[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 6, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 62625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21749]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service


Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Project

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Termination of Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), 
an agency delivering the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural 
Development, is terminating further preparation of an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission 
Project in Campbell and Sheridan Counties, Wyoming.
    The purpose of the EIS was to evaluate the potential environmental 
impacts of and alternatives to the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, 
Inc. (Basin Electric) application for a Rural Development loan 
guarantee to construct and operate a coal-fired electric generation 
facility referred to as the Dry Fork Station. Basin Electric did not 
request a loan guarantee from Rural Development for the Hughes 
Transmission Line, but it was being evaluated as a connected action for 
the EIS. Basin Electric withdrew their application to Rural Development 
on October 17, 2007.
    A Draft EIS was filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
on August 24, 2007, and notice of an extension of the public comment 
period to November 19, 2007, appeared in the Federal Register on 
October 17, 2007 (``Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period, Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement, Dry Fork Station and Hughes 
Transmission Line, Wyoming'', 72 FR 59071). Public hearings on the 
Draft EIS were held in Sheridan, Wyoming on September 25, 2007, and in 
Gillette, Wyoming on September 26, 2007.

ADDRESS AND FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For more information, contact: 
Richard Fristik, USDA, Rural Development, Utilities Programs, 1400 
Independence Avenue SW., Mail Stop 1571, Room 2240, Washington, DC 
20250-1571, telephone (202) 720-5093, fax (202) 690-0649, or e-mail: 
[email protected].

    Dated: October 31, 2007.
James R. Newby,
Assistant Administrator, USDA Rural Development, Utilities Programs.
 [FR Doc. E7-21749 Filed 11-5-07; 8:45 am]
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