[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 245 (Friday, December 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77832-77834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30101]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-920-08-5101-ER-J108; UTU-79766, NVN-82385]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for a Proposed Liquid Petroleum Products Pipeline from Woods 
Cross, UT, to Northeast Las Vegas, NV, and Draft Amendment of the Pony 
Express Resource Management Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 102 of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulations implementing the NEPA (40 CFR parts 
1500-1508), and applicable agency guidance, a Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (DEIS) and Draft Pony Express Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) amendment have been prepared in response to UNEV, LLC's right-of-
way (ROW) application to construct and operate a liquid petroleum 
products pipeline on public lands from Woods Cross, Utah, to northeast 
Las Vegas, Nevada.

DATES: This notice initiates a 90-day public comment period. During 
this period, the public is invited to submit comments on the DEIS and 
Draft Pony Express RMP Amendment to be considered in the development of 
the Final EIS and Record of Decision. To ensure comments will be 
considered, the BLM must receive written comments on the DEIS and Draft 
Plan Amendment within 90 days following the date the Environmental 
Protection Agency publishes a Notice of Availability in the Federal 
Register.
    Public meetings will be held in the following locations: Salt Lake 
City, Tooele, Delta, and Cedar City, Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Times 
and dates of these meetings will be announced through the Utah BLM Web 
site (http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/prog/more/lands_and_realty/major_projects/unev_pipeline_eis.html), press releases, local newspapers, 
and other local media. The BLM will announce public meetings and other 
opportunities to submit comments on this project at least 15 days prior 
to the event.
    Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, be advised that 
your entire comment--including your personal identifying information--
may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in 
your comment to withhold from public review your personal identifying 
information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    If you comment as or on behalf of an organization or business, BLM 
will release your comments to the public in their entirety, including 
all personal identifying information. The BLM will not consider a 
request from an organization or business, or anyone commenting on 
behalf of an organization or business to withhold any personal 
identifying information from release to the public.

ADDRESSES: Comments related to the DEIS should be mailed to Joe 
Incardine, National Project Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Utah 
State Office, P.O. Box 45155, Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0155. Comments 
may also be transmitted by facsimile to the attention of Joe Incardine 
at: (801) 539-4222, sent via e-mail to: [email protected], or hand delivered to: BLM Utah State Office, 440 West 200 
South, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah. E-mails should include ``UNEV 
Draft EIS'' in the subject line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Incardine at the BLM Utah State 
Office, P.O. Box 45155, Salt Lake City, UT

[[Page 77833]]

84145-0155; by phone: (801) 524-3833; or by e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: UNEV, LLC is seeking a ROW grant to install 
approximately 400 miles of 12-inch-diameter liquid petroleum products 
pipeline from Woods Cross, Utah, to Las Vegas, Nevada. The subsequent 
construction and operation of the liquid petroleum products pipeline 
and facilities would occur in Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Juab, Millard, 
Beaver, Iron, and Washington Counties in Utah and Lincoln and Clark 
Counties in Nevada to increase the capacity and improve the efficiency 
of the fuel delivery system into Southern Utah and the Las Vegas, 
Nevada, area. The pipeline would be available to accept shipments of 
refined products from multiple refineries in the Salt Lake City, Utah, 
area, as well as refineries in Wyoming and Montana.

UNEV's ROW Application

    UNEV has filed its ROW application to respond to the high 
population growth and increasing demand for petroleum products for the 
benefit of Utah and Nevada's existing and future petroleum products 
consumers, while balancing the needs of resources and other public 
interests in the area. Its pipeline is designed to:
     Follow the recommendation of the Clark County Blue Ribbon 
Commission to Improve the Reliability of Southern Nevada's Fuel Supply 
to provide a new petroleum products pipeline to Las Vegas from a source 
outside of California.
     Increase the capacity of the fuel delivery system into 
southern Utah and Nevada to address private, commercial, industrial, 
and military demand for refined fuel products.
     Enhance the reliability and efficiency of the current fuel 
delivery system for multiple refineries in the Salt Lake City area.

