Comment Response

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a minimum 45-day comment period for public review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  NEPA also requires the federal agency preparing the EIS to respond to each comment, and these responses have been printed in Appendix F of the Final EIS. 

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was made available for public review and comment on June 22, 2007.  The BLM Nevada Groundwater Projects Office chose to hold a 60-day comment period, which began on June 22, 2007 and extended through Monday, August 20, 2007.    An official comment form was available on this website; however, comments were not required to be submitted on any particular form.  Written comments were accepted through any of the following methods:

• Submitted at the public meetings
• Submitted via mail to Penny Woods, Project Manager, BLM Nevada Groundwater Projects Office, P.O. Box 12000, Reno, NV 89520
• Submitted via Fed-Ex to Penny Woods, Project Manager, BLM Nevada Groundwater Projects Office, 1340 Financial Blvd, Reno, NV 89502).  
• Submitted via fax (775-861-6689)
• Submitted via e-mail to nvgwprojects@blm.gov

The BLM received 19 comments during hte public comment period.  These comments have been addressed in Appendix F of the Final Environmental Impact Statement.  The BLM strives to disclose all of the information relating to the project, adequately evaluate the environmental impacts to the project and address concerns of the public brought up during scoping, and to create protective mitigation measures within the jurisdiction of the BLM that will be required if the right-of-way is granted.  Substantive comments assist the BLM in meeting these goals, making improvements to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, and ultimately producing a quality document.

NEPA requires the BLM to publish written comments submitted during the public comment period as an appendix to the Final Environmental Impact Statement.  The official comment form included a box at the top of the form that must be checked for BLM to withhold the name and address of the commenter; comments not submitted on an official comment form must have included a statement indicating that the commenter wanted his/her name and address withheld. Commenters should be aware that the Environmental Impact Statement and all of the materials associated with it are public documents that are subject to the Freedom of Information Act.  While commenters can ask us to withhold personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.  However, if this was indicated on the comment form, only the text of the comment has been published in the Final EIS.