[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 126 (Thursday, July 2, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31747-31748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15435]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Soboba Band of 
Luise[ntilde]o Indians' Proposed 534-Acre Trust Acquisition and Casino 
Project, Riverside County, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) as lead agency, with the Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o 
Indians (Tribe), City of San Jacinto and U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) as cooperating agencies, intends to file a Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) with the EPA for the Tribe's 
proposed 534.91 acre trust acquisition and subsequent 
construction of a hotel/casino project to be located within the City of 
San Jacinto, Riverside County, California, and that the DEIS is now 
available for public review and comment. This notice provides a 75-day 
public comment period and thereby grants a 30-day extension to the 
normal 45-day public comment period.

DATES: The DEIS will be available for public comment beginning July 2, 
2009. Written comments on the DEIS must arrive by September 15, 2009. A 
public hearing will be held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 starting at 6 
p.m. to 9 p.m. or until the last public comment is received.

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand-carry written comments to Dale Morris, 
Regional Director, Pacific Region, Bureau of Indian Affairs 2800 
Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825.
    The public hearing will be held at: Hemet Public Library, 2nd 
Floor, 300 E. Latham, Hemet, CA 92543
    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for locations where the DEIS will be 
available for review and instructions for submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Rydzik, (916) 978-6051.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o Indians 
(Tribe) has requested the BIA to acquire 34 parcels totaling 
534.91 acres of land currently held in fee by the Tribe 
into trust, of which the Tribe proposes to develop approximately 55 
acres into a destination hotel/casino complex. The Tribe proposes to 
relocate its existing casino, which presently resides on trust lands, 
to the project site. In addition to the fee-to-trust action and casino 
relocation, the proposed action also includes the development of a 300-
room hotel, casino, restaurants, retail establishments, a convention 
center, an events arena, and a spa and fitness center, within a 
729,500 square-foot complex. The proposed developments also 
include a Tribal fire station, and a 12-pump gas station with a 6,000 
square-foot convenience store.
    Approximately 300 acres (56 percent) of the project site is 
incorporated in the City of San Jacinto, California, while the 
remainder is within unincorporated Riverside County, California. The 
proposed hotel and casino complex would be generally located at the 
intersection of Soboba Road and Lake Park Drive and abut the existing 
Soboba Springs Country Club. Lake Park Drive may or may not be 
realigned as part of the proposed action contingent upon consultation 
with the City of San Jacinto.
    The BIA, serving as the lead agency for compliance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), published a Notice of Intent 
(NOI) to prepare the EIS for the proposed action in the Federal 
Register on December 14, 2007. The EPA and the City of San Jacinto have 
accepted invitations to be cooperating agencies, as entities having 
jurisdiction by law or special expertise relevant to environmental 
issues.
    BIA held a public scoping meeting on January 8, 2008, at the Hemet 
Public Library in Hemet, California. From that scoping meeting, a range 
of project alternatives were developed and subsequently analyzed in the 
DEIS, including: (1) Proposed Action A--Hotel/Casino Complex with 
Realignment of Lake Park Drive; (2) Proposed Action B--Hotel/Casino 
Complex without Realignment of Lake Park Drive; (3) Reduced Hotel/
Casino Complex; (4) Hotel and Convention Center (No Casino Relocation); 
(5) Commercial Enterprise (No Casino or Hotel); and (6) No Action 
alternative. Environmental issues addressed in the

[[Page 31748]]

DEIS include land resources; water resources; air quality; biological 
resources; cultural resources; economic and socioeconomic conditions; 
resource use patterns; public services; other values including noise, 
hazardous materials, and visual resources; cumulative effects; indirect 
effects; growth inducing effects; and mitigation measures.

Directions for Submitting Comments

    Please include your name, return address, and the caption: ``DEIS 
Comments, Soboba Band of Luise[ntilde]o Indians' Casino Project,'' on 
the first page of your written comments and submit comments to the BIA 
address listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

Public Availability of the DEIS

    The DEIS will be available for review at:
     The San Jacinto Public Library, 500 Idyllwild Dr., San 
Jacinto, CA 92583, telephone (951) 654-8635; and
     The Hemet Public Library, 2nd Floor, 300 E. Latham, Hemet, 
CA 92543, telephone (951) 765-2440.
The DEIS is also available on the following Web site: http://team.entrix.com/clientsite/soboba.nsf.
    To obtain a compact disk copy of the DEIS, please provide your name 
and address in writing to: Chief, Division of Environmental, Cultural 
Resource Management and Safety, Pacific Regional Office, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, 2800 Cottage Way, Room W 2820, Sacramento, CA 95825 or 
call the number listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this notice. Individual paper copies of the DEIS can be provided 
upon payment of the applicable printing cost for the number of copies 
requested.

Public Comment Availability

    Written comments, including the names and addresses of respondents, 
will be available for public review at the BIA address shown in the 
ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Before including your address, 
phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware 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 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Authority

    This notice is published pursuant to section 1503.1 of the Council 
of Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508) 
implementing the procedural requirements of the NEPA of 1969, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), Department of the Interior Manual 
(516 DM 1-6) and is in the exercise of authority delegated to the 
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.1.

    Dated: June 11, 2009.
Larry Echo Hawk,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. E9-15435 Filed 7-1-09; 8:45 am]
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