[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 121 (Friday, June 22, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33553-33554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-15701]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[AZ-917-5101-ER-A173; AZA31074]


Notice of Availability for an Environmental Assessment for the El 
Paso Global Networks Telecommunications System

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment for the 
El Paso Global Networks Right-of-Way Applications and Plan Amendment.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as federal lead agency has 
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for two rights-of-way (R/W) 
proposed by El Paso Global Networks (EPGN) for buried fiber optic 
telecommunications lines and associated facilities, including the 
construction, maintenance, operation and termination activities. One R/
W runs from El Paso, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona; the second from 
Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles, California. The R/Ws cross the states 
of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico extending approximately 
972 miles.
    The proposed action includes an amendment to the California Desert 
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan which,

[[Page 33554]]

if approved as an exception, will allow the system to be constructed as 
planned along existing highways or disturbed R/Ws in Riverside and San 
Bernadino Counties instead of within CDCA designated utility corridors. 
Both R/Ws would include a 25-foot wide temporary construction and a 10-
foot wide permanent R/W.
    Copies of the EA are available for public review at BLM offices in: 
Las Cruces, New Mexico; Safford, Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma and Lake Havasu, 
Arizona; and Palm Springs, Riverside, Needles and Barstow, California. 
Reading copies may be downloaded from the Arizona BLM website http://www.az.blm.gov.

DATES: Written comments on the EA and proposed plan amendment must be 
submitted or postmarked no later than July 23, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Shela McFarlin, 
Project Manager, BLM Arizona State Office (AZ917), 222 North Central 
Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shela McFarlin, at the above address, 
or by phone at (602) 417-9568, by fax at (602) 417-9400, or at e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Both R/W applications include measures to 
avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts on the environment as specified 
through a plan of development which includes monitoring, reclamation 
and other construction designs and stipulations. The EA analyzes a no-
action (no R/W and no plan amendment) along with the R/Ws proposed by 
EPGN. For the CDCA, an additional alternative (Modified Proposed 
Project Corridors K and S) and the associated plan amendment is 
analyzed utilizing existing information for comparison with the 
proposed action.
    The fiber optic telecommunication project entails the construction 
and reclamation activities for an eight-duct conduit system and 
associated facilities and access including regeneration or optical 
amplification stations approximately every 50 miles, buried splice 
boxes placed at 20,000 foot intervals, manhole/handhold accesses placed 
every 3,000 to 5,000 feet, cable marker poles every 500 feet, and one 
3.5 mile power line. The project, as designated for construction, 
operation, maintenance and termination activities, should contribute 
minimal to no additional impacts to the environment and would operate 
mainly within previously disturbed and routinely maintained road rights 
of way. Additional environmental monitoring, pre-work surveys, and data 
recovery for cultural resource sites would be stipulated in the R/W 
grants.
    The CDCA portion of this project proposed as an exception to the 
CDCA Plan--as a plan amendment for this single use only--begins at the 
Point of Presence (POP) in Blythe, California, then follow the Midland 
Road to the Rice POP, then follow highway 60 to the POP at Twenty-Nine 
Palms, then to the POP at Victorville.

    Dated: May 31, 2001.
William Ruddick,
Acting Field Director, Native American Minerals/Land Exchange Teams.
[FR Doc. 01-15701 Filed 6-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-32-M