Moira Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Moira Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to provide timber for the

Ketchikan Area timber sale program. The Record of Decision will

disclose how the Forest Service has decided to provide harvest units,

roads, and associated timber harvesting facilities. The proposed action

is to harvest up to an estimated 435 million board feet (mmbf) of

timber on an estimated 3,000 acres in several timber sales. A range of

alternatives responsive to significant issues will be developed and

will include a no-action alternative. The proposed timber harvest is

located within Tongass Forest Plan Value Comparison Units 683, 691,

692, 693, and 694 on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, on the Craig

Ranger District of the Ketchikan Area of the Tongass National Forest.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of this project should be received

by July 30, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Forest Supervisor's Office;

Tongass National Forest, Ketchikan Area; Attn: Moira EIS; Federal

Building, Ketchikan, AK 99901.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS

should be directed to Dale Kanen, District Ranger, Craig Ranger

District, Tongass National Forest, P.O. Box 500, Craig, AK 99921;

telephone (907) 826-3271 or Norm Matson, Planning Biologist, Federal

Building, Ketchikan, AK 99901; telephone (907) 228-6273.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public participation will be an integral

component of the study process and will be especially important at

several points during the analysis. The first is during the scoping

process. The Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and

assistance from Federal, State, local agencies, individuals and

organizations that may interested in, or affected by, the proposed

activities. The scoping process will include: (1) identification of

potential issues; (2) identification of issues to be analyzed in depth;

and (3) elimination of insignificant issues or those which have been

covered by a previous environmental review. Written scoping comments

are being solicited through a scoping package that will be sent to the

project mailing list. For the Forest Service to best use the scoping

input, comments should be received by July 30, 1998. Tentative issues

identified for analysis in the EIS include the potential effects of the

project on and the relationship of the project to: Subsistence

resources, old-growth ecosystem management and the maintenance of

habitat for viable populations of wildlife and plant species, timber

supply, scenery and recreational resources, anadromous and resident

fish habitat, soil and water resources, wetlands, cultural resources

and others.

Based on results of scoping and the resource capabilities within

the project area, alternatives including a ``no action'' alternative

will be developed for the Draft Environmental Impact

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Statement (Draft EIS). The Draft EIS is projected to be filed with the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May 1999. Subsistence

hearings, as provided for in Title VIII, Section 810 of the Alaska

National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), are planned during

the comment period on the Draft EIS. The Final EIS is anticipated by

April 2000.

The comment period on 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 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 Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,

553 (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised at the

draft environmental impact statement stage may be waived or dismissed

by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 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 of the proposed action, comments during scoping and

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.

Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and

addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public

record on this proposed action and will be available for public

inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and

considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not have

standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR Parts 215 or

217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request

the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing

how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality.

Requesters should be aware that, under FOIA, confidentiality may be

granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade

secrets. The Forest Service will inform the requester of the agency's

decision regarding the request for confidentiality, and where the

request is denied, the agency will return the submission and notify the

requester that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and

address within 7 days.

Permits: permits required for implementation include the following:

1. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers

--Approval of discharge of dredged or fill material into the waters

of the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act;

--Approval of the construction of structures or work in navigable

waters of the United States under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors

Act of 1899;

2. Environmental Protection Agency

--National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (402) Permit;

--Review Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan;

3. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources

--Tideland Permit and Lease or Easement;

4. State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation

--Solid Waste Disposal Permit;

--Certification of Compliance with Alaska Water Quality Standard

(401 Certification)

Responsible Official

Bradley E. Powell, Forest Supervisor, Ketchikan Area, Tongass

National Forest, Federal Building, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901, is the

responsible official. The responsible official will consider the

comments, response, disclosure of environmental consequences, and

applicable laws, regulations, and policies in making the decision and

stating the rationale in the Record of Decision.

Dated: June 9, 1998.

Bradley E. Powell,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 98-16222 Filed 6-17-98; 8:45 am]

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