[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 62 (Thursday, March 30, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16872-16873]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7896]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Yellowstone Pipeline Missoula to Thompson Falls Reroute, Lolo and 
Idaho Panhandle National Forests; Mineral, Missoula, and Sanders 
Counties, Montana, and Shoshone County, ID

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; revision of notice of intent to prepare an 
environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service is revising previous notices of intent to 
prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) regarding Yellowstone 
Pipe Line Company's proposals for a new petroleum products pipeline 
between Missoula and Thompson Falls, Montana, and to renew a special-
use permit for an existing pipeline. The company has withdrawn its 
request for a new pipeline and now only seeks renewal of its special-
use permit for its existing pipeline. In response, we have changed the 
schedule, scope, responsible official, and cooperating agencies for 
this EIS.

DATES: The final EIS should be released by July 2000.

ADDRESSES: Mail comments or inquiries regarding this notice to Terry 
Egenhoff, Environmental Coordinator, Lolo National Forest, Bldg. 24 
Fort Missoula, MT 59804 7297.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terry Egenhoff, (406) 329 3833.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice revises the Yellowstone Pipeline 
EIS notice published in the Federal Register on Friday, December 20, 
1996 (61 FR 67302-67303), and revised in a notice published in the 
Federal Register on Thursday, May 20, 1999 (64 FR 27504-27505). The 
changes involve schedule, scope, responsible official, and cooperating 
agencies.

Background

    The Draft EIS for this proposal was released on September 17, 1999. 
Since then, the Yellowstone Pipeline Company (YPL) has submitted two 
key changes affecting this EIS: (1) On November 9, 1999 YPL proposed to 
relocate five more miles of its existing line away from Prospect Creek 
and the North Fork Coeur d'Alene River, increasing the total proposed 
for relocation away from streams from the 3.5 miles YPL proposed in the 
Draft EIS to 9.8 miles; and (2) on February 15, 2000 YPL withdrew its 
application for a new pipeline route between Missoula and Thompson 
Falls. In January 2000 YPL requested that the Forest Service stop all 
work on the pending EIS. In February 2000 YPL requested that the Forest 
Service resume work to complete the EIS, but only for renewing the 
existing pipeline permit.
    The Lolo National Forest will complete a Final EIS to renew the 
existing pipeline permit for National Forest System lands between 
Thompson Falls, Montana and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The Final EIS will 
focus on changes to the existing pipeline between Thompson Falls and 
Kingston, Idaho. All alternatives studied in detail in the Final EIS 
will assume that the current rail transportation of petroleum products 
between Missoula and Thompson Falls will continue.
    Several alternatives in the Draft EIS released last September will 
be eliminated from detailed study in the Final EIS. Those are all the 
new-construction alternatives between Missoula and Thompson Falls and 
between Missoula and Kingston.
    Schedule changes: The final EIS should be released by July 2000.
    Scope changes: The scope of the final EIS will be limited to cover 
only modifications proposed to 60 miles of YPL's existing pipeline 
between Thompson Falls and Kingston, Idaho. The primary modification 
proposed is local relocation away from streams of about 10 miles of 
pipe in several separate locations. This reduced scope will involve 
only two counties: Sanders County, Montana and Shoshone County, Idaho. 
The only Federal lands involved in the new scope are National Forest 
System lands.
    Responsible official changes: The responsible official for the 
decision resulting from this EIS is: Dale N. Bosworth, Regional 
Forester, USDA Forest Service, Northern Region, P.O. Box 7669, 
Missoula, MT 59807. No other Federal land management agencies are 
involved in the reduced scope. Therefore, the Bureau of Land Management 
no longer has any potential decision-making role.
    Cooperating Agency changes: Formal EIS cooperating agencies (40 CFR 
1501.6) include the Corps of Engineers, and the Montana Department of 
Environmental Quality (as lead agency for all Montana agencies). Other 
agencies with permitting or consulting roles that are involved in the

[[Page 16873]]

preparation of this EIS include: USDOT Office of Pipeline Safety; 
USEPA, USFWS; FHWA; Montana DRNC; Montana DOT; Montana Fish, Wildlife, 
and Parks; Montana SHPO; Idaho DEQ; Idaho Dept. of Water Resources; 
Idaho Fish and Game, Idaho SHPO; Confederated Salish and Kootenai 
Tribes of the Flathead Nation; Sanders and Shoshone counties; and the 
Green Mountain Conservation District. The Bureau of Land Management and 
local agencies in Missoula and Mineral counties are no longer 
cooperating agencies since the current scope does not include their 
jurisdictions.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7; Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, sec. 
21.2.

    Dated: March 10, 2000.
Deborah L.R. Austin,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 00-7896 Filed 3-29-00; 8:45 am]
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