed. That decision determined which Lands are administratively available for leasing [36 CFR 228.102(d)], including conditions (lease stipulations) under which lands will be available. The oil and gas decisions contained in the 1997 ROD were based on an April 1995 projection of the reasonably foreseeable oil and gas development for the Pawnee National Grassland. Much of the PNG's federal mineral estate made available per the 1997 ROD has already been leased. Since the analysis was completed 16 years ago, there has been a change in the manner in which oil and gas development has occurred on the Pawnee National Grassland. Multiple wells can be drilled from a single well pad rather than just one, as was most common in the past. The improvements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies to improve the ability to access and recover oil and gas located deep underground from horizons previously t