[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67637-67638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19672]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement


Black Mesa and Kayenta Coal Mines, Coal Slurry Preparation Plant 
and Pipeline, and Coconino Aquifer Water-Supply System, Coconino, 
Mohave, and Navajo Counties, AZ, and Clark County, NV

AGENCY: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft environmental impact statement 
for the Black Mesa Project.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) 
announces availability of the draft environmental impact statement 
(EIS) for the Black Mesa Project, the public comment period and 
procedures, and public meetings and procedures.

DATES: To ensure consideration in the preparation of the final EIS, 
written comments must be received by OSM by 4 p.m., m.s.t., on January 
22, 2007.
    Public meetings will be held in:
     Window Rock, Arizona, on January 2, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. in the Resource Room at the Navajo Nation Museum, Highway 64 and 
Loop Road.
     Forest Lake, Arizona, on January 3, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Forest Lake Chapter House on Navajo Route 41 about 20 miles 
north of Pinon, Arizona.
     Moenkopi, Arizona, on January 3, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Community Center.
     Kayenta, Arizona, on January 4, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Monument Valley High School cafeteria, north Highway 163.
     Kykotsmovi, Arizona, on January 4, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Veterans Center.
     Peach Springs, Arizona, on January 9, 2007, from noon to 3 
p.m. at the Hualapai Lodge, 900 Route 66.
     Kingman, Arizona, on January 9, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Hampton Inn, 1791 Sycamore Avenue.
     Leupp, Arizona, on January 9, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 
at the Leupp Chapter House on Navajo Route 15.
     Winslow, Arizona, on January 10, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Winslow High School, Student Union, 600 E. Cherry Avenue.
     Laughlin, Nevada, on January 10, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Laughlin Town Hall, 101 Civic Way.
     Flagstaff, Arizona, on January 11, 2007, from 6 p.m. to 9 
p.m. at the Little America Hotel, 2515 East Butler Avenue.

ADDRESSES: The draft EIS is available for review on OSM's Internet Web 
site at www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm. Paper and computer 
compact disk (CD) copies of the draft EIS are also available for review 
at the Office of Surface Mining, Western Region, 1999 Broadway, Suite 
3320, Denver, Colorado 80202-5733.
    A limited number of CD and paper copies of the draft EIS have been 
prepared and are available upon request. Because of the time and 
expense in producing and mailing CD and paper copies, OSM requests that 
you review the Internet or publicly-available copy, if possible. You 
may obtain a CD or paper copy by contacting the person identified below 
in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. In your request, indicate whether 
you want a CD or paper copy.
    Comments on the draft EIS may be submitted in writing or by e-mail 
over the Internet. At the top of your letter or in the subject line of 
your e-mail message, indicate that the comments are ``BMP Draft EIS 
Comments.'' Include your name and return address in your letter or e-
mail message.
     E-mail comments should be sent to [email protected]. If you 
do not receive a confirmation from the system that OSM has received 
your e-mail comment, contact the person identified in For Further 
Information Contact below.
     Written comments sent by first-class or priority U.S. 
Postal Service should be mailed to: Dennis Winterringer, Leader, Black 
Mesa Project EIS, OSM Western Region, P.O. Box 46667, Denver, Colorado 
80201-6667.
     Comments delivered by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail or 
by courier service should be sent to: Dennis Winterringer, Leader, 
Black Mesa Project EIS, OSM Western Region, 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320, 
Denver, Colorado 80202-5733.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis Winterringer, Leader, Black 
Mesa Project EIS, OSM Western Region, by telephone at (303) 844-1400, 
extension 1440, or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background on the Black Mesa Project EIS

[[Page 67638]]

II. Availability of Your Comments for Public Review
III. Specificity of Comments
IV. Public Meetings

I. Background on the Black Mesa Project EIS

    Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 
OSM prepared a draft EIS analyzing the effects of the proposed Black 
Mesa Project. The proposed Project consists of Peabody Western Coal 
Company's operation and reclamation plans for coal mining at the Black 
Mesa Mine Complex near Kayenta, Arizona; Black Mesa Pipeline 
Incorporated's (BMPI's) Coal Slurry Preparation Plant at the Black Mesa 
Mine Complex; BMPI's reconstruction of the 273-mile long Coal Slurry 
Pipeline across northern Arizona from the Coal Slurry Preparation Plant 
to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada; and Salt River 
Project's and Mohave Generation Station co-owners' construction and 
operation of a water supply system consisting of water wells in the 
Coconino aquifer (C aquifer) near Leupp, Arizona, and of a water supply 
pipeline running 108 miles across the Navajo and Hopi Reservations from 
the wells to the Coal Slurry Preparation Plant. More information about 
the project and EIS can be found on OSM's Internet Web site at 
www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm.
    The Bureau of Indian Affairs; Bureau of Land Management; Bureau of 
Reclamation; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Department of 
Agriculture Forest Service; Hopi Tribe; Hualapai Tribe; Navajo Nation; 
County of Mohave, Arizona; and City of Kingman, Arizona, cooperated 
with OSM in the preparation of the draft EIS. As a part of its National 
Environmental Policy Act activities for the proposed project, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency will attend at least the January 3 and 
4, 2007, meetings respectively in Moenkopi and Kayenta, Arizona.

II. Availability of Your Comments for Public Review

    Our practice is to make comments, including names and 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 and submit your comments by regular 
mail, not by e-mail. In addition, you must present a rationale for 
withholding this information. This rationale must demonstrate that 
disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy. 
Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of 
exceptional, documentable circumstances, this information will be 
released. We will always make submissions from organizations or 
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available 
for public inspection in their entirety.

III. Specificity of Written Comments

    Written comments, including email comments, should be sent to OSM 
at the addresses given in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Be 
specific in your comments and indicate the chapter, page, paragraph, 
and sentence your comments pertain to.

IV. Public Meetings

    Public meeting rooms will be set up in four areas: (1) An area 
where an audio-visual presentation on the Black Mesa Project and EIS 
will be made, (2) an area with displays where meeting attendees may 
discuss the project proposal and the EIS process with OSM and others, 
(3) an area where meeting attendees may record and submit written 
comments, and (4) an area where an OSM representative and a transcriber 
will record oral comments.
    To assist the transcriber and ensure an accurate record, OSM 
requests that each presenter of oral comments provide a written copy of 
his or her comments, if possible.
    Hopi, Hualapai, and Navajo interpreters will be present 
respectively at meetings on the Hopi, Hualapai, and Navajo 
Reservations.
    If you are disabled or need special accommodations to attend one of 
the meetings, contact the person under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
at least 1 week before the meeting.

    Dated: November 15, 2006.
Willie R. Taylor,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.
[FR Doc. E6-19672 Filed 11-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P