[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 47 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12503-12505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5726]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Granite Area Mining Projects; Umatilla National Forest, Grant
County, Oregon
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) on a proposed action to approve Proposed Plans of
Operation on mining claims located in the Granite Area, within the
Granite Creek watershed, a tributary to the North Fork John Day River.
The project area is located on the North Folk John Day Ranger District,
approximately 34 air miles southeast of Ukiah, Oregon.
The proposed action is a compilation of plans submitted by
claimants operating within the analysis area. These plans describe the
type of mining operations proposed and how they would be conducted, the
type and standard of access routes, the means of transportation to be
used, the period during which the proposed mining activity will take
place and measures to be taken to meet the requirements for
environmental protection. Operations include the exploration and
extraction of valuable minerals from placer and lode deposits. Methods
range from hand panning to more complex operations utilizing mechanical
equipment. The 1990 Land and the Resource Management Plan FEIS for the
Umatilla National Forest, as amended, provides overall guidance for
management of this area. Some of the operations planned in the proposed
action may not be in compliance with this plan.
DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be
received on or before April 10, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions to the Responsible
Official, Craig Smith-Dixon, North Folk John Day District Ranger, P.O.
Box 158, Ukiah, OR 97880.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Reed, Project Team Leader, North
Fork John Day Ranger District. Phone: (541) 427-3231.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The decision area includes approximately 900
acres of claimed lands within the Umatilla National Forest in Grant
County, Oregon. It is within the boundary of the Granite Creek
Watershed. The legal description of the decision area is as follows:
T8-10S, R34, 35, 35\1/2\E, W.M. surveyed. Some proposed activities are
within the boundary of the North Folk John Day Wilderness Area.
Gold was discovered in the project area in 1864 and a small gold
rush shortly followed. Most of the gold produced in this area was
placer gold mined from the gravel and bars of streams. There were also
several large producing gold and silver mines. A large-scale dredge
operated in many of the area streams in the later 1930's Most of the
big mining was over by the 1950's as the economical discoveries were
mined out. Exploration continues but no major production is occurring.
Most current mining activity consists of small-scale placer operations.
During the past years, several species of fish residing within
streams located in or near the project area have been listed as
threatened under the
[[Page 12504]]
Endangered Species Act. After reviewing the new listings, the Forest
Service has determined that current mining operations could
significantly affect these fish species. Therefore it is necessary for
persons operating in the project area to submit new or modified Plans
of Operations to the Forest Service. Under the regulations at 36 CFR
228.4 and 228.5, and because of the potential significance of the
effects, these plans must be analyzed in an Environmental Impact
Statement.
Mining operations are associated with the extraction of precious
metals from placer and lode deposits. A number of different practices
are being proposed on the various claims within the analysis area.
These may include one or more of the following practices:
Suction Dredging: Portable suction dredges would be used in stream
during the period specified by the State of Oregon, generally July 15
to August 15.
Test Pits: Holes are dug either by hand or mechanical equipment to
sample sub-surface deposits.
Drilling: Portable drills are used as part of the exploration
process to sample sub-surface mineral deposits.
Placer Mining: This includes a wide variety of practices to extract
minerals from placer deposits. The techniques include handwork with
shovels and pans, small sluice boxes and more complex operations that
use mechanical equipment. On the more heavily worked claims backhoes
and front end loaders are used for digging, and power trommels for
separation and extraction. Water, to varying degrees, is used in all
these techniques. Some minor road maintenance and maintenance of
existing structures is also planned.
Lode Mining: This includes tunneling or other mechanical methods
used to extract lode deposits.
Activities, which would occur in association with mining operation,
include mitigation practices such as construction or maintenance of
settling ponds, and reclamation activities such as recontouring,
seeding, and treatment of noxious weeds.
Preliminary issues include: effects of proposed activities on water
quality and the effects of proposed activities on fish habitat and
aquatic Threatened, Endangered, and Sensitive species.
The Forest Service will consider a full range of alternatives,
including a ``no-action'' alternative in which no mining activities
would be approved. The no-action alternative is evaluated in order to
establish a baseline condition of existing and future environmental
conditions in the project area. Based on the issues gathered through
scoping, the action alternatives may vary in the type of operations
permitted, the timing of permitted operations and the types of
mitigation required. Tentative action alternatives are: the proposed
action and an alternative that modifies the proposed plans with
additional mitigation to address effects of mining on water quality and
fisheries habitat.
Public participation will be especially important at several points
during the analysis, beginning with the scoping process (40 CFR
1501.7). Initial scoping began with the project listing in the 2000
Winter Edition of the Umatilla National Forest's Schedule of Proposed
Activities. This environmental analysis and decision making process
will enable additional interested and affected people to participate
and contribute to the final decision. The public is encouraged to take
part in the process and is encouraged to visit with Forest Service
officials at any time during the analysis and prior to the decision.
The Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and
assistance from Federal, State, local agencies, and other individuals
or organizations that may be interested in, or affected by the
proposal. This input will be used in preparation of the Draft EIS. The
scoping process includes:
1. Identifying potential issues.
2. Identifying major issues to be analyzed in depth.
3. Identifying issues which have been covered by a relevant
previous environmental analysis.
4. Considering additional alternatives based on themes which will
be derived from issues recognized during scoping activities.
5. Identifying potential environmental effects of this project and
alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect, and cumulative effects and
connected actions).
The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available to the public for review by
September 1, 2000. At that time, the EPA will publish a Notice of
Availability of the Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The comment
period on the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the date the EPA publishes
the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. It is important
that those interested in the management of the Umatilla National Forest
participate at that time. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed by
December 1, 2000. In the Final EIS, the Forest Service is required to
respond to comments and responses received during the comment period
that pertain to the environmental consequences discussed in the Draft
EIS and applicable laws, regulations, and policies considered in making
a decision regarding the proposal.
Comments received in response to this notice, 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.
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.
Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that, under the
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 a
specified number of days.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice, at this early stage, of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of
Draft EIS's must structure their participation in the environmental
review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency
to the reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear
Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental
objections that could be raised at the draft environmental impact
statement stage but that are not raised until completion of the final
environmental impact statement may be waived or dismissed by the
courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 f.2d 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 and respond to them in the final environmental
impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or
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chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy
of the draft environmental impact statement or 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).
The Forest Service is the lead agency. Craig Smith-Dixon, District
Ranger, is the Responsible Official. As the Responsible Official, he
will decide which, if any, of the proposed plans will be implemented.
He will document the decision and reasons for the decision in the
Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service
Appeal Regulations (36 CFR part 215).
Dated: February 24, 2000.
Craig Smith-Dixon,
District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 00-5726 Filed 3-8-00; 8:45 am]
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