Late last month, the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") issued Instruction Memorandum 2021-046 to reinstate both BLM Manual Section (MS-1794) and BLM Handbook (H-1794-1), which restore previously rescinded BLM policies on mitigating operator impacts on public lands managed by the BLM. The Manuel and Handbook updates generally direct the BLM to take a landscape-scale approach to mitigation that also employee adaptive and best management practices, monitoring, and effectiveness standards. The Manual and Handbook are currently in effect. National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") documents that are near completion, meaning NEPA documents that are at or after the preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement review stage, may not be impacted by this policy in order to ensure that publication is not delayed.
Instruction Memorandum 2021-046 can be found here.
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