[Federal Register: May 15, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 93)]
[Notices]
[Page 22960-22961]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15my09-93]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLUT01000-09-L51010000-ER0000-24-1A00]
Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement
for the Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project and Draft Pony
Express Resource Management Plan Amendment, Utah
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for
the Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project and Draft Pony
Express Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and by this Notice is
announcing the opening of the comment period.
DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project
DEIS within 90 days following the date the Environmental Protection
Agency publishes a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The
BLM will announce future meetings or hearings and any other public
involvement activities at least 15 days in advance through the Utah BLM
Web site (http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/salt_lake/planning/mona_to_oquirrh_transmission.html), public notices, media news releases, and/
or mailings.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: UT_M2OTL_EIS@blm.gov.
Fax: (801) 977-4397 or (435) 743-3135.
Mail: Mike Nelson, Realty Specialist, BLM Salt Lake Field
Office, 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84119, or Clara
Stevens, Realty Specialist, BLM Fillmore Field Office, 35 East 500
North, Fillmore, UT 84631.
Copies of the Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project DEIS
are available in the Salt Lake Field Office and Fillmore Field Office
at the above addresses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mike Nelson at the BLM Salt Lake Field Office, 2370 South
2300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84119; by phone: (801) 977-4300; or
Clara Stevens at the BLM Fillmore Field Office, 35 East
500 North, Fillmore, UT 84631; by phone: (435) 743-3100.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Rocky Mountain Power has submitted a right-
of-way application for a double-circuit 500/345 kilovolt (kV)
transmission line from the existing Mona Substation, located in Juab
County, to the existing Oquirrh Substation and Terminal Substation
located in Salt Lake County, Utah. The Mona to Oquirrh Transmission
Corridor Project also includes the siting of two new future substations
and a Salt Lake Field Office (SLFO) Pony Express RMP Amendment for
utility corridors. The corridor to be established by this amendment
would be wide enough to accommodate potential future utility rights-of-
way, including a possible second future double-circuit 500kV line, if
and when needed. The estimated length of the proposed transmission line
route is approximately 140 miles. A right-of-way of up to 300 feet in
width would be required to construct, operate, and maintain the
transmission line and structures. The proposed project would take
approximately 18 months to construct.
To simplify the analysis of alternatives, the project area has been
divided into three major areas: (1) From the future Mona Annex
Substation to the future Limber Substation, (2) from the future Limber
Substation to the existing Oquirrh Substation, and (3) from the future
Limber Substation to the existing Terminal Substation.
Mona Annex to Limber: There are six alternative transmission line
routes that connect the future Mona Annex Substation to the future
Limber Substation with a double-circuit 500kV transmission line,
ranging from 65.3 to
[[Page 22961]]
67.7 miles in length. The routes cross portions of Juab, Utah and
Tooele Counties.
Limber to Oquirrh: There are six alternative transmission line
routes that connect the future Limber Substation to the existing
Oquirrh Substation with a double-circuit 345kV transmission line,
ranging from 28.9 to 49.0 miles in length. The routes cross portions of
Tooele and Salt Lake Counties.
Limber to Terminal: There are two alternative transmission line
routes that connect the future Limber Substation to the existing
Terminal Substation with a double-circuit 345kV transmission line,
ranging from 40.0 to 45.1 miles in length. The routes cross portions of
Tooele and Salt Lake counties.
The proposed transmission line(s) right-of-way (ROW) alignment
would fall outside of current utility corridors designated by the BLM
in the SLFO Pony Express RMP. For the project to be in conformance with
the Pony Express RMP, this RMP would be amended to designate a new
utility corridor. The DEIS addresses the establishment of a new utility
corridor that would accommodate the proposed transmission line ROW.
The planning issues for the RMP amendment include:
Access to and transportation on the public lands.
Existing and planned land uses, including recreation,
transportation, agriculture, grazing, rights-of-way, and other
authorized land uses.
Wildlife habitat and management of summer and winter
ranges and migration corridors for antelope, mule deer, and elk.
Cumulative effects of land uses and human activities on
threatened, endangered, candidate, and sensitive species and their
habitats.
Vegetation, including impacts of invasive non-native
species.
Cultural, historic and paleontological resources and
tribal values.
Management objectives in the North Oquirrh Management
Area.
Visual resource management.
Air, soil, and water resources.
Sociology and economics.
Human health and safety.
An interdisciplinary approach was used to develop the DEIS, in
order to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns
identified. An amendment to the Pony Express RMP would be based upon
the following planning criteria:
The amendment will be completed in compliance with the
Federal Land Policy Management Act, NEPA, and all other relevant
Federal law, Executive Orders, and management policies of the BLM;
Where existing planning decisions are still valid, those
decisions will remain unchanged and be incorporated into the new
amendment; and
The amendment will recognize valid existing rights.
Please note that public comments and information submitted
including names, street addresses, and e-mail addresses of respondents
will be available for public review and disclosure at the above address
during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 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.
Selma Sierra,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E9-11297 Filed 5-14-09; 8:45 am]
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