Notice of Availability for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Bureau of Land Management Carson City and Battle Mountain, Nevada Field Offices and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

[NV-030-1492-00]

Notice of Availability for the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement, Bureau of Land Management Carson City and Battle Mountain,

Nevada Field Offices and Department of the Navy, Naval Air Station

Fallon, Nevada

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior and Naval

Air Station Fallon, Nevada, Department of the Navy.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact

statement (EIS) for the Naval Air Station Fallon's proposed Fallon

Range Training Complex Requirements.

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Cooperating Agencies

Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Yomba Shoshone Tribe,

Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Walker River Paiute Tribe, Nevada

Division of Wildlife, Eureka, Lander, and Churchill County Commissions,

and Kingston Town Board.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102 (2) (C) of the National Environmental

Policy Act (NEPA) and 40 CFR parts 1500-1508 Council on Environmental

Quality Regulations (CEQ), notice is given that the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) Carson City and Battle Mountain, Nevada Field Offices

and the Department of the Navy (Navy) Naval Air Station Fallon have

jointly prepared, with the assistance of a third-party consultant, a

Draft EIS on the proposed Fallon Range Training Complex Requirements,

and has made the document available for public and agency review.

DATES: Comments will be accepted until October 13, 1999. Oral and/or

written comments may also be presented at five public hearings, to be

held:

September 8, 1999 (7-9pm)--Eureka Opera House, Eureka, NV

September 9, 1999 (7-9pm)--Austin Town Hall, Austin, NV

September 21, 1999 (7-9pm)--Gabbs Recreation Hall, Gabbs, NV

September 22, 1999 (7-9pm)--Fallon Convention Center, 100 Campus Way,

Fallon, NV

September 23, 1999 (7-9pm)--BLM Nevada State Office, 1340 Financial

Blvd, Reno, NV

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: Bureau of Land Management,

Carson City Field Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, Carson City, NV 89701,

Attn: Terri Knutson, Project Manager. Comments may also be sent via

electronic mail to the following address: [email protected] or via

fax: (775) 885-6147. A limited number of copies of the Draft EIS may be

obtained at the above BLM Field Office in Carson City, NV, as well as,

BLM Battle Mountain Field Office, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, NV

89820. In addition, the Draft EIS is available on the internet via the

Carson City Field Office Home Page at: www.nv.blm.gov/carson.

Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be

available for public review at the above address during regular

business hours (7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except

holidays, and may be published as part of the EIS. Individual

respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your

name or street address from public review or from disclosure under the

Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the

beginning of your written comment. However, we will not consider

anonymous comments. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed

by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, will be made available for public

inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terri Knutson, Carson City BLM, at

(775) 885-6156 or Gary Foulkes, Battle Mountain BLM, at (775) 635-4060,

or Larry Jones, NAS Fallon, at (775) 426-2405.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Naval Air Station Fallon completed the

Fallon Range Training Complex Requirements Document in November 1998

which identifies and updates Navy training on public and Navy-owned

lands in central Nevada. The requirements document

[[Page 44236]]

includes: Electronic Warfare, Airspace, Target Complex (B-16, B-17, B-

19, B-20), Tracking/Communications, and Land Training.

This Draft EIS analyzes the environmental impacts associated with

the proposed action, three action alternatives, and the no action

alternative. Issues and resources analyzed in the Draft EIS include

land use, airspace use, biological resources, geology, soils, and

minerals, water resources, cultural resources, Native American

Religious Concerns, visual resources, Environmental Justice and

socioeconomics, recreation, grazing, wild horse and burros, air

quality, noise, public safety and hazardous materials.

Public participation has occurred during the EIS process. A Notice

of Intent was filed in the Federal Register on December 21, 1998, and

an open scoping period was held until February 1999. Four public

scoping meetings to solicit comments were held in January 1999 in

Eureka, Austin, Fallon, and Reno, Nevada. All comments presented to the

BLM and Navy throughout the EIS process have been considered.

To assist the BLM and Navy in identifying and considering issues

and concerns regarding the proposed action and alternatives, comments

on the Draft EIS should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful

if comments refer to specific pages or chapters in the document.

Comments may address the adequacy of the Draft EIS and/or the merits of

the alternatives formulated and discussed in the document.

After the comment period ends for the Draft EIS, comments will be

analyzed and considered jointly by the BLM and the Navy in preparing

the Final EIS.

Dated: July 29, 1999.

John Singlaub,

Manager, BLM Carson City.

Dated: July 28, 1999.

RADM T.R. Beard,

Commander, Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center Fallon.

[FR Doc. 99-20625 Filed 8-12-99; 8:45 am]

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