[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 241 (Thursday, December 16, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75292-75293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27526]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 2004 / 
Notices  

[[Page 75292]]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Upper Granite Mining Projects; Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, 
Baker County, OR

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 
Operations on mining claims located in the Granite Creek Watershed. The 
project area is located on the Whitman Unit of the Wallowa-Whitman 
National Forest, approximately 30 miles west of Baker city, 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 Resource Management Plan final EIS for the 
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, as amended, provides overall guidance 
for management of this area.

DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be 
received within 30 days of the scoping letter postmark.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions to Richard Haines, 
Whitman Unit Ranger, 3165 10th Street, Baker City, Oregon 97814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sophia Millar, Interdisciplinary Team 
Leader, Wallowa Mountains Office, Enterprise, OR, Phone: (541) 426-
5540.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area is within the boundary of 
the Granite Creek Watershed. The legal description of the decision area 
is as follows: T8-10S, R35E, 35-\1/2\E, 36E, W.M. surveyed.
    The Oregon department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has listed 
Beaver Creek, Bull Run Creek, and Granite Creek as water quality 
impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. The Forest 
Service has determined that mining operations have the potential to 
affect water quality. Accordingly, the effects of new, existing, or 
modified Plans of Operations prepared under regulations at 36 CFR 228.4 
and 228.5, and 36 CFR 228 Subpart C, will be analyzed in this EIS.
    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:
    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.
    Road Construction: This includes construction of \1/2\ mile of road 
to access an existing operation.
    Preliminary issues include effects of proposed activities on--water 
quality and fish habitat.
    The Forest Service will consider a full range of alternatives, 
including a ``no action'' alternative. The no-action alternative is 
evaluated 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. Action alternatives include--the 
proposed mining activities and alternatives that modify 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). 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, tribes, 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: Identifying potential issues; identifying major 
issues to be analyzed in depth; identifying issues which have been 
covered by a relevant previous environmental analysis; considering 
additional alternatives based on themes which will be derived from 
issues recognized during scoping activities; and 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 
May 2005. The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the 
date the EPA publishes

[[Page 75293]]

the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. It is important 
that those interested in the management of the Wallowa-Whitman National 
Forest participate at that time.
    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 EIS stage but that are not 
raised until completion of the final EIS 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 EIS.
    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 chapters of the 
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft 
EIS 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 final EIS is scheduled for completion July 2005. 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.
    The Forest Service is the lead agency. The Whitman Unit Ranger is 
the Responsible Official. The Responsible Official will decide which, 
if any, of the proposed plans will be implemented. The Responsible 
Official will also 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: December 9, 2004.
Richard Haines,
Whitman Unit Ranger.
[FR Doc. 04-27526 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am]
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