Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplement to a Final Environmental Impact Statement; Colorado and New Mexico

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

[CO-030-5101-00-YCKD; COC-51280]

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplement to a Final Environmental

Impact Statement; Colorado and New Mexico

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, USDI, and Forest Service, Department

of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice; Intent to prepare a supplement to a Final Environmental

Impact Statement; Notice of scoping with a public comment period.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act,

notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in

cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is initiating the

preparation of a Supplement (supplement) to the Final Environmental

Impact Statement (FEIS) for the TransColorado Gas Transmission Company

(TransColorado) pipeline project on federal lands in Colorado and New

Mexico. TransColorado is the proponent. Lands managed by the BLM in the

Montrose, Craig, and Grand Junction Districts in Colorado, and the

Farmington District in New Mexico, and the USFS in the Uncompahgre and

San Juan National Forests, Colorado, are crossed by the TransColorado

pipeline project. The supplement will address the environmental impacts

of the construction, operation, maintenance, and ultimate abandonment

of known proposed route changes and minor realignments (less than 100

ft.) of portions the approved pipeline and right-of-way (ROW) grant

COC-51280, and the impacts of the proposed construction and use of

known additional temporary work areas adjacent to the approved ROW or,

proposed ROW route changes or minor realignments. The supplement will

also address the impacts of the construction, operation, maintenance

and ultimate abandonment of several ROW route changes or realignments,

and the construction and use of several alternative temporary work

areas in unspecified locations. These unspecified temporary work areas

and ROW route changes or minor realignments will be addressed in the

supplement to accommodate conditions that might be encountered during

construction. Cumulative affects of potential future gas supply

facilities, such as gas supply pipeline laterals will be addressed. The

FEIS is not being re-opened nor re-analyzed, nor are the decisions in

the FEIS being reconsidered. Any comments addressing issues analyzed in

the FEIS will not be considered. Please focus any comments on the

proposed action of the supplement to the FEIS.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed action will be accepted until

December 15, 1997. The comment period on the draft supplement to the

FEIS will be 45 days from the notice of availability, published in the

Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Any comments relative to the proposed action described in

this notice should be sent to Bill Bottomly, TransColorado Project

Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Montrose District Office, 2465

South Townsend Avenue, Montrose, CO 81401.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bill Bottomly (970) 240-5337, Ilyse Auringer (970) 385-1341, or Steve

Hemphill (970) 874-6633.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: After preparing a Draft and Final

Environmental Impact Statement in 1992, the BLM and the USFS issued

Records of Decision on December 1, 1992, approving the authorization of

a

[[Page 62345]]

ROW grant and an adjacent Temporary Use Permit (TUP) for subsequent

construction, operation and maintenance of the 292 mile-long

TransColorado Gas Transmission pipeline from Meeker, Colorado to

Bloomfield, New Mexico. Under the authority of the Mineral Leasing Act

of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 185), as amended by the Act of November 16, 1973 (37

Stat. 567), the BLM issued a 50 foot-wide ROW grant on December 4,

1997, accompanied by a 25 foot-wide TUP, excepting 1.7 miles near Grand

Junction, Colorado. The FERC issued TransColorado a Certificate of

Public Convenience and Necessity on June 3, 1994. TransColorado

completed the 22.5 mile Phase I of the project in December, 1996. The

proponent is now prepared to construct the remainder of the pipeline

during 1998. TransColorado is requesting approval of additional

temporary work areas to construct the pipeline, and is requesting that

the existing ROW be amended to accommodate the proposed route changes

and minor realignments (less than 100 ft). Public meetings or open

houses may be conducted during the comment period to gather comments

from the public prior to preparation of the supplement. Public notice

of locations, dates, and times of any meetings to be held will be

provided. Maps and plats of the project are available for public review

at the following offices of the BLM and USFS: the Grand Junction

District Office, the Montrose District Office, the Grand Mesa/

Uncompahgre/Gunnison National Forest Office, the San Juan National

Forest/San Juan Resource Area office, and the Farmington District

Office. The level of public interest in the issues of the supplement to

the FEIS will determine if additional meetings will be held.

Dated: November 7, 1997.

Phillip W. Dwyer,

Assistant District Manager, Montrose District.

Dated: November 17, 1997.

Gloria Manning,

Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.

[FR Doc. 97-30663 Filed 11-20-97; 8:45 am]

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