[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 140 (Friday, July 21, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41468-41469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-11598]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Notice of Preparation of Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement and Supplemental Information Regarding Red River Valley Water 
Supply Project, North Dakota

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of preparation of a supplemental draft environmental 
impact statement (SDEIS) and notice of the current status and future 
activities related to the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) 
for the Red River Valley Water Supply Project (Project).

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and State of North 
Dakota's designee, Garrison Diversion Conservancy District (Garrison 
Diversion), as joint lead agencies preparing the DEIS, are continuing 
work under the National Environmental Policy Act on the environmental 
impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Red River Valley Water Supply 
Project, located in North Dakota and Minnesota. This notice is being 
published to provide information related to the current status of the 
DEIS and preparation of a SDEIS.

DATES: The formal comment period on the DEIS remains open and we will 
continue to receive and consider relevant public comments as the SDEIS 
is prepared.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Signe Snortland, Red River Valley Water 
Supply Project, Bureau of Reclamation, Dakotas Area Office, P.O. Box 
1017, Bismarck, ND 58502, or fax to (701) 250-4326. You may submit e-
mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Signe Snortland, telephone: (701) 250-
4242 extension 3619. You may access the Red River Valley Water Supply 
Project Web site at http://www.rrvwsp.com.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Reclamation and Garrison Diversion, as joint 
lead agencies preparing the EIS, believe that new information and/or 
additional analyses, relevant to environmental concerns and issues 
raised by (EPA) and the public, regarding potential effects of the 
Project, indicate a need to prepare a SDEIS consistent with the CEQ 
regulations (40 CFR 1502.9(a)). This may lead to development of 
alternatives that would need to be described and included in the SDEIS 
and be subject to public review and comment.
    The notice of intent to prepare the DEIS was published in the 
Federal Register on October 8, 2002 (67 FR 195, 62813). The notice of 
availability of the DEIS, notice of public hearings, and additional 
information on the Red River Valley Water Supply Project was published 
in the Federal Register on December 30, 2005 (70 FR 250, 77425-77427). 
In response to requests by United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) and others, Reclamation and Garrison Diversion extended 
the comment period, through March 30, 2006 (71 FR 34, 8873-8874), then 
through April 14, 2006 (71 FR 68, 18116), and then announced on April 
13, 2006 that the formal comment period would remain open while the 
SDEIS is being prepared. Availability of the SDEIS will be announced in 
the Federal Register later in 2006. All comments received on the DEIS 
and the SDEIS will be fully considered and responded to in the final 
EIS (FEIS). The FEIS is scheduled for release by December 31, 2006.

Public Disclosure Statement

    Our practice is to make comments, including names, home addresses, 
home phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of respondents, available for 
public review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their names and/or home addresses, etc., but if you wish us to consider 
withholding this information you must state this prominently at the 
beginning of your comments. In addition, you must present a rationale 
for withholding this information. This rationale must demonstrate that 
disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. 
Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of 
exceptional,

[[Page 41469]]

documentable circumstances, this information will be released. We will 
always make submissions from organizations or businesses, and from 
individuals identifying themselves as representatives of or officials 
of organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in 
their entirety.

    Dated: July 14, 2006.
Donald E. Moomaw,
Acting Regional Director, Great Plains Region.
[FR Doc. E6-11598 Filed 7-20-06; 8:45 am]
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