[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 248 (Wednesday, December 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77787-77789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22142]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Oil Spill Response Facility at Shepard 
Point, near Cordova, Alaska

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA), with the cooperation of the Native Village of Eyak, the 
Federal Highway Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
intends to file a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) with the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the proposed oil spill 
facility at Shepard Point, near Cordova, Alaska, and that the FEIS is 
now available for public review. The purpose of the proposed project, 
the Cordova Area Oil Spill Facility, is to provide a deepwater staging 
facility for the rapid deployment of equipment to the sites of any oil 
spills that might occur in the Prince William Sound and environs.

DATES: The Record of Decision on the proposed action will be issued on 
or after January 30, 2007. Any comments on the FEIS must arrive by 
January 29, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may hand carry written comments to the BIA's Alaska 
Regional Office at 709 West 9th Street, 3rd Floor Federal Building, 
Juneau, Alaska, or mail them to Kristin K'eit, Environmental Scientist, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Regional Office, Division of 
Environmental and Cultural Resource Management, P.O. Box 25520, Juneau, 
Alaska 99802-5520. You may also fax your comments to (907) 586-7044, or 
submit them electronically at the project Web site, http://[email protected].

    Note: BIA cannot receive electronic comments directly via e-mail 
at this time. Please include your name, return address, and the 
caption, ``FEIS Comments, Proposed Cordova Oil Spill Response 
Facility, Cordova, Alaska,'' on the first page of your written 
comments.
    To obtain a copy of the FEIS, please contact Kristin K'eit at 
the mailing address above or her telephone number below. Copies of 
the FEIS are available for public review at the BIA's Alaska 
Regional Office in Juneau and at the Public Libraries in Juneau, 
Cordova and Anchorage, Alaska. Copies of the FEIS have also been 
sent to agencies and individuals who participated in the scoping 
process and to all others who have previously requested copies of 
the document.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin K'eit, (907) 586-7423.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action that is the focus of 
this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is to construct an oil spill 
response facility at Shepard Point near Cordova, consisting of a 
dedicated deepwater port, additional staging and storage area, and a 
4.5 mile access road to the Cordova road system. The facility will 
allow all tide transfer of out-of-region supplies such as booms, 
skimmers, sorbents, anchors, tools and personal protective equipment 
from the all weather airport at Cordova to a wider variety of response 
vessels than can currently use Cordova's port. The BIA determined that 
an EIS is required due to the potentially significant effects of the 
project. Construction of the Cordova Oil Spill Response Facility would 
enhance the regional spill response capability that presently exists in 
Prince William Sound by providing all tide access and efficient flow of 
pre-positioned and out-of-region equipment, supplies and personnel to 
vessels responding to oil spills in Prince William Sound and the 
northern Gulf of Alaska.
    The proposed action is one of three Prince William Sound oil spill 
response facilities identified for construction in the 1992 Alyeska 
Settlement Agreement and Consent Decree (Alyeska Consent Decree), and 
the only one that has not yet been constructed. The Shepard Point Road 
is identified as a baseline transportation project in the 2001 Prince 
William Sound Regional Transportation Plan, included in the State 
Transportation Improvement Program, and listed as the top priority in 
the Native Village of Eyak's Tribal Transportation Plan. The Alaska 
State Legislature appropriated funds in 1993 for construction of a road 
to Shepard Point in support of an oil spill response facility and 
deepwater port at Shepard Point. The Cordova City Council passed a 
resolution in the spring of 2004 supporting development of the Shepard 
Point oil spill response facility.
    The purpose of this project is to:
     Construct an oil spill response facility and deepwater 
port in the Cordova area that could receive oil spill equipment from 
any location at all tides via an air-to-ground-to-response-vessel or 
cargo vessel-to-response-vessel transportation sequence;
     Accommodate existing and foreseeable future oil spill 
response and cargo vessels with deeper drafts than the current 
capabilities of existing facilities in the area; and,
    * Include an adequately sized area for staging and storing response 
equipment that would be contiguous to the dock.
    The project is needed to improve and enhance Cordova's existing oil 
spill response capabilities and to maximize the efficiency with which 
Cordova could support a response effort. The project would allow for 
transfer of response material from the all-weather Cordova Airport to 
the full range of response vessels, at any tide. It would also allow 
the most efficient use of the resources that are already available in 
the Cordova area, including trained oil spill responders, a large fleet 
of fishing vessels, the all-weather airport and a large amount of pre-
positioned response equipment. Chapter 1 of the FEIS provides 
additional information concerning the purpose and need for this 
project.
    Five alternatives, including a no action alternative, are evaluated 
in the FEIS. Fill dock and piling dock design variants are identified 
for all of the build alternatives, and four road options are examined 
for Alternative 4 at Shepard Point.
    In Alternative 1, the no action alternative, no new or improved 
facilities would be constructed. Existing oil spill response 
capabilities in Cordova and Prince William Sound would continue to 
serve. However, the no action alternative would not meet the purpose 
and need for improvements to existing capabilities, nor would it 
fulfill the requirements of the Alyeska Consent Decree.
    For Alternatives 2, 3 and 5, dredging would be required to insure 
all-tide access for all likely oil spill response vessels. The deepest 
draft design vessels require minimum water depths of -32 feet (ft) mean 
lower low water (MLLW) at the dock and -35 ft MLLW in navigational 
channels and turning basins. Dredging of the shoal in the Eastern 
Channel would be required for Alternatives 2, 3, and 5 and would 
improve the existing deep-draft channel by providing a 350-ft wide 
channel with a minimum clearance depth of -35 ft MLLW between the 
relatively deep water at the Cordova waterfront and the

