[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54409-54411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25013]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLORV0000. L51010000. ER0000. LVRWH09H0480. 17XL5017AP. OROR065375. 
ID036029.HAG 17-0063]


Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Boardman 
to Hemingway Transmission Line Project and Approved Land-use Plan 
Amendments, Oregon

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Boardman to Hemingway 
Transmission Line Project (B2H Project) and Approved Land-use Plan 
Amendments of the Baker and Southeastern Oregon Resource Management 
Plans (RMPs). The ROD constitutes the BLM's final decision regarding: 
(1) Approval to grant a Right-of-Way (ROW) to Idaho Power Company to 
construct, operate and maintain an extra-high-voltage, alternating-
current transmission system; and (2) Amending portions of the BLM Baker 
and Southeastern Oregon RMPs.

[[Page 54410]]


DATES: This decision takes effect immediately.

ADDRESSES: The complete text of the ROD, along with the B2H Project 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and supporting documents, is 
available on the BLM Web site at http://www.boardmantohemingway.com/ 
Copies of the ROD will be placed in all involved BLM offices and, for 
public review, at the locations identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamara Gertsch, National Project 
Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Vale District Office, P.O. Box 655, 
Vale, OR 97918; telephone: (307) 775-6115; email: 
[email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf may call the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-
8339 to contact the above individual during normal business hours. The 
service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to assist you in 
leaving a message or question for the above individual. You will 
receive a reply during normal business hours.
    For information related to the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS) 
involvement in the B2H Project, contact: Arlene Blumton, USFS Project 
Lead, telephone: (541) 962-8522, email: [email protected]. The USFS 
will provide a mailing address in its Notice of Availability (NOA) of 
the B2H Project Final EIS and Proposed Land-use Plan Amendments, and a 
notice of the draft USFS Record of Decision will be published in the 
Baker City Herald shortly after the BLM ROD.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  Idaho Power Company filed with the BLM an 
application for a ROW grant to use BLM-managed lands to construct, 
operate, and maintain the B2H Project, which is an approximately 294-
mile-long overhead, single-circuit, 500-kilovolt (kV), alternating-
current electric transmission line with additional ancillary 
facilities. The B2H Project will connect the northern terminus, the 
Longhorn Substation proposed by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), 
which is approximately 4 miles northeast of the city of Boardman in 
Morrow County, Oregon, to the existing Hemingway Substation, which is 
near the city of Melba in Owyhee County, Idaho. When completed, the B2H 
Project will provide additional electrical load capacity between the 
Pacific Northwest Region and the Intermountain Region of Southwestern 
Idaho. The B2H Project also will alleviate existing transmission 
constraints and ensure that there is sufficient electrical capacity to 
meet present and forecasted customer needs as described in Idaho Power 
Company's 2015 Integrated Resource Plan (available online at https://www.idahopower.com/AboutUs/PlanningForFuture/irp/2015).
    The ROW width is 250 feet for its entire length, except for an 
approximately 7-mile section that will replace an existing 69-kV 
transmission line and will require a 90-foot-wide ROW within and 
parallel to the eastern boundary of the Naval Weapons Systems Training 
Facility, Boardman, as well as a 0.9-mile-long section that will 
require a 125-foot-wide ROW to relocate an existing 230-kV transmission 
line.
    Construction of the B2H Project will take 2 to 3 years and will 
consist of the following permanent facilities:
     A single-circuit 500-kV electric transmission line 
(including structures and conductors, as well as other associated 
facilities) between the proposed Longhorn Substation and the existing 
Hemingway Substation;
     Access roads and access-control gates;
     A communication regeneration site every 40 miles;
     Removal of approximately 7 miles of the existing Boardman 
to Tap 69-kV transmission line; and
     Rerouting 0.9 mile of the existing Quartz to Tap 230-kV 
transmission line.
    The BLM will issue a separate, short-term ROW grant for temporary 
facilities, including temporary access roads (if any), and geotechnical 
investigation (also analyzed in the Final EIS) for a period of 5 years.
    The BLM prepared an EIS in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to analyze the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative environmental impacts associated with the proposed action 
and the alternatives. The BLM also identified and considered mitigation 
measures in the EIS to address the environmental impacts of the B2H 
Project and proposed plan amendments.
    The ROD approved the Agency Preferred Alternative identified in the 
Final EIS. The BLM issued the ROD based on compliance with relevant 
laws, regulations, policies, and plans, including those guiding agency 
decisions that may have an impact on resources and their values, 
services, and functions.
    The ROD approving the ROW grant requires, among other things, that 
the applicant satisfy specific mitigation measures. In particular, the 
sequence of mitigation actions will be the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, 
minimize, or compensate) as identified by the White House Council on 
Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR 
1508.20). Siting and design of the B2H Project required the application 
of design features of the B2H Project for environmental protection. 
Additionally, selective mitigation measures and implementation plans 
have been developed to consider the full mitigation hierarchy to avoid, 
minimize, or compensate for residual impacts on important, scarce, or 
sensitive resources. The priority is to mitigate impacts at sites of 
B2H Project activity in conformance with the land-use plan goals and 
objectives through impact avoidance or minimization of the impact, 
including those measures described in laws, regulations, policies, and 
land-use plans. If these types of mitigation measures are not 
sufficient to ameliorate anticipated direct, indirect, and cumulative 
impacts, and if substantial or significant residual impacts remain on 
important, scarce, or sensitive resources, the BLM is requiring 
compensatory mitigation to reduce these residual impacts or meet 
applicable land-use plan goals and objectives, consistent with the 
requirements of NEPA, as well as the BLM's statutory obligations under 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Compensatory 
mitigation may be required for Greater sage-grouse, riparian 
conservation areas, cultural resources, and national historic trails. 
Based on the analysis in the Final EIS, the ROD also amends two BLM 
RMPs as follows:
     Baker RMP--modifies 23 acres of visual resource management 
(VRM) Class II to Class IV in Burnt River Canyon;
     Southeastern Oregon RMP--modifies 51 acres of VRM Class 
III to Class IV in the vicinity of the Oregon Trail--Birch Creek Area 
of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC); and
     Southeastern Oregon RMP--modifies 20 acres of VRM Class II 
to Class IV outside of and north of the Owyhee River below the Dam 
ACEC.
    The approved Land-use Plan Amendments specifically revise the RMPs 
to allow for the development of the B2H Project and ancillary 
facilities on land managed by the BLM. Consistent with NEPA, the BLM 
has integrated its land-use planning process with its evaluation of the 
B2H Project, including the scoping and public availability periods for 
the EIS. With approval of these Land-use Plan Amendments, the B2H 
Project will conform to the approved RMPs (43 CFR 1610.5-3).
    The evaluation of B2H Project compliance with Land and Resource

