[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 3, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 94-95]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-32259]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to Analyze
and Disclose the Effects of a Proposal By Tri-State Generation and
Transmission Association, Inc.; Meeting
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and
USDA Rural Utility Services to analyze and disclose the effects of a
proposal by Tri-State Generation & Transmission Assoc., Inc. to
construct a transmission line in Grand County, Colorado. The project
area includes portions of the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest and the
Kremmling Resource Area, Craig District, BLM.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis (issues,
preliminary alternatives, etc.) should be received by February 20,
1995. The public is invited to provide information concerning the
proposed project at a meeting to be held January 20, 1995, from 4:00
p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Fraser Elementary School, Fraser, Colorado.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments, suggestions and questions to George
Edwards, District Ranger, Sulphur Ranger District, 62429 U.S. Highway
40, P.O. Box 10, Granby, CO 80446.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions regarding the proposed action and environmental impact
statement should be directed to Sally Edwards, Project Facilitator,
phone (303) 229-9602. Note: after 4/95 the phone number will be (970)
229-9602.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Tri-State proposes to construct, operate,
and maintain a transmission line from the existing Fraser Substation
one mile west of Fraser, Colorado to an as yet undetermined existing
substation within a 15-20 mile radius of Fraser Substation. The project
is known as the Fraser Valley Loop Project and is located in Grand
County, Colorado.
The electric loads served from the Fraser Substation have grown to
a level where the consequences of a line outage are too great.
Presently, the Fraser Valley is served from a single 138-kV, 13 mile
transmission line. An outage of this facility could well affect over
6,000 customers in East Grand County and could last up to five days.
The purpose for constructing the Fraser Valley Loop Project is to
increase reliability of service to the customers served from the Fraser
Substation and minimize the consequences of the Windy Gap-Fraser 138-kV
line outage. A new transmission circuit will provide a second source of
electric power for Tri-State's member system Mountain Parks Electric,
Inc. (MPEI) and substantially increase capacity to service MPEI loads.
Tri-State has prepared a comprehensive Alternative Evaluation
report for the Rural Utility Services (formerly known as the Rural
Electrification Administration) which discusses in detail the purpose
and need [[Page 95]] and system alternatives being considered for the
project.
The Forest Service is serving as lead federal agency for the
preparation of an environmental impact statement which will evaluate
the purpose, need, and routing alternatives for the proposed project.
The decision to be made is whether to allow the use of portions of
Forest Service land and/or Public Land managed by the BLM for siting a
transmission line facility. The Forest Service has invited other
affected agencies to participate in the environmental process as
cooperating agencies including the USDI Bureau of Land Management; and
the USDA Rural Utility Services.
Preliminary issues associated with this proposal include effects on
visual resources, effects on public and private land use, coordination
with Grand County land use planning, potential effects of electro
magnetic fields, commitment of resources and demonstrated public safety
needs.
The Forest Service invites comments and suggestions on the scope of
the analysis to be documented in the draft environmental impact
statement. In addition, the Forest Service gives notice that it is
beginning a full environmental analysis and decision-making process for
this proposal so that interested or affected people may know how they
may participate in the environmental analysis and contribute to the
final decision. A public ``scoping'' meeting is scheduled for January
20, 1995 in Fraser, Colorado. The purpose of this workshop is to learn
what issues and concerns members of the public or interested agencies
have that are connected to the proposal and should be considered.
Knowledge of these issues and concerns will help establish the scope of
the Forest Service's environmental analysis and define the range of
alternatives to be considered. The Forest Service welcomes any public
comments on the proposal.
The responsible officials will be the Forest Supervisor, Arapaho
and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grasslands, 240 West
Prospect Road, Fort Collins, Colorado and District Manager, Craig
District, 455 Emerson Street, Craig, Colorado 81625.
It is anticipated the draft environmental impact statement will be
published in September, 1995 and the final environmental impact
statement in January, 1996.
The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will
be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
publishes the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of
draft environmental impact statements must structure their
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is
meaningful and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation v. NRDC, 435 U.S.
519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at
the draft environmental impact stage but that are not raised until
after completion of the final environmental impact statement may be
waived or dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F2d
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490
F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings,
it is very important that those interested in this proposed action
participate by the close of the 45-day comment period so that
substantive comments and objections are made available to the Forest
Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to
them in the final environmental impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages of chapters of the
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft
environmental impact statement or the merits of alternatives formulated
and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer to the
Council of Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40
CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points. Please note that comments you
make on the draft environmental impact statement will be regarded as
public information.
Date: December 27, 1994.
Eric L. Jensen,
Acting Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 94-32259 Filed 12-30-94; 8:45 am]
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