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[Federal Register: September 10, 2004
(Volume 69, Number 175)]
[Notices]
[Page 54798-54799]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WO-350-1430-PN]
Notice of Availability of Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (DPEIS) on Wind Energy Development on BLM-Administered Lands
in the Western United States, Announcement of Public Review Period
AGENCY: Bureau
of Land Management.
ACTION: Notice of availability
of DPEIS, announcement of public review
period.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DPEIS) on
Wind Energy Development on BLM-Administered Lands in the Western United
States. The BLM has prepared this DPEIS to (1) assess the
environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with wind energy
development on public lands in 11 western states (excluding Alaska) and
(2) evaluate a number of alternatives to determine the best management
approach to mitigating potential impacts and facilitating wind energy
development.
DPEIS AVAILABILITY: The DPEIS
will be available on the Internet in a searchable and downloadable format (http://www.windeis.anl.gov).
The DPEIS also will be available
for review during normal business hours at BLM State Offices located in Arizona,
222 N. Central Ave., Phoenix; California, 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-1834, Sacramento;
Colorado, 2850 Youngfield St., Lakewood; Idaho, 1387 S. Vinnell Way, Boise;
Montana, 5001 Southgate Dr., Billings; Nevada, 1340 Financial Blvd., Reno; New
Mexico, 1474 Rodeo Rd., Santa Fe; Oregon, 333 SW 1st Ave., Portland; Utah, 324
South State St., Salt Lake City; and Wyoming, 5353 Yellowstone Rd., Cheyenne.
In addition, the DPEIS will be available for review at Argonne National Laboratory,
1200 Internationale Parkway, Woodridge, IL 60517, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m., except holidays. To ensure easy access to the document at Argonne's
offices, we ask that you contact the Document Retrieval Center at (630) 252-4587
prior to your visit. Visitors to Argonne will be escorted at all times and will
be issued a temporary badge; specific arrangements must be made for visitors
who are not U.S. citizens.
DATES: The public will have
90 days to review and comment on the DPEIS following
publication of the required EPA Notice of Availability.
ADDRESSES: You may submit
comments in writing by the following methods:
Via an electronic comment form on the project Web site: http://www.windeis.anl.gov.
By mail to: BLM Wind Energy Programmatic EIS, Argonne
National Laboratory EAD/900, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish BLM to withhold
your name or street address, except for the city or town, from public view or
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently
at the beginning of your written comment. We will honor requests to the extent
allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses,
will be available for public inspection in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For additional information, including information on how to comment, you may
contact Lee Otteni, Bureau of Land Management, Farmington Field Office, 1235
La Plata Highway, Suite A, Farmington, NM 87401, (505) 599-8911 or visit the
Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Web site at http://www.windeis.anl.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Wind energy development on BLM-administered
lands currently is managed in accordance with the terms and conditions
of the Interim Wind Energy Development Policy (Instruction Memorandum
2003-020), issued October 16, 2002. To further support wind energy
development on public lands and minimize potential environmental and
sociocultural impacts, the BLM is seeking to build upon the existing
interim policy to establish a Wind Energy Development Program. Three
alternatives were considered in the DPEIS: (1) The proposed action,
which would implement a Wind Energy Development Program, establish Best
Management Practices for wind energy authorizations, and amend a number
of BLM land use plans; (2) the no action alternative, which would allow
wind energy development under the existing terms and conditions of the
interim policy; and (3) a limited wind energy development alternative,
which would allow wind energy development only in selected locations.
The DPEIS was prepared in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701), as amended; the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321), as amended;
and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40 CFR
parts 1500-1508).
The BLM published a Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to Evaluate Wind Energy
Development on Western Public Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land
Management, on October 17, 2003 (Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 201).
This initiated a 60-day public scoping period that ended on December
19, 2003. Public scoping meetings were conducted in five locations
(Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Las Vegas, and Boise) in
November 2003. Written scoping comments were accepted by comment card,
mail, fax, and the project Web site (http://www.windeis.anl.gov). The
BLM published a scoping summary report
and made copies of the
individual letters, facsimiles, and electronic comments received during
scoping available on the project Web site.
The BLM seeks information and comments on the analysis of potential
impacts of wind energy development on public lands discussed in the
DPEIS and on the assessment of the management alternatives, in terms of
their effectiveness at mitigating potential impacts and facilitating
wind energy development. In particular, the BLM seeks comments on the
conclusion that the proposed action appears to provide the best
approach for managing wind energy development on BLM-administered
lands. The BLM also seeks additional data or information that would
improve the analysis in the DPEIS.
Ray Brady,
Group Manager, Lands and Realty.
[FR Doc. 04-20520 Filed 9-9-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P
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