[[Page 54411]]

Management Plans will be described by the USFS in its NOA for the B2H 
Project Final EIS and Approved Land-use Plan Amendments and its draft 
USFS ROD to be issued for comment following the BLM ROD.
    Copies of the Final EIS and ROD are available for public review 
during normal business hours at the following locations in Oregon:

 Baker County Planning Department, 1995 Third St., Baker City
 Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St., Baker City
 BLM Baker Field Office, 3285 11th St., Baker City
 Boardman City Library, 200 S. Main St., Boardman
 Harney County Public Library, 80 W. D St., Burns
 Grant County Planning Department, 201 S. Humboldt St., Canyon 
City
 BLM Burns District Office, 28910 Hwy 20 W., Hines
 Hermiston Public Library, 235 E. Gladys Avenue, Hermiston
 Morrow County Planning Department, 205 NE. Third St., Irrigon
 Grant County Library, 507 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day
 La Grande Public Library, 2006 Fourth St., La Grande
 Union County Planning Department, 1001 4th St., Suite C, La 
Grande
 USFS Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Office, La Grande Ranger 
District, 3502 Highway 30, La Grande
 USFS Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Headquarters, 1550 Dewey 
Ave., Baker City
 Pendleton Public Library, 502 SW. Dorion Ave., Pendleton
 Umatilla County Planning Department, 216 SE. Fourth St., 
Pendleton
 BLM Prineville District Office, 3050 NE. 3rd St., Prineville
 Ontario Library, 388 SW. Second Ave., Ontario
 BLM Vale District Office, 100 Oregon St., Vale
 Malheur County Planning Department, 251 B St. W., Vale
 Oregon Department of Energy, 625 Marion St. NE., Salem
 North Powder City Library, 290 E. St., North Powder

    Copies of the Final EIS and ROD are available for public review 
during normal business hours at the following locations in Idaho:

 BLM Boise District Office, 3948 Development Ave., Boise
 Boise Public Library, 715 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise
 BLM Owyhee Field Office, 20 First Ave. W., Marsing
 Owyhee County Planning Department, 17069 Basey St., Murphy
 Nampa Public Library, 215 12th Avenue South Nampa, ID 83651
 Lizard Butte Library, 111 S 3rd Ave. W., Marsing

    On November 28, 2016, the NOA for the B2H Project Final EIS and 
Proposed Land-use Plan Amendments (81 FR 85632) was published in the 
Federal Register. The publication of the NOA initiated a 30-day protest 
period for the proposed land-use planning decision, as well as a 
simultaneous 60-day review by the Governor of Oregon to identify any 
inconsistencies with State or local plans, policies, or programs. At 
the close of the 30-day protest period, 53 protests were received. 
These protests were resolved by the BLM Director; individual protest 
response letters were sent to all protesting parties. Protest 
resolution is contained in the Director's Protest Summary Report, which 
is available online at http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/wo/en/prog/planning/planningoverview/protest_resolution.html. The proposed Land-
use Plan Amendments were not modified as a result of the protest 
resolution, and the Oregon Governor's review did not identify any 
inconsistencies.
    Approval of this decision by the Acting Assistant Secretary--Land 
and Minerals Management is not subject to administrative appeal (43 CFR 
4.410(a)(3)). Additionally, any challenge to this decision must be 
brought in Federal District Court and is subject to 42 U.S.C. 4370m-6.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6.

Jamie E. Connell,
State Director, Oregon/Washington.
[FR Doc. 2017-25013 Filed 11-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-33-P