[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