Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to Analyze and Disclose the Effects of a Proposal By Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc.; Meeting

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to Analyze

and Disclose the Effects of a Proposal By Tri-State Generation and

Transmission Association, Inc.; Meeting

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and

USDA Rural Utility Services to analyze and disclose the effects of a

proposal by Tri-State Generation & Transmission Assoc., Inc. to

construct a transmission line in Grand County, Colorado. The project

area includes portions of the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest and the

Kremmling Resource Area, Craig District, BLM.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis (issues,

preliminary alternatives, etc.) should be received by February 20,

1995. The public is invited to provide information concerning the

proposed project at a meeting to be held January 20, 1995, from 4:00

p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Fraser Elementary School, Fraser, Colorado.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments, suggestions and questions to George

Edwards, District Ranger, Sulphur Ranger District, 62429 U.S. Highway

40, P.O. Box 10, Granby, CO 80446.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions regarding the proposed action and environmental impact

statement should be directed to Sally Edwards, Project Facilitator,

phone (303) 229-9602. Note: after 4/95 the phone number will be (970)

229-9602.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Tri-State proposes to construct, operate,

and maintain a transmission line from the existing Fraser Substation

one mile west of Fraser, Colorado to an as yet undetermined existing

substation within a 15-20 mile radius of Fraser Substation. The project

is known as the Fraser Valley Loop Project and is located in Grand

County, Colorado.

The electric loads served from the Fraser Substation have grown to

a level where the consequences of a line outage are too great.

Presently, the Fraser Valley is served from a single 138-kV, 13 mile

transmission line. An outage of this facility could well affect over

6,000 customers in East Grand County and could last up to five days.

The purpose for constructing the Fraser Valley Loop Project is to

increase reliability of service to the customers served from the Fraser

Substation and minimize the consequences of the Windy Gap-Fraser 138-kV

line outage. A new transmission circuit will provide a second source of

electric power for Tri-State's member system Mountain Parks Electric,

Inc. (MPEI) and substantially increase capacity to service MPEI loads.

Tri-State has prepared a comprehensive Alternative Evaluation

report for the Rural Utility Services (formerly known as the Rural

Electrification Administration) which discusses in detail the purpose

and need [[Page 95]] and system alternatives being considered for the

project.

The Forest Service is serving as lead federal agency for the

preparation of an environmental impact statement which will evaluate

the purpose, need, and routing alternatives for the proposed project.

The decision to be made is whether to allow the use of portions of

Forest Service land and/or Public Land managed by the BLM for siting a

transmission line facility. The Forest Service has invited other

affected agencies to participate in the environmental process as

cooperating agencies including the USDI Bureau of Land Management; and

the USDA Rural Utility Services.

Preliminary issues associated with this proposal include effects on

visual resources, effects on public and private land use, coordination

with Grand County land use planning, potential effects of electro

magnetic fields, commitment of resources and demonstrated public safety

needs.

The Forest Service invites comments and suggestions on the scope of

the analysis to be documented in the draft environmental impact

statement. In addition, the Forest Service gives notice that it is

beginning a full environmental analysis and decision-making process for

this proposal so that interested or affected people may know how they

may participate in the environmental analysis and contribute to the

final decision. A public ``scoping'' meeting is scheduled for January

20, 1995 in Fraser, Colorado. The purpose of this workshop is to learn

what issues and concerns members of the public or interested agencies

have that are connected to the proposal and should be considered.

Knowledge of these issues and concerns will help establish the scope of

the Forest Service's environmental analysis and define the range of

alternatives to be considered. The Forest Service welcomes any public

comments on the proposal.

The responsible officials will be the Forest Supervisor, Arapaho

and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grasslands, 240 West

Prospect Road, Fort Collins, Colorado and District Manager, Craig

District, 455 Emerson Street, Craig, Colorado 81625.

It is anticipated the draft environmental impact statement will be

published in September, 1995 and the final environmental impact

statement in January, 1996.

The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will

be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

publishes the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register.

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

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 an agency to the reviewer's position and

contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation v. NRDC, 435 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 F2d

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 them and respond to

them in the final 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 of chapters of the

draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft

environmental impact statement or the merits of alternatives formulated

and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer to the

Council of Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the

procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40

CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points. Please note that comments you

make on the draft environmental impact statement will be regarded as

public information.

Date: December 27, 1994.

Eric L. Jensen,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 94-32259 Filed 12-30-94; 8:45 am]

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