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Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Baker County, Oregon; North Fork Burnt River Mining

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: February 21, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 34)]
[Notices]
[Page 7855-7856]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21fe07-15]

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Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Baker County, Oregon; North Fork
Burnt River Mining

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplement to a final
environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service will prepare a supplemental
environmental impact statement (SEIS) to address the order of Judge
Paul Papak, United States District Court, District of Oregon (Hells
Canyon Preservation Council, and Northwest Environmental Defense Center
v. Richard J. Haines, Steve Ellis, and United States Forest Service,
August 4, 2006). Specifically the court found that the April 2004 North
Fork Burnt River Final Environmental Impact Statement was deficient
because the Agency: (1) Did not require a certificate of compliance
under 33 U.S.C. 1341(a)(1), also referred to as 401 under the Clean
Water Act, prior to approvals of the Plans of Operations, (2) failed to
ensure that authorized mining activities will comply with 313 of the
Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1323(a), on the 303(d) listed waters for
water-quality limited for sedimentation, (3) failed to adequately
analyze the selection of buffer widths for the riparian habitat
conservation areas (RHCAs) and as such is inconsistent with INFISH
standard MM-1, (4) failed to adequately analyze the necessity of new
roads and whether alternatives exist and to provide specific assurances
that the new road construction will comply with INFISH standard MM-2,
(5) incorrectly determined that settling ponds are not structures
subject to INFISH standard MM-2 and therefore failed to perform the
required analysis under MM-2 as to alternative locations; and (6)
failed to adequately analyze whether mining and private property access
needs, administrative use and needs of other forest users are warranted
exceptions to the open-road density guidelines of the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest Land Management Plan.
    The SEIS will provide additional information and analysis to
address the deficiencies noted by the court in the 2004 FEIS, and
record the analysis of a proposed non-significant project-specific
amendment to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest's Land and Resource
Management Plan (LRMP) to change Standard #12 and Standard
#13 for Management Area 1(LRMP pg. 4-58), and Standard
#9 for Management Area 3, 3a (LRMP pg. 4-62) to reflect a more
realistic and achievable open road density for these management areas
in subwatersheds 83B, 83C, 83D, 83E, 83F and 83G within the North Fork
Burnt River Mining planning area in light of the current and projected
land uses and management activities for the foreseeable future.

DATES: Comments on the scope of the analysis must be postmarked by
April 6, 2007, and should be addressed to the Responsible Official below.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions to Steve Ellis, Forest
Supervisor, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, PO Box 907, Baker City,
OR, 97814, or fax comments to (541) 523-1315. Written comments may be
delivered to the office in Baker City, at 1550 Dewey Avenue during
normal business hours, up through 5 p.m. April 6, 2006.

Electronic Comments: Comments may also be e-mailed to: 
comments-pacificnorthwest-wallowa-whitman-whitmanunit@fs.fed.us, by
5 p.m. April 6, 2007. Those submitting electronic copies must do so only to
the e-mail address listed above, must put the project name in the subject
line, and must either submit comments as part of the e-mail message or
as an attachment only in one of the following three formats: Microsoft
Word, rich text format (rtf) or Abobe Portable Document Format (pdf).
E-mails submitted to e-mail addresses other than the one listed above
or in other formats that those listed or containing viruses will be
rejected.
    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. 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. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be
aware that, under the 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 10
days.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination
in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color,
national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital
status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation,
genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or
part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance
program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with
disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program
information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact
USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a
complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil
Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or
call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal
opportunity provider and employer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sophia Miller, Interdisciplinary Team
Leader, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Wallowa Mountains Office,
88401 Hwy 82, Box A, Enterprise, OR, Phone: (541) 426-5540.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Scoping is not required for supplements to
environmental impact statements (40 CFR 1502.9(c)(4)). However, at
their discretion the Agency is inviting comments at this time. Comments
are sought to help the Agency identify specific information needs and
analytical methodologies necessary to fully address the court identified

[[Page 7856]]

deficiencies. For comments to be most useful, they should be as specific
as possible and submitted in writing by the date identified above.
    A notice will be prepared and circulated to affected Federal,
State, and local agencies, affected tribes and individuals and
organizations previously expressing an interest in the 2004 FEIS.
    The Forest Supervisor for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest is
the Responsible Official. The Responsible Official will decide whether
or not to (1) Incorporate the supplemental analysis into the FEIS, and
(2) amend the LRMP to change specific LRMP standards and guidelines for
open road densities in subwatersheds 83B, 83C, 83D, 83E, 83F and 83G
within the North Fork Burnt River Mining planning area.
    The Responsible Official will also document the decision and
reasons for the decision in the Record of Decision. This Record of
Decision will replace and supercede the vacated 2004 Record of Decision
for the North Fork Burnt River Mining FEIS. This decision will be
subject to Forest Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR part 215).

    Dated: February 13, 2007.
Steven A. Ellis,
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-750 Filed 2-20-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M

 
 

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