[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 18 (Friday, January 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 4148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-1572]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Environmental 
Impact Statement Concerning the Disposition of the Bureau of Mines, 
Twin Cities Research Center Main Campus, Hennepin County, MN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
concerning disposition of the former Bureau of Mines, Twin Cities 
Research Center Main Campus, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) will prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) in partnership with the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Region 3, concerning disposition of the former 
Bureau of Mines, Twin Cities Research Center Main Campus (Center), 
Hennepin County, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and within the 
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA), a unit of the 
National Park System. The EIS will consider a range of alternatives for 
disposition of the Center and will be part of a planning process that 
will span three to four years, ending with a record of decision. There 
has been considerable public interest in the disposition of the Center. 
Some of the issues identified to date concern preservation and 
protection of cultural and natural resources, including protection of 
the groundwater associated with Coldwater Spring, and continued public 
access to the site.
    The NPS anticipates starting the public scoping process for the EIS 
in February 2005. The NPS will prepare a scoping newsletter in the 
coming months that will identify issues and inform the public of the 
schedule for the EIS process and dates for upcoming meetings. To 
receive a copy of the newsletter, telephone or e-mail the NPS at the 
address listed below. Public scoping will occur through open public 
meetings and newsletters to State and Federal Agencies; federally 
recognized Indian Tribes, neighborhood community groups, county 
commissioners, local organizations, the congressional delegation, local 
elected officials, and other interested members of the public. All 
interested persons, organizations, and agencies are encouraged to 
submit comments and suggestions on issues, concerns and future uses of 
the Center that should be addressed in the EIS. Public meetings and 
site visits of the Center will be held throughout the spring and summer 
of 2005.
    In addition to attending the upcoming scoping meetings, interested 
parties may provide comments on this initial phase of developing 
alternatives for the EIS. Send or e-mail comments to the NPS address 
listed below.

DATES: Specific dates, times, and locations of upcoming public meetings 
will be announced in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis 
Star Tribune newspapers, on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/miss/bom, and will also be available by contacting the NPS office listed in 
the contact information below.

ADDRESSES: The National Park Service, Mississippi National River and 
Recreation Area, 111 Kellogg Blvd East, St. Paul, Minnesota, telephone: 
651-290-3030. E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General information about MNRRA is 
available on the Internet at: http://www.nps.gov/miss; information 
specific to the proposed action is available at: http://www.nps.gov/miss/bom.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to comment on any issues 
associated with the EIS, you may submit your comments by any one of 
several methods. You may mail or hand deliver comments to the address 
listed in the contact information section of this notice or via the 
Internet at [email protected]. Due to concerns regarding 
computer viruses, comments will not be accepted as attachments. All 
comments you provide must be within the body of the e-mail. Be sure to 
include your name and return street address in your Internet message. 
Our practice is to make comments, including the names, home addresses, 
and other personal identifying information of commenters, available for 
public review during regular business hours. Individual commenters may 
request that we withhold specified personal identifying information 
from the public record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by 
law. There, also, may be circumstances in which, on our own initiative, 
we would withhold from the public record a commenter's identity, as 
allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold any of your personal 
identifying information from the public record you must state this 
prominently at the beginning of your comment and identify the specific 
information you wish us to withhold. We cannot withhold an entire 
comment from the public record. We will make all commenter's 
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, available for inspection in the public record.

    Dated: October 27, 2004.
Ernest Quintana,
Regional Director, Midwest Region.
[FR Doc. 05-1572 Filed 1-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-98-P