[[Page 77788]]

deep water in Orca Bay and the open sea.
    For Alternative 2, located at Ocean Dock, there are two design 
variants; Alternative 2A, which is a new facility with a fill dock, and 
Alternative 2B, which is a new facility with a pile-supported dock. 
Alternative 2A would replace the existing Ocean Dock, a pile-supported 
dock measuring approximately 400-by-75 ft, with a new fill dock. Under 
Alternative 2B, the existing Ocean Dock would be removed and replaced 
with a new, smaller (360 by 60 feet), pile-supported dock.
    For Alternative 3, located at Fleming Point, there are two design 
variants; Alternative 3A, which is a new facility with a fill dock, and 
Alternative 3B, which is a new facility with a pile-supported dock. 
Alternative 3A consists of constructing a new fill dock and upland 
staging area at Fleming Point. The new fill dock would have a 600-ft-
long face and would provide 3.5 acres for spill response equipment 
storage and operations. Alternative 3B would provide a new pile-
supported dock of about 350-by-60 ft.
    For Alternative 4, located at Shepard Point, there are two dock 
design variants; Alternative 4A, with a fill dock with a 600-ft-long 
face, and Alternative 4B with a pile-supported dock of about 350-by-60 
ft. Additionally, there are four potential road alignments. All options 
would include construction of a new road from Orca to Shepard Point and 
a new dock and staging area of 3.5 acres at Shepard Point. A new boat 
launch ramp would also be constructed to launch smaller boats and 
skiffs due to the distance of this location from existing boat launch 
ramps in Cordova. Dredging would not be required for Alternative 4.
    Alternative 4A, with the Inland Alternate Route road alignment, has 
been selected as the preferred alternative based on the key parameters 
of the purpose and need, and the characteristics of the various 
alternatives. In examining the characteristics of the alternative 
facilities, the BIA has identified Alternative 4 (Shepard Point) as the 
preferred alternative for the following reasons: 1) It meets the need 
established in the Alyeska Consent Decree for a deepwater, all-tide 
access, oil spill response facility, and 2) construction of the 
facility at Shepard Point provides natural deepwater access without 
initial or maintenance dredging (including disposal of dredged 
material) of a channel for all-tide access, as would be necessary for 
Alternatives 2, 3, and 5. In addition, construction and operation of a 
facility at Shepard Point would avoid adverse dock impacts associated 
with other alternatives, such as potential oil spill response conflicts 
with other uses and marine traffic in the existing harbor area, 
potential contamination associated with oiled vessels in the main 
harbor area, and impacts to existing recreation and tourism facilities. 
With regard to potential economic benefits, construction and operation 
of Shepard Point would provide road access to the existing Humpback 
Creek hydroelectric facility and, unlike other sites, has room for 
upland expansion of the staging area behind the dock. Finally, the 
funds allocated specifically for the Shepard Point alternative through 
the Alyeska Consent Decree and action by the Alaska Legislature would 
not be available for expenditure on other alternatives without approval 
of the Alaska Governor and Legislature.
    The access road that would accompany either Alternative 4A or 4B 
would be chosen from one of four proposed routes:
     Primary Alignment--The new, two-lane, unpaved access road 
to Shepard Point would start at Orca and continue approximately 4.4 
miles to Shepard Point. Bridges would cross Humpback Creek and Unnamed 
Creek. All other drainages along the route would be crossed using 
culverts. The new access road to Shepard Point would require 
approximately 350,000 cubic yards (cy) and 26 acres of fill below the 
high tide line.
