Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]

[Notices]

[Pages 25477-25478]

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[FR Doc No: 96-12661]

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Notices

Federal Register

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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules

or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings

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Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 21, 1996 /

Notices

[[Page 25477]]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact

statement on a proposal to construct, operate, and maintain a petroleum

pipeline across National Forest System lands.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received

in writing by June 21, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Michael Sieg, District Ranger, 6944

South 3000 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84121.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy Krebs, Project Leader, (801) 943-2763.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Anschutz Ranch East Pipeline, Inc. (AREPI)

has proposed construction of a 10-inch petroleum pipeline form Kimball

Junction in Summit County, Utah to North Salt Lake in Davis County,

Utah. The proposed buried pipeline would be approximately 27 miles long

with about nine miles of the pipeline on National Forest System lands

in Salt Lake County, Utah. The purpose of the pipeline is to provide

additional crude oil transportation capacity to five Salt Lake area oil

refineries. This new crude pipeline would transport Canadian crude that

would arrive at Kimball Junction through a series of existing and

proposed interstate and intrastate pipelines. It is also AREPI's intent

to install fiber optic cable in the pipeline trench both for pipeline

communication purposes and for future commercial sale of excess fiber

optic capacity.

Pipe corrosion protection, a communication system, pig launchers

and receivers, test leads, mainline sectionalizing valves and various

check valves are incorporated into the initial pipeline design for

pipeline protection, systems and pipe monitoring, and emergency

control. The pipeline would operate at a maximum pressure of 1,440 psi

and has a minimum operating life of 25 years. No pump stations are

proposed to be built within this pipeline segment. Initial pipeline

capacity is proposed to be 55,000 barrels per day with the capability

of increasing capacity to 70,000 barrels per day by adding a future

pump to an existing line near Coalville, Utah. The pipeline parallels

existing utility rights-of-way for most of its length. AREPI has

proposed initiation of construction in late summer of 1997.

Most of the proposed pipeline right-of-way lies within municipal

watersheds of northern Utah's Wasatch Mountains and within the

boundaries of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. In addition to Forest

Service approvals, a number of local and state governmental agencies

would be involved in permitting or regulating pipeline construction and

right-of-way reclamation and maintenance.

The Forest Service's decisions are whether or not to issue Special

Use Permits for the long-term operations and short-term construction

rights-of-way on National Forest System lands as proposed, with

modifications, or not at all taking into consideration the cumulative

environmental effects of the pipeline over its entire 27 miles.

The public scoping process will close June 24. Scoping Notices

describing the proposal, preliminarily identified issues, the Forest

Service decision to be made, interests of other local and state

government agencies, and opportunities for public participation was

mailed on May 20 to over 600 individuals, organizations, and agencies.

Public scoping meetings will be held May 30 at the Burns Fire Hall, 700

West Bitner Road, at Kimball Junction in Summit County and on June 12

at the Read Auditorium in Orson Spencer Hall, Central Campus Driver,

the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Both meetings begin at

6:30 p.m.

Preliminarily identified issues include potential effects to the

watershed, surface water quality, and culinary water supplies;

terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal species and their habitats;

cultural and historic resources; open space and visual quality; public

use areas and parks; existing and proposed hiking and biking trails;

public safety; anticipated future adjacent resident, commercial, and

business developments; and others. Alternatives may include adjustments

to the proposed right-of-way, various approaches to construction and

reclamation, exploring other transportation means such as increasing

capacity in existing lines, and no action. No action would preclude

construction of the proposed pipeline across National Forest System

lands.

In order to construct and operate the line, other permits, rights-

of-way, or regulatory approvals would have to be obtained by the

proponent from private and public landowners, and local governments

including the State of Utah, Summit County, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake

City, and the City of North Salt Lake. Public agencies with regulatory

authority over pipeline construction and approval have specifically

been invited by the Forest Service to participate in the NEPA process.

The public is invited to submit comments or suggestions to the

address above. The responsible official is Bernie Weingardt, Forest

Supervisor. A draft EIS is anticipated to be filed in December 1996 and

the final EIS filed in May 1997.

The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will

be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency's notice

of availability appears in the Federal Register. It is very important

that those interested in the proposed action participate at that time.

To be the most helpful, comments on the draft environmental impact

statement should be as specific as possible and may address the

adequacy of the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed

(see the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing

the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 40

CFR 1503.3).

In addition, Federal court decisions have established that reviews

of the 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 reviews' position and

contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,

553 (1978). Environmental objections that

[[Page 25478]]

could have been raised at the draft stage may be waived if not raised

until after completion of the final environmental impact statement.

City of Angoon v. Hodel, (9th Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages,

Inc. v. Harris, 490 F.Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for

this is to ensure 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.

Dated: May 14, 1996.

Robert Cruz,

Environmental Coordinator.

[FR Doc. 96-12661 Filed 5-20-96; 8:45 am]

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