Notice of Availability and Extension of Comment Period 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, NV

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-030-1492-00]

Notice of Availability and Extension of Comment Period 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, NV

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

Air Station Fallon, Nevada, Department of the Navy.

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.

ACTION: Notice of availability and extension of comment period of a

draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Naval Air Station

Fallon's proposed Fallon Range Training Complex Requirements.

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

Policy Act (NEPA) and 40 CFR 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. The original

Notice of Availability was published by the Environmental Protection

Agency and the BLM in the Federal Register on August 13, 1999 and

provided for a 60-day comment period with comments due on October 13,

1999. Five public hearings to receive comments on the Draft EIS were

conducted in Eureka, Austin, Gabbs, Fallon, and Reno, NV in September,

1999.

DATES: Comments will be accepted until November 12, 1999.

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

[[Page 56362]]

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.-5:00 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. This Draft EIS analyzes the environmental

impacts associated with the proposed action, three action alternatives,

and the no action alternative.

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 extended 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: October 13, 1999.

Karl Kipping,

Associate Manager, Carson City Field Office.

[FR Doc. 99-27271 Filed 10-18-99; 8:45 am]

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