Pipeline Routes

    UNEV proposes to install a 12-inch, welded steel, common carrier 
mainline pipeline for refined liquid petroleum products such as 
multiple grades of gasoline and diesel fuel. The pipeline would extend 
approximately 399 miles from a cluster of five refineries in the North 
Salt Lake City area, including Holly Corporation's Woods Cross 
Refinery, to the Apex Industrial Park northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. A 
10-inch service line to the Salt Lake International Airport would 
extend 2.4 miles from the mainline at milepost (MP) 4.5. An 8-inch 
lateral pipeline would extend approximately 9 miles from the mainline 
at MP 256 to the proposed Cedar City Terminal. The project would 
include an inlet pumping station at the origin; a pressure reduction 
station at a lateral terminal northwest of Cedar City, Utah; a pressure 
reduction site at MP 355.5, and a receiving terminal near Las Vegas. 
The proposed pipeline route would generally travel west past the Salt 
Lake International Airport to Lake Point, Tooele County, and then south 
through Tooele Valley. The route would continue south passing near the 
communities of Delta and Milford, Utah, and 20-30 miles west of Cedar 
City and St. George, Utah, before arriving at Apex in Nevada. The 
southern third of the utility corridor (from MP 250 to the Las Vegas 
Terminal) contains two natural gas pipelines owned by Kern River Gas 
Transmission Company, the most recent of which was completed in 2003.
    The Airport alternative route is 3.35 miles long and would diverge 
from the proposed alignment at MP 6.6 and rejoin it at MP 10. At MP 6.6 
the alternative alignment would continue west on the west side of the 
airport but within property owned by the Blackhawk Duck Club. This 
alternative was developed to address concerns from local duck clubs.
    The Tooele County alternative route was developed to address 
concerns of the Tooele County Commission regarding the proposed route 
along the eastern side of the northern Tooele Valley from approximately 
MP 25.3 (near Lake Point) to MP 38.7 (north of the Tooele Ordinance 
Depot). The alternative route would split from the proposed route near 
Lake Point and run west southwest, crossing State Highway 36, 
proceeding southwest and along the north side of State Highway 138, 
north of the Tooele Airport. The route would cross the highway along 
the east side of Sheep Lane where the route would head south, running 
east of the Miller Motor Sports Park. Near the south end of the Park, 
the route would turn southeast and parallel an abandoned railroad ROW. 
The alternative route would run southeast and then curve south to 
rejoin the proposed UNEV route south of the crossing of State Highway 
112.
    The Rush Lake alternative route in Tooele County was developed to 
address concerns of the Salt Lake Field Office about an area having 
possible soil contamination within the Jacob Smelter Superfund Site OU2 
Boundary, as well as to address the building of the proposed pipeline 
within wetlands adjacent to Rush Lake which are frequently inundated. 
This alternative departs from the proposed route alignment at the 
northern end of Rush Lake east of Stockton, Utah, and parallels the 
proposed alignment approximately 0.25 mile to the west. It would rejoin 
the proposed route at approximately MP 49.
    The Millard County alternative route was developed to reduce 
impacts to private land owners that would result from the proposed 
alignment between MP 132.5 to MP 143.2. This alternative pipeline 
alignment would be located west of Lynndyl and Delta, Utah, and would 
split from the proposed route near MP 110, continue west around Delta, 
and tie back into the original route at approximately MP 161. This 
alternative route is approximately 63 miles long.

Draft RMP Amendment

    The proposed pipeline ROW alignment would fall outside of current 
utility corridors designated by the BLM in the Pony Express RMP. For 
the project to be in compliance with the Pony Express RMP, this RMP 
would need to be amended to designate a new utility corridor. The DEIS 
addresses the establishment of a new utility corridor that would 
accommodate the proposed pipeline ROW.
    The planning issues for the draft RMP amendment include:
     Access to and transportation on the public lands.
     Wildlife habitat and management of summer and winter 
ranges and migration corridors for antelope, mule deer, and elk.
     Cumulative effect of land uses and human activities on 
Threatened, Endangered, Candidate, and Sensitive species and their 
habitats.
     Vegetation, including impacts of invasive non-native 
species.
     Management of cultural and paleontological resources, 
including National Historic Trails.
     North Oquirrh Management Area.
     Visual Resource Management.
     Air and water quality.
     Sociology and economics.
    The planning criteria for the draft RMP amendment include:
     Recognize valid existing rights.
     Comply with laws, regulations, executive orders and BLM 
supplemental program guidance.
     Comply with the Endangered Species Act and follow 
interagency agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
regarding consultation.
     Ensure, within applicable laws and policies, that 
management prescriptions and planning actions complement those of 
neighboring federal, tribal, state, county and municipal planning 
jurisdictions.
     Coordinate with Indian Tribes to identify sites, areas and 
objects

[[Page 77834]]

important to their culture and religious heritage.
     Evaluate cultural and paleontological resources for 
possible interpretation, preservation, conservation and enhancement.
     Management decisions will consider a reasonable range of 
alternatives that focus on the relative values of resources and ensure 
responsiveness to the issues. Management prescriptions will reflect 
multiple use resource principles.
     Address the social and economic impacts of the 
alternatives.
     Include management direction for public lands managed by 
BLM.
     Provide for public safety and welfare.

Selma Sierra,
State Director.
 [FR Doc. E8-30101 Filed 12-18-08; 8:45 am]
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