     Upland Alternate Route (Road Option 1)--Road Option 1 
follows the Primary Alignment to mile 1.68, diverges from the coastline 
and follows a steep upland route for 1.27 miles, then returns to the 
Primary Alignment coastal route just prior to the Humpback Creek Bridge 
for the remaining 1.37 miles. Compared with the Primary Alignment, Road 
Option 1 would reduce fill by about 5.5 acres and 60,000 cy, but would 
require the excavation or clearing of an additional 6.0 acres of 
forest.
     Humpback Creek Alternate Bridge Site (Road Option 2)--This 
access road option would follow the same route as the Primary 
Alignment, except that the bridge crossing at Humpback Creek would 
occur in the upper delta, above the Primary Alignment bridge site. 
There would be little change in the length of the road from that of the 
Primary Alignment, but placement of fill in the Humpback Creek estuary 
would be eliminated and there would be a decrease in total tideland 
fill by approximately 0.7 acre. Much more rock excavation, however, 
would be necessary due to the Humpback Creek bridge approaches.
     Inland Alternate Route (Road Option 3) (Preferred Road 
Alignment)--This access road option follows the same route as the 
Primary Alignment to mile 1.68, then diverges from the coastline and 
follows a steep inland route, returning then to the Primary Alignment 
coastal route just north of the Humpback Creek Delta. In response to 
comments on the DEIS requesting reduced impacts associated with fill, 
the preferred road alignment has been redesigned for one-lane traffic, 
with pullouts in coastal areas requiring fill below the hide tide line. 
The inland road portions have steep grades where the road bypasses Orca 
Cannery by deviating inland and where the road deviates inland to avoid 
the Unnamed Creek and Humpback Creek estuaries; these sections would 
have two lanes to provide additional margins of safety and reliability. 
Compared with the Primary Alignment, Road Option 3 would reduce the 
fill below the high tide line by 15.1 acres and 190,000 cy, but would 
increase terrestrial habitat excavation and/or clearing by 11.0 acres.
    For Alternative 5, located at Orca, there are two design variants; 
Alternative 5A, which is a new facility with a fill dock with a 600-ft-
long face, and Alternative 5B, which is a new facility with a pile-
supported dock of about 350-by-60 ft. Alternative 5A would include 
construction of a new fill dock and an upland staging area at the Orca 
site, and would require Orca Cannery Road to be rerouted around the 
back of the staging area. For both of the dock design variants, the 
dock and 3.5-acre staging area would be used for storage of response 
equipment and for response operations.

Public Comment Availability

    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the BIA address shown above, during 
regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you 
wish to withhold your name and/or address from public review or from 
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this 
prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests 
will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will not, however, 
consider anonymous comments. All submissions from organizations or 
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be 
made available for public inspection in their entirety.

[[Page 77789]]

Authority

    This notice is published in accordance with Section 1503.1 of the 
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 
1508), implementing the procedural requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
and the Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the 
exercise of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs by 209 DM 8.1.

    Dated: December 18, 2006.
Michael D. Olsen,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
 [FR Doc. E6-22142 Filed 12-26-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-W7-P