G. Antolini and Son, Colson Quarry Operations

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

G. Antolini and Son, Colson Quarry Operations

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA and Pacific Unified School District.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS), as required by the National Environmental Quality Act

(NEPA). The proposed project is to evaluate a 10-Year Plan of

Operations submitted by G. Antolini and Son for continuing quarrying

operations at the Colson Quarry. The quarry is located on the Santa

Lucia Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest, Santa Barbara

County, California. The proposal could result in the approval of the

proposed Operating Plan and the issuance of a Contract for the Sale of

Mineral Materials to G. Antolini and Son. Operating period could be for

as little as five years or as long as ten years. Proposed operating

volume is an annual maximum of two thousand tons.

DATES: Any new information or issues regarding this analysis will be

accepted on or before February 23, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments concerning new information or issues

related to this analysis to Dennis Cooper, Lands and Minerals

Assistant, 1616 Carlotti Drive, Santa Maria, California, 93454.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions about the proposed action should be directed to Dennis

Cooper, Lands and Minerals Assistant, 1616 Carlotti Drive, Santa Maria,

California, 93454, telephone (805) 925-9538.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project has been proposed by G. Antolini

and Son, in order to continue quarrying operations inside approximately

fifty acres of National Forest System lands on the Los Padres National

Forest. The proposed operation would involve additional open-pit mining

of decorative building stone from approximately eighteen acres of

National Forest System lands. The remaining thirty-two acres is divided

into sixteen acres for support facilities and sixteen acres for old

waste dumps. Disposal of mine wastes would be inside of the existing

quarry area. Annual volume of stone removed from the quarry would not

exceed 2000 tons per year. Proposed project is for a total of ten

years.

The original proposal by G. Antolini and Son resulted in the

preparation of an environmental assessment for the proposed action and

four alternatives. The four alternatives included ``No Action'' and

three alternatives that would allow quarrying operations. The three

operating alternatives vary in the amounts of Forest land that would be

disturbed, the different operating requirements and/or the lengths

imposed on the total operating time. Based on agency scoping and issues

related to reclamation and the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act

[SMARA] (California Public Resources Code 2710 et seq.), it was

determined that an environmental impact statement would be required.

The project will require G. Antolini and Son to submit to the

Resource Management Department, Santa Barbara County, California, a

Reclamation Plan as per SMARA. Any decision to approve the proposed

Operating Plan would be in accordance with Forest Service rules and

regulations for the disposal of mineral materials as found at 36 CFR

228.40 through 228.67 and the regulations contained in SMARA. The

County of Santa Barbara, California, as per the October 1992 Memorandum

of Understanding between the State of California, Department of

Conservation and the State Mining and Geology Board, the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region,

and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management,

California, will be accepting the final EIS as a functionally

equivalent document to meet their requirements under SMARA.

In an effort to inform and to seek new information, comments and

assistance during the original scoping period, the Santa Lucia Ranger

District, Los Padres National Forest, formally contacted ninety-two

Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals and

organizations who potentially were interested in or were affected by

the proposed action in December 1992. An additional twenty-four

potentially interested individuals were formally contacted in January

1993. A total of seven written responses were received by the Forest

Service. This input was used to determine the scope of the document and

to validate the range of alternatives. The final phase of the public

involvement process will be the request for public comments on the

draft EIS.

Preliminary issues which have been identified are: visual viewshed,

cultural and paleontological resource impacts, slope stability,

rehabilitation and reclamation of the mine and all of the associated

area, impacts to water quality, impacts to air quality, noise

pollution, additional traffic and the need for road maintenance,

impacts to the biological resources, and socioeconomic effects.

The responsible official for the Forest Service and the NEPA

process is Kathryn J. Silverman, District Ranger, Santa Lucia Ranger

District, 1616 Carlotti Drive, Santa Maria, California, 93454.

The decision to be made by the District Ranger is whether or not to

approve the proposed 10-Year Plan of Operations for the Colson Quarry,

as submitted by G. Antolini and Son, or to select another alternative

for management of the current quarry and the associated National Forest

System lands.

The estimated date for completion of the DEIS is February 22, 1994.

The estimated date for completion of the final EIS is April 14, 1994.

The comment period of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement will

be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes

the notice of availability in the Federal Register.

The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is importation

to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public

participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of

draft environmental impact statements 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, U.S. 519, 553

(1978). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the

draft environmental impact stage but that are not raised until after

completion of the final environmental impact statement may be waived or

dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F. 2nd 1016, 1022

(9th Cir. 1986) and Western 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 available to the Forest Service at a time when it can

meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the environmental

impact statement.

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

environmental impact statement or the 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.

Dated: January 12, 1994.

Kathryn J. Silverman,

District Ranger.

[FR Doc. 94-1525 Filed 1-21-94; 10:00 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M