[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 131 (Friday, July 9, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37094-37095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17477]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Threemile Timber Harvest, Tongass National Forest; Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Revision of the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement for the Threemile Timber Harvest as published in
Federal Register page 13766-13767, on March 22, 1999. This revision
includes changes in the proposed action, the size of the project area,
as well as changes in the project schedule.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to provide timber for the Tongass
National Forest timber sale program. The Record of Decision will
disclose how the Forest Service has decided to provide harvest units,
roads, and associated timber harvesting facilities. The revised
proposed action is to harvest timber in the Threemile Project area on
Kuiu Island with associated road construction as well as a new log
transfer facility at Threemile Arm.
A range of alternatives responsive to significant issues will be
developed including a no-action alternative. The proposed timber
harvest is located in the Tongass National Forest, Petersburg Ranger
District, on Kuiu Island. Alaska, within the Threemile Arm area. The
Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan (1999) provides the overall
guidance (land use designations, goals, objectives, management
prescriptions, standards and guidelines) to achieve the desired future
condition for the area in which this project is proposed. The Forest
Plan allocates portions of the project area into three management
prescriptions: Timber Production, Modified Landscape, and Old-growth
Habitat Land Use Designations.
[[Page 37095]]
DATES: For the Forest Service to best use the scoping input, comments
should be received by August 1, 1999; however, scoping comments will be
accepted at any time. Comments received in response to the original
Notice of Intent are also accepted.
ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Petersburg Ranger District;
Tongass National Forest, Attn: Threemile Timber Harvest EIS; PO Box
1328, Petersburg, AK., 99833.
INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS should be
directed to Everett Kissinger, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, PO Box
1328, Petersburg, AK, 99833, phone (907) 772-3841.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public participation will be part of the
planning process and will be especially important at several points
during the analysis. The first is during the scoping process. The
Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and assistance
from federal, tribal, state, and local agencies, and from individuals
and organizations that may be interested in, or affected by, the
proposed activities. The scoping process will include: (1)
Identification of potential issues; (2) identification of issues to be
analyzed in depth; and (3) elimination of insignificant issues or those
which have been covered by a previous environmental review. Written
scoping comments will be solicited through a scoping package sent to a
project mailing list. For the Forest Service to best use the scoping
input, comments should be received by August 1, 1999; however, scoping
comments will be accepted at any time. Tentative issues identified for
analysis in the EIS include subsistence, wildlife habitat, road
development and access management, and timber sale economics and timber
supply. Based on the results of scoping and the resource capabilities
within the project area, alternatives including a no-action alternative
will be developed for a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft
EIS). The Draft EIS is projected to be filed with the Environmental
Projection Agency (EPA) in January 2000. Subsistence hearings, as
provided for in Title VIII, Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), may be conducted during the comment
period on the Draft EIS if the analysis indicates a significant effect
to subsistence uses. The Final EIS is anticipated by July, 2000.
The comment period on the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the date
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes a notice of availability
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 Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,
553, (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised at
the draft environmental impact statement stage may be waived or
dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 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 of the proposed action, comments during scoping and
comments on the draft environmental impact statement should be as
specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific
areas with the project area are specific pages or chapters of the draft
statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulation for implementing the
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40
CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.
Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names
and address of those who comment, will be considered part of the public
record on this proposed action and will be available for public
inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and
considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not have
standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR parts 215 or
217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request
the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing
how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality.
Requests should be aware that, under FOIA, confidentiality may be
granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade
secrets. The Forest Service will inform the requester of the agency's
decision regarding the request for confidentiality, and where the
request is denied, the agency will return the submission and notify the
requester that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and
address within 7 days.
Permits: Those required for implementation include the following:
1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
--Approval of discharge of dredged or fill material into the waters of
the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act;
--Approval of the construction of structures or work in navigable
waters of the United States under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors
Act of 1989;
2. Environmental Protection Agency
--National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (402) Permit;
--Review Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan;
3. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources
--Tideland Permit and Lease or Easement;
4. State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation
--Solid Waste Disposal Permit;
--Certification of Compliance with Alaska Water Quality Standards (401
Certification)
5. State of Alaska, Division of Governmental Coordination
--Coastal Zone Consistency Determination concurrence
RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: Carol J. Jorgensen, Assistant Forest Supervisor,
Stikine Area, Tongass National Forest, PO Box 309, Petersburg, AK
99833, is the responsible official. The responsible official will
consider the comments, responses, disclosure of environmental
consequences, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies in making
the decision and stating the rationale in the Record of Decision.
Dated: June 21, 1999.
Carol J. Jorgensen,
Assistant Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 99-17477 Filed 7-8-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
