[Federal Register: December 16, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 241)]
[Notices]
[Page 75292-75293]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16de04-23]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
[[Page 75292]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Upper Granite Mining Projects; Wallowa-Whitman National Forest,
Baker County, OR
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) on a proposed action to approve Proposed Plans of
Operations on mining claims located in the Granite Creek Watershed. The
project area is located on the Whitman Unit of the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest, approximately 30 miles west of Baker city, Oregon.
The proposed action is a compilation of plans submitted by
claimants operating within the analysis area. These plans describe the
type of mining operations proposed and how they would be conducted, the
type and standard of access routes, the means of transportation to be
used, the period during which the proposed mining activity will take
place and measures to be taken to meet the requirements for
environmental protection. Operations include the exploration and
extraction of valuable minerals from placer and lode deposits. Methods
range from hand panning to more complex operations utilizing mechanical
equipment. The 1990 Land and Resource Management Plan final EIS for the
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, as amended, provides overall guidance
for management of this area.
DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be
received within 30 days of the scoping letter postmark.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions to Richard Haines,
Whitman Unit Ranger, 3165 10th Street, Baker City, Oregon 97814.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sophia Millar, Interdisciplinary Team
Leader, Wallowa Mountains Office, Enterprise, OR, Phone: (541) 426-
5540.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area is within the boundary of
the Granite Creek Watershed. The legal description of the decision area
is as follows: T8-10S, R35E, 35-\1/2\E, 36E, W.M. surveyed.
The Oregon department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has listed
Beaver Creek, Bull Run Creek, and Granite Creek as water quality
impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. The Forest
Service has determined that mining operations have the potential to
affect water quality. Accordingly, the effects of new, existing, or
modified Plans of Operations prepared under regulations at 36 CFR 228.4
and 228.5, and 36 CFR 228 Subpart C, will be analyzed in this EIS.
Mining operations are associated with the extraction of precious
metals from placer and lode deposits. A number of different practices
are being proposed on the various claims within the analysis area.
These may include one or more of the following practices:
Test Pits: Holes are dug either by hand or mechanical equipment to
sample sub-surface deposits.
Drilling: Portable drills are used as part of the exploration
process to sample sub-surface mineral deposits.
Placer Mining: This includes a wide variety of practices to extract
minerals from placer deposits. The techniques include handwork with
shovels and pans, small sluice boxes and more complex operations that
use mechanical equipment. On the more heavily worked claims backhoes
and front end loaders are used for digging, and power trommels for
separation and extraction. Water, to varying degrees, is used in all
these techniques. Some minor road maintenance and maintenance of
existing structures is also planned.
Lode Mining: This includes tunneling or other mechanical methods
used to extract lode deposits.
Activities, which would occur in association with mining operation,
include mitigation practices such as construction or maintenance of
settling ponds, and reclamation activities such as recontouring,
seeding, and treatment of noxious weeds.
Road Construction: This includes construction of \1/2\ mile of road
to access an existing operation.
Preliminary issues include effects of proposed activities on--water
quality and fish habitat.
The Forest Service will consider a full range of alternatives,
including a ``no action'' alternative. The no-action alternative is
evaluated order to establish a baseline condition of existing and
future environmental conditions in the project area. Based on the
issues gathered through scoping, the action alternatives may vary in
the type of operations permitted, the timing of permitted operations
and the types of mitigation required. Action alternatives include--the
proposed mining activities and alternatives that modify the proposed
plans with additional mitigation to address effects of mining on water
quality and fisheries habitat.
Public participation will be especially important at several points
during the analysis, beginning with the scoping process (40 CFR
1501.7). This environmental analysis and decision making process will
enable additional interested and affected people to participate and
contribute to the final decision. The public is encouraged to take part
in the process and is encouraged to visit with Forest Service officials
at any time during the analysis and prior to the decision. The Forest
Service will be seeking information, comments. and assistance from
Federal, State, local agencies, tribes, and other individuals or
organizations that may be interested in, or affected by the proposal.
This input will be used in preparation of the draft EIS. The scoping
process includes: Identifying potential issues; identifying major
issues to be analyzed in depth; identifying issues which have been
covered by a relevant previous environmental analysis; considering
additional alternatives based on themes which will be derived from
issues recognized during scoping activities; and identifying potential
environmental effects of this project and alternatives (i.e. direct,
indirect, and cumulative effects and connected actions).
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available to the public for review by
May 2005. The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the
date the EPA publishes
[[Page 75293]]
the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. It is important
that those interested in the management of the Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest participate at that time.
Comments received in response to this notice, including names and
addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public
record on this proposed action and will be available for public
inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and
considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not have
standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR Parts 215.
Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request the
agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing how
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality.
Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that, under the
FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very limited
circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service
will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding the
request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a
specified number of days.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice, at this early stage, of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of
draft EIS's must structure their participation in the environmental
review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency
to the reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear
Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental
objections that could be raised at the draft EIS stage but that are not
raised until completion of the final EIS may be waived or dismissed by
the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 f. 2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir.
1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338
(E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, it is very important
that those interested in this proposed action participate by the close
of the 45-day comment period so that substantive comments and
objections are made available to the Forest Service at a time when it
can meaningfully consider and respond to them in the final EIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft
EIS or merits of the alternatives formulated and discussed in the
statement. (Reviewers may wish to refer to the Council on Environmental
Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the
National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these
points).
The final EIS is scheduled for completion July 2005. In the final
EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to comments and
responses received during the comment period that pertain to the
environmental consequences discussed in the draft EIS and applicable
laws, regulations, and policies considered in making a decision
regarding the proposal.
The Forest Service is the lead agency. The Whitman Unit Ranger is
the Responsible Official. The Responsible Official will decide which,
if any, of the proposed plans will be implemented. The Responsible
Official will also document the decision and reasons for the decision
in the Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest
Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR Part 215).
Dated: December 9, 2004.
Richard Haines,
Whitman Unit Ranger.
[FR Doc. 04-27526 Filed 12-15-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M