[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16546-16547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-8078]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NM-010-5101-ER-G043-NMNM 106570]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for a Proposed Refined Petroleum Products Pipeline Right-of-
Way Across Land in Lea, Eddy, Chaves, Lincoln, Guadalupe, Torrance, 
Sandoval, McKinley and San Juan Counties, NM; Ector and Winkler 
Counties, TX

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) has been prepared for the Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico 
State Director, under the administrative direction of the Albuquerque 
Field Office. The DEIS was prepared to analyze the impacts of issuing a 
Right-of-Way (ROW) for the conversion of an existing pipeline and 
construction of a new pipeline and above ground structures for the 
transportation of refined petroleum products across public lands in New 
Mexico and Texas. The proposed pipeline will cross land managed by BLM, 
the National Forest System, the State, as well as private lands. This 
notice initiates the public review process for the DEIS.

DATES: Written comments on the DEIS will be accepted for 45 days 
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. Future meetings or 
hearings and any other public involvement activities will be announced 
at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media news 
releases, the NM BLM Web site (http://www.nm.blm.gov), and/or mailings. 
Written and oral comments will be accepted at public meetings.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to NMPP Project 
Manager,

[[Page 16547]]

Bureau of Land Management, Albuquerque Field Office, 435 Montano Road, 
NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107-4935. Comments, including names and street 
addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the 
BLM Albuquerque Field Office and will be subject to disclosure under 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). They may be published as part of 
the final EIS and other related documents. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street 
address from public review or from disclosure under the FOIA, you must 
state this definitively at the beginning of your written comments. Such 
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions 
from organizations and businesses and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses will be available for public inspection in their entirety. 
Copies of the DEIS are available for review at the following 
repositories: Albuquerque City Library; Government Public Dept., UNM 
Library; Aztec Public Library; Carlsbad Public Library; Cuba Public 
Library; Edgewood Community Library; Farmington Public Library; Roswell 
Public Library; and Woolworth Community Library (Odessa, TX). Copies 
are also available at the following BLM Offices: Albuquerque, Field 
Office, 435 Montano Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107-4935; Roswell Field 
Office, 2909 West Second Street, Roswell NM 88201-2019; Farmington 
Field Office, 1235 La Plata Highway, Farmington, NM 87401; Carlsbad 
Field Office, 620 E. Greene St. Carlsbad, NM 88220-6292; New Mexico 
State Office, 1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505. The DEIS is also 
accessible at BLM's Web site http://www.nm.blm.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact Joseph Jaramillo, (505) 761-
8700, [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Shell Pipeline Company LP (Shell) is the 
successor-in-interest to Equilon Pipeline Company LLC, the project 
proponent listed in the Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS published in 
the Federal Register on December 27, 2001. Shell filed a ROW 
application with BLM to convert an existing 406-mile pipeline and to 
construct approximately 93 miles of new pipeline to carry refined 
petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel, from 
Odessa, Texas to Bloomfield, New Mexico.
    Shell's existing 406-mile, 16-inch pipeline was formerly used to 
carry crude oil from Bisti, New Mexico to Jal, New Mexico. Shell 
intends to extend the length of this pipeline, reverse its direction of 
flow, and convert it to refined products service. The approximately 93 
miles of new pipeline will be constructed in two segments: (1) A 
segment from Odessa to Jal of approximately 60 miles and (2) a Bisti to 
Bloomfield segment of approximately 33 miles. Twenty miles of the Bisti 
to Bloomfield segment will be located within an existing utility 
corridor. Thirteen miles of new pipeline would extend beyond the 
established corridor.
    In addition to the new pipeline segments, a number of new 
facilities will be constructed, including a new truck loading terminal 
in Moriarty, New Mexico; new block and check valves; new pump stations; 
new pressure control stations; a new metering station at the terminus 
of the pipeline at Bloomfield; and other equipment at the pump stations 
and along the pipeline, such as meters, launchers and receivers, 
cathodic protection systems, and aerial markers. The project will 
require approximately 700 worksites for construction and maintenance 
activities along the existing pipeline, construction of the new 
pipeline segments, and construction of the new facilities required for 
the operation of the pipeline.
    The BLM considered issues and concerns identified during the 
scoping process in the preparation of the DEIS. These issues can be 
broadly categorized as issues related to the protection of public 
safety, water quality, threatened and endangered species and the human 
environment. The DEIS analyzes the proposed action, a no-action 
alternative, and three action alternatives, namely pipeline replacement 
in sensitive areas, pipeline reroute in sensitive areas, and the 
proposed action with enhanced mitigation. The pipeline replacement 
alternative was developed to address public concerns about the existing 
pipeline's integrity and the potential effects of leaks on groundwater 
resources. It would involve the installation of new pipe in sensitive 
areas parallel to the existing pipe within the existing ROW. The 
existing pipe in those areas would be abandoned in place. Under the 
pipeline reroute alternative, portions of the existing pipeline would 
be relocated to less developed areas to reduce the risk to public 
safety. The new route would reduce the number of residences in close 
proximity to the pipeline and would minimize new disturbance by 
utilizing other existing ROW corridors as much as possible.
    In the proposed action with enhanced mitigation alternative, the 
BLM identifies several additional mitigation measures to address the 
protection of public safety, water quality, threatened and endangered 
species and the human environment.
    The purpose of the DEIS is to disclose to the public and agency 
decision makers the environmental impacts of constructing and operating 
the proposed project. If the project is approved, the BLM, as lead 
agency, would sign the necessary Record of Decision (ROD) for the 
issuance of a single ROW under the Mineral Leasing Act, which would 
consolidate and replace the eleven ROW grants that currently authorize 
the existing pipeline and would authorize the additional project 
features described above occurring on public lands.

    Dated: December 12, 2002.
Richard A. Whitley,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-8078 Filed 4-2-03; 8:45 am]
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