[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 110 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30265-30266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-14003]
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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. 60, No. 110 / Thursday, June 8, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 30265]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Utilities Service
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement To
Evaluate Aquifer Appropriations at the Burr Well Field and To Fund the
Design and Construction of the Northeast Phase of the Lincoln-Pipestone
Rural Water System
AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), USDA announces its intent
to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq.)
in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for
implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508) and
Agency regulations 7 CFR 1940-G. The primary scope of the EIS is to
evaluate water appropriations from a hydrological subunit of the
Prairie Coteau Aquifer at the Burr Well Field for the Lincoln-Pipestone
Rural Water System (LPRWS) in southwestern Minnesota and its potential
affects on surface water bodies and wetlands in the area and to
evaluate the environmental impacts of an expansion phase of LPRWS--the
Northeast Phase. With this notice, RUS invites any affected Federal,
State, and local Agencies and other interested persons to comment on
the scope and the significant issues to be analyzed in depth in the
EIS.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the EIS will be accepted 30
days after the public scoping meetings are held.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Mark S. Plank, USDA, Rural
Economic and Community Development Services, Rural Utilities Service,
Program Support Staff, AG Box 0761, Washington, DC 20250, telephone
(202) 720-1640 or Fax (202) 690-4335.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John J. Melbo, USDA, Rural Economic and Community Development Services,
410 AgriBank Building, 375 Jackson Street, St. Paul, MN 55101-1853,
telephone (612) 290-3842 or Mark S. Plank, USDA, Rural Economic and
Community Development Services, Rural Utilities Service, Program
Support Staff, AG Box 0761, Room 6309, Washington, DC 20250-0761,
telephone (202) 720-1640.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: From a historic perspective, water in
adequate quantity and quality has been difficult to obtain in southwest
Minnesota. Periodic drought conditions often deplete already marginal
supplies. Shallow farm wells in the area have been affected by drought
and pollution from agricultural run-off that has resulted in nitrate
and pesticide contamination. Deeper wells in the area are costly to
construct and usually yield highly mineralized water with high levels
of iron, manganese, and sulfates. In an attempt to resolve water supply
difficulties, the LPRWS, headquartered in Lake Benton, Minnesota, was
organized as a Minnesota municipality for the sole purpose of
delivering and supplying high quality water supplies to rural users and
various municipalities. LPRWS is governed by a board of commissioners
who are appointed by the District Court. Water supply costs are borne
by LPRWS customers and through various federal grants.
LPRWS currently provides water service to 1,700 rural customers and
seventeen cities in southwest Minnesota. LPRWS has constructed its
water system in various phases and has utilized several well fields to
provide water for the different phases. The current phase, in which
concerns have been raised, is the Existing System North/Lyon County
Expansion project. The well field designed to supply water for this
phase and future service areas in the Burr Well Field. The Burr Well
Field is utilizing a subunit of the Prairie Coteau aquifer. The Prarie
Coteau aquifer is collectively defined as numerous lenticular bodies of
glacial outwash buried beneath a surficial layer of glacial till and
within a thick layer of glacial drift.
RUS, and its predecessor agencies, has provided a series of loans
and grants to fund infrastructure development for the LPRWS. As
required by NEPA, RUS has prepared a series of Environmental
Assessments (EA) for the various phases. The previous EA conducted for
the Existing North/Lyon County Expansion phase was completed in 1992
with an issuance of a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on
February 17, 1992. During the construction phase of the water treatment
plant at the Burr Well Field concerns were raised by local citizens and
state regulatory bodies concerning potential impacts to surface water
bodies and wetland areas from groundwater appropriations at the Burr
Well Field. To respond to these concerns RUS decided to amend the
earlier EA and re-examine the issues raised by concerned parties. Upon
completion of the EA amendment, RUS concluded that an Environmental
Impact Statement was necessary to fully evaluate the technical issues
raised by the concerned parties.
The primary unresolved concern includes, but is not limited to, the
appropriation of water from the Prairie Coteau aquifer at the Burr Well
Field site. As mentioned above, the Burr Well Field is utilizing a
subunit of the Prairie Coteau aquifer. This subunit appears to be one
of the aforementioned lenticular bodies of outwash within a larger
deposit of glacial drift and is under artesian conditions within its
areal extent and at the well head site. The artesian nature of the
outwash body is the source of the concern. It is hypothesized that due
to localized artesian conditions, numerous surface water bodies and
wetland areas receive, through a hydraulic connection, an undetermined
quantity of water as recharge and that the recharge sustains water
levels in these areas. Since the Burr Well Field is utilizing this
aquifer, it is alleged that sustained appropriation of water at the
well head may adversely reduce recharge to area wetlands and lakes,
thus altering water budgets for these resources. The EIS will attempt
to evaluate these concerns, as well as, evaluate environmental impacts
from the construction of the Northeast Phase.
Two public meetings will be held in the project area to receive
oral and written comments. One meeting will be held in Minnesota and
the other one in South Dakota. Detail about these meetings will be
announced later in area newspapers. Oral comments received at
[[Page 30266]] this meeting will be accorded the same weight as written
comments. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will participate in
the EIS process as a cooperating agency.
After the scoping process and the initial environmental analysis
are completed RUS will issue a Draft EIS. A Notice of Availability of
the Drift EIS will be published in the Federal Register and area
newspapers, and public comments will again be solicited. Those persons
who choose not to comment on the scope of the document at this time but
desire a copy of the Draft EIS should sent their names and addresses to
Mark S. Plank at the address listed above. RUS anticipates releasing a
final EIS in about 16-18 months.
Dated: June 1, 1995.
Adam M. Golodner,
Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.
[FR Doc. 95-14003 Filed 6-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-15-M
