[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 225 (Friday, November 21, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62344-62345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-30663]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service
[CO-030-5101-00-YCKD; COC-51280]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplement to a Final Environmental 
Impact Statement; Colorado and New Mexico

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, USDI, and Forest Service, Department 
of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice; Intent to prepare a supplement to a Final Environmental 
Impact Statement; Notice of scoping with a public comment period.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, 
notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 
cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is initiating the 
preparation of a Supplement (supplement) to the Final Environmental 
Impact Statement (FEIS) for the TransColorado Gas Transmission Company 
(TransColorado) pipeline project on federal lands in Colorado and New 
Mexico. TransColorado is the proponent. Lands managed by the BLM in the 
Montrose, Craig, and Grand Junction Districts in Colorado, and the 
Farmington District in New Mexico, and the USFS in the Uncompahgre and 
San Juan National Forests, Colorado, are crossed by the TransColorado 
pipeline project. The supplement will address the environmental impacts 
of the construction, operation, maintenance, and ultimate abandonment 
of known proposed route changes and minor realignments (less than 100 
ft.) of portions the approved pipeline and right-of-way (ROW) grant 
COC-51280, and the impacts of the proposed construction and use of 
known additional temporary work areas adjacent to the approved ROW or, 
proposed ROW route changes or minor realignments. The supplement will 
also address the impacts of the construction, operation, maintenance 
and ultimate abandonment of several ROW route changes or realignments, 
and the construction and use of several alternative temporary work 
areas in unspecified locations. These unspecified temporary work areas 
and ROW route changes or minor realignments will be addressed in the 
supplement to accommodate conditions that might be encountered during 
construction. Cumulative affects of potential future gas supply 
facilities, such as gas supply pipeline laterals will be addressed. The 
FEIS is not being re-opened nor re-analyzed, nor are the decisions in 
the FEIS being reconsidered. Any comments addressing issues analyzed in 
the FEIS will not be considered. Please focus any comments on the 
proposed action of the supplement to the FEIS.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed action will be accepted until 
December 15, 1997. The comment period on the draft supplement to the 
FEIS will be 45 days from the notice of availability, published in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Any comments relative to the proposed action described in 
this notice should be sent to Bill Bottomly, TransColorado Project 
Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Montrose District Office, 2465 
South Townsend Avenue, Montrose, CO 81401.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bill Bottomly (970) 240-5337, Ilyse Auringer (970) 385-1341, or Steve 
Hemphill (970) 874-6633.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: After preparing a Draft and Final 
Environmental Impact Statement in 1992, the BLM and the USFS issued 
Records of Decision on December 1, 1992, approving the authorization of 
a

[[Page 62345]]

ROW grant and an adjacent Temporary Use Permit (TUP) for subsequent 
construction, operation and maintenance of the 292 mile-long 
TransColorado Gas Transmission pipeline from Meeker, Colorado to 
Bloomfield, New Mexico. Under the authority of the Mineral Leasing Act 
of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 185), as amended by the Act of November 16, 1973 (37 
Stat. 567), the BLM issued a 50 foot-wide ROW grant on December 4, 
1997, accompanied by a 25 foot-wide TUP, excepting 1.7 miles near Grand 
Junction, Colorado. The FERC issued TransColorado a Certificate of 
Public Convenience and Necessity on June 3, 1994. TransColorado 
completed the 22.5 mile Phase I of the project in December, 1996. The 
proponent is now prepared to construct the remainder of the pipeline 
during 1998. TransColorado is requesting approval of additional 
temporary work areas to construct the pipeline, and is requesting that 
the existing ROW be amended to accommodate the proposed route changes 
and minor realignments (less than 100 ft). Public meetings or open 
houses may be conducted during the comment period to gather comments 
from the public prior to preparation of the supplement. Public notice 
of locations, dates, and times of any meetings to be held will be 
provided. Maps and plats of the project are available for public review 
at the following offices of the BLM and USFS: the Grand Junction 
District Office, the Montrose District Office, the Grand Mesa/
Uncompahgre/Gunnison National Forest Office, the San Juan National 
Forest/San Juan Resource Area office, and the Farmington District 
Office. The level of public interest in the issues of the supplement to 
the FEIS will determine if additional meetings will be held.

    Dated: November 7, 1997.
Phillip W. Dwyer,
Assistant District Manager, Montrose District.
    Dated: November 17, 1997.
Gloria Manning,
Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 97-30663 Filed 11-20-97; 8:45 am]
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