[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 38 (Monday, February 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11569-11570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-4640]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Transmission System Vegetation Management Program

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville), Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of supplemental Record of Decision (ROD).

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SUMMARY: This supplemental ROD is to clarify Bonneville's decisions 
regarding its approved herbicide list and procedures that were adopted 
in its ROD of July 2000, based on its Transmission System Vegetation 
Management Program Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (DOE/EIS-0285, 
May 2000). The remaining text of the supplemental ROD is included in 
its entirety in the Supplementary Information section of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Additional copies of this supplemental ROD may be obtained 
by calling Bonneville's toll-free document request line: 1-800-622-
4520. The EIS and initial ROD (July 2000) are also available. These 
documents may also be viewed on Bonneville's website: http://www.efw.bpa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacy Mason, Environmental Project 
Manager--KEC-4, Bonneville Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, 
Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; telephone number 503-230-5455; fax number 
503-230-5699; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

a. Decisions

    As part of the program that was adopted, Bonneville approved the 
use of herbicides as one of the tools that could be used to control 
vegetation on rights-of-way, in electric yards, and at non-electric 
facilities. Twenty-three herbicide active ingredients were analyzed in 
the EIS and adopted as the approved herbicide list. Bonneville also 
adopted a process for adding or eliminating herbicide ingredients to or 
from our program. The following decisions are being clarified in this 
supplemental ROD:
    (1) Herbicide Mixtures. Bonneville will allow the mixture of any 
herbicides that are on Bonneville's approved herbicide list if the 
mixture meets all the following conditions: (a) It is an allowed 
mixture according to the instructions contained in the herbicide label, 
(b) A Bonneville environmental review of the mixture is conducted in 
order to provide information regarding toxicity ratings so that 
appropriate buffers and mitigation measures may be applied, and (c) 
There are not any known synergistic effects such that the toxicity of 
the herbicide mixture is greater than that of either herbicide used 
singly. If there are known or suspected synergistic effects, Bonneville 
will conduct further environmental analysis consistent with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) prior to the use of the 
mixture. The NEPA analysis will begin in the form of a supplement 
analysis tiered to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and 
ROD and may result in a supplemental EIS depending upon the results of 
the supplement analysis. The supplement analysis will compare the 
potential impacts of the mixtures with those disclosed in the FEIS and 
will include public comment. This analysis will ensure that impacts of 
the mixtures with synergistic effects are adequately analyzed within 
the range of alternatives addressed in the FEIS.
    (2) Adjuvants. Bonneville's adopted process for approving new 
herbicides will be applied to new adjuvants as well. The environmental 
review for that process will begin with a supplement analysis tiered to 
the FEIS and ROD as described above for herbicide mixtures with 
synergistic effects.
    (3) Herbicide Facility Use Correction. Bonneville will add 
glyphosate for potential use at non-electric facilities. The original 
ROD approved glyphosate for use on rights-of-way and in electric yards. 
Due to an oversight, glyphosate was mistakenly not approved for use at 
non-electric facilities for landscape and workyard maintenance. The 
potential impacts for this herbicide were described in the FEIS.

b. Background

    Bonneville is responsible for maintaining a network of transmission 
lines, substations, and other related facilities throughout the 
Northwest. As part of that maintenance, Bonneville needs to keep 
vegetation a safe distance away from our electric power facilities 
(rights-of-way, electric yards, and non-electric facilities such as 
maintenance work yards). In our Transmission System Vegetation 
Management Program EIS and ROD, Bonneville adopted a program for 
managing vegetation at our facilities. Below is a summary of the 
decisions we made for our program:
     Promote the establishment of low-growing plant communities 
on the rights-of-way to ``out-compete'' trees and tall-growing brush;
     Have all possible vegetation control methods available for 
use to maintain rights-of-way (manual, mechanical,

[[Page 11570]]

biological, and herbicide--spot, localized, broadcast, and aerial 
application);
     Allow the use of herbicides available to treat any kind of 
vegetation needing management for rights-of-way;
     Continue our current practice of controlling vegetation in 
electrical yards using primarily pre-emergent herbicides;
     For other non-electric facilities, continue to have 
available a variety of methods for use to manage vegetation, including 
manual and mechanical methods, herbicides, and fertilizers;
     Use the planning steps outlined in the FEIS to guide site-
specific vegetation projects and their environmental review tiered to 
the FEIS;
     Use only a list of herbicides that Bonneville approves for 
use; and
     Adopt a procedure of environmental review tiered to the 
FEIS for adding or eliminating herbicide ingredients, or new methods or 
techniques to the program.
    This supplemental ROD addresses three herbicide-use decisions that 
were overlooked in the original ROD.

c. Rationale for the Decisions

    The rationales for adopting the decisions described in this 
supplemental ROD are as follows:
    (1) Herbicide Mixtures. Bonneville analyzed the impacts of 
herbicide active ingredients in the FEIS. In most cases, the toxicity 
ratings for a herbicide mixture will be the same as that of the single 
active ingredient in the mixture that has the highest toxicity rating. 
Therefore, the potential environmental impacts of using the mixture 
would be the same as using the ingredients singly, and those impacts 
have been analyzed in the FEIS.
    There is a potential that mixing two herbicides could cause a 
synergistic effect such that the toxicity of the herbicide mixture is 
greater than that of either herbicide used singly. Therefore, if the 
mixtures have known synergistic effects, or are likely to have 
synergistic effects, we would conduct further NEPA review to determine 
(a) the potential impacts of those effects, (b) if the impacts are 
consistent with impacts disclosed in the FEIS, and (c) whether the use 
of the mixture would be allowed in the program. This process ensures 
that Bonneville will be considering the environmental impact of the use 
of herbicide mixtures.
    (2) Adjuvants. Adjuvants are ingredients mixed with herbicides to 
enhance the usefulness of the herbicide (such as sticking agents, 
thickening agents, stabilizers, etc.). Adjuvants by themselves can 
potentially cause environmental impacts. If Bonneville wants to add 
adjuvants not considered in the FEIS for use in the program, we will 
develop a supplement analysis, which includes public involvement as 
discussed in the initial ROD, to make sure the potential impacts are 
considered.
    (3) Herbicide Facility Use Correction. Bonneville intended to list 
glyphosate as a herbicide to be used at non-electric facilities (it was 
analyzed in the FEIS and approved for use on rights-of-way and in 
electric yards). The human health toxicity assessment and ecological 
toxicities and characteristics of glyphosate are as researched and 
reported in the FEIS. Glyphosate is practically non-toxic to mammals, 
avian species, and microorganisms. Glyphosate is moderately toxic to 
aquatic species. Glyphosate has no soil residual activity and must be 
applied by direct foliar application thereby reducing direct or 
indirect introduction into water bodies. Keeping in mind that using 
glyphosate at non-electric facilities typically means for use in 
landscaping, adding glyphosate for landscaping will potentially 
decrease or eliminate the use and amount of more toxic active 
ingredients already approved for use at non-electric facilities.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on February 16, 2001.
Steven G. Hickok,
Acting Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-4640 Filed 2-23-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P