[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 54 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13766-13767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6914]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
the Threemile Timber Harvest
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 proposed action
is to harvest timber on approximately 2300 acres including both
clearcut with reserves and overstory removal harvest methods. This
would entail harvest of an estimated 48 million board feet of timber.
Approximately 33 miles of new roads would be built, as well as a new
log transfer facility at No Name Bay.
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 Value Comparison Units 416,
417, 418, 419 and the east side of VCU 420. The Tongass Land and
Resource Management Plan (1997) 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 four management prescriptions: Timber Production,
Modified Landscape, Semi-Remote Recreation, and Old-growth Habitat Land
Use Designations.
DATES: For the Forest Service to best use the scoping input, comments
should be received by May 1, 1999; however, scoping comments will be
accepted at any time.
ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Petersburg Ranger District;
Tongass National Forest; Attn: Threemile Timber Harvest EIS; P.O. Box
1328, Petersburg, AK, 99833.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTRACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS
should be directed to Everett Kissinger, Interdisciplinary Team Leader,
P.O. Box 309, 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, 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 enviromental 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 May 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 Protection Agency (EPA)
in September 1999. Subsistence hearings, as provided for in Title VIII,
Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
(ANILCA), are planned during the comment period on the Draft EIS. The
Final EIS is anticipated by March, 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 areas or 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 Regulations 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 addresses 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.
Requesters 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
[[Page 13767]]
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 1899;
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, Tongass National
Forest, P.O. 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: March 8, 1999.
Carol J. Jorgensen.
Assistant Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 99-6914 Filed 3-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M