58946 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 190 / Friday, October 1, 2004 / Notices 

Dated: September 24, 2004. 

Ian Senio, 

Bureau of Land Management, Information 

Collection Clearance Officer.

[FR Doc. 04–22094 Filed 9–30–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–84–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[UT–080–1310–00] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

on the Chapita Wells-Stagecoach Area 

Gas Development Project, Uintah 

County, UT

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent and notice of 

scoping. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) 

of the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969, the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), Vernal Field Office, 

Vernal, Utah, will be preparing an EIS 

on EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG) proposed 

gas development on about 31,872 acres 

in the Chapita Wells-Stagecoach Area 

gas producing region. The Vernal Field 

Office Manager will be the