Job Summary
This position is located in Boise, Idaho. Information about the surrounding area may be found here. For additional information about the BLM, please visit our website.
Major Duties
- The incumbent of this position has statewide, interagency, regional and national minerals responsibilities functioning as an officially designated Certified Review Mineral Examiner (CRME).
- Serves as BLM Idaho’s statewide solid (phosphate) and fluid (geothermal, oil and gas) leaseable and salable minerals program lead.
- Provide technical assistance, policy guidance, and quality control for permitting actions, such as Applications for Permit to Drill, Sundry Notices, Geophysical Exploration Permits, Right of Way Easements, or any ancillary project related leasehold management that requires environmental law compliance or cultural and endangered species consultation.
- Evaluate industry proposals and prepares, directs or reviews preparation of adequate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents including Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Environmental Assessments.
- Evaluate complex mine and mitigation proposals for the purpose of recommending a final mine plan decision to the Field Office Manager, District Manager, or the State Director.
- Maintain current knowledge of Bureau regulations, policies, missions and program objectives relative to the leaseable and saleable minerals program within the context of multiple-use resource management.
Qualifications
Basic Education Requirement:
For the Mining Engineer GS-0880 series Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor’s degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. OR
Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: Professional registration or licensure- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
Specified academic courses -Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g.,in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.) For the Geologist GS-1350 series Degree: geology, plus 20 additional semester hours in any combination of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological science, structural, chemical, civil, mining or petroleum engineering, computer science, planetary geology, comparative planetology, geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, oceanography, physical geography, marine geology, and cartography. or
Combination of education and experience -- course work as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Specialized Experience Requirements:
In addition to the basic education requirement, in order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement - please be sure to include this information in your resume.
For GS-13: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience at this level is defined as experience gained through geological field or laboratory work that provided a means of obtaining professional knowledge of the theory and application of the principles of geology and geological/mining engineering closely related geologic and mining sciences, e.g., geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology or mine plan development. Such work must have involved making close field observations, mapping geological features and collecting samples, use of various types of geologic instruments and equipment, assembling geologic data from source materials, and analyzing and reporting findings orally and in writing. Documented certification as a Certified Mineral Examiner or Certified Review Mineral Examiner meets this specialized experience requirement. Experience that involved only one phase of geology work, e.g., collecting samples, would not be acceptable as providing the required professional knowledge of the theory and principles of geology. In some situations, professional experience in related fields such as geophysics, geological engineering, and mining engineering may be accepted in part as professional geological experience. Such experience must have been preceded by appropriate education in these related fields and must have contributed directly and significantly to the applicant's professional geological competence. Major duties of this position include budget and long-range planning for the leasable minerals program, serving as team lead in the development of environmental documents for the purpose of evaluating applications for free use permits, mineral material sales, oil and gas leasing, mining plans of operation, etc., and providing assistance to the public and industry on questions concerning the laws, regulations, and policy.
To receive credit for geological experience obtained in positions that are not full-time professional geological positions, the applicant is responsible for indicating clearly the actual time or percentage of time devoted to geologic duties within such positions, and for giving adequate descriptions of the geologic functions.
There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 and above grade level.
You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement. Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.
Pay Range
$91,231.00 - $118,603.00