[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25477-25478]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12661]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 21, 1996 /
Notices
[[Page 25477]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement on a proposal to construct, operate, and maintain a petroleum
pipeline across National Forest System lands.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received
in writing by June 21, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Michael Sieg, District Ranger, 6944
South 3000 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84121.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nancy Krebs, Project Leader, (801) 943-2763.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Anschutz Ranch East Pipeline, Inc. (AREPI)
has proposed construction of a 10-inch petroleum pipeline form Kimball
Junction in Summit County, Utah to North Salt Lake in Davis County,
Utah. The proposed buried pipeline would be approximately 27 miles long
with about nine miles of the pipeline on National Forest System lands
in Salt Lake County, Utah. The purpose of the pipeline is to provide
additional crude oil transportation capacity to five Salt Lake area oil
refineries. This new crude pipeline would transport Canadian crude that
would arrive at Kimball Junction through a series of existing and
proposed interstate and intrastate pipelines. It is also AREPI's intent
to install fiber optic cable in the pipeline trench both for pipeline
communication purposes and for future commercial sale of excess fiber
optic capacity.
Pipe corrosion protection, a communication system, pig launchers
and receivers, test leads, mainline sectionalizing valves and various
check valves are incorporated into the initial pipeline design for
pipeline protection, systems and pipe monitoring, and emergency
control. The pipeline would operate at a maximum pressure of 1,440 psi
and has a minimum operating life of 25 years. No pump stations are
proposed to be built within this pipeline segment. Initial pipeline
capacity is proposed to be 55,000 barrels per day with the capability
of increasing capacity to 70,000 barrels per day by adding a future
pump to an existing line near Coalville, Utah. The pipeline parallels
existing utility rights-of-way for most of its length. AREPI has
proposed initiation of construction in late summer of 1997.
Most of the proposed pipeline right-of-way lies within municipal
watersheds of northern Utah's Wasatch Mountains and within the
boundaries of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. In addition to Forest
Service approvals, a number of local and state governmental agencies
would be involved in permitting or regulating pipeline construction and
right-of-way reclamation and maintenance.
The Forest Service's decisions are whether or not to issue Special
Use Permits for the long-term operations and short-term construction
rights-of-way on National Forest System lands as proposed, with
modifications, or not at all taking into consideration the cumulative
environmental effects of the pipeline over its entire 27 miles.
The public scoping process will close June 24. Scoping Notices
describing the proposal, preliminarily identified issues, the Forest
Service decision to be made, interests of other local and state
government agencies, and opportunities for public participation was
mailed on May 20 to over 600 individuals, organizations, and agencies.
Public scoping meetings will be held May 30 at the Burns Fire Hall, 700
West Bitner Road, at Kimball Junction in Summit County and on June 12
at the Read Auditorium in Orson Spencer Hall, Central Campus Driver,
the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Both meetings begin at
6:30 p.m.
Preliminarily identified issues include potential effects to the
watershed, surface water quality, and culinary water supplies;
terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal species and their habitats;
cultural and historic resources; open space and visual quality; public
use areas and parks; existing and proposed hiking and biking trails;
public safety; anticipated future adjacent resident, commercial, and
business developments; and others. Alternatives may include adjustments
to the proposed right-of-way, various approaches to construction and
reclamation, exploring other transportation means such as increasing
capacity in existing lines, and no action. No action would preclude
construction of the proposed pipeline across National Forest System
lands.
In order to construct and operate the line, other permits, rights-
of-way, or regulatory approvals would have to be obtained by the
proponent from private and public landowners, and local governments
including the State of Utah, Summit County, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake
City, and the City of North Salt Lake. Public agencies with regulatory
authority over pipeline construction and approval have specifically
been invited by the Forest Service to participate in the NEPA process.
The public is invited to submit comments or suggestions to the
address above. The responsible official is Bernie Weingardt, Forest
Supervisor. A draft EIS is anticipated to be filed in December 1996 and
the final EIS filed in May 1997.
The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will
be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency's notice
of availability appears in the Federal Register. It is very important
that those interested in the proposed action participate at that time.
To be the most helpful, comments on the draft environmental impact
statement should be as specific as possible and may address the
adequacy of the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed
(see the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 40
CFR 1503.3).
In addition, Federal court decisions have established that reviews
of the 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 reviews' position and
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,
553 (1978). Environmental objections that
[[Page 25478]]
could have been raised at the draft stage may be waived if not raised
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement.
City of Angoon v. Hodel, (9th Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages,
Inc. v. Harris, 490 F.Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for
this is to ensure 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.
Dated: May 14, 1996.
Robert Cruz,
Environmental Coordinator.
[FR Doc. 96-12661 Filed 5-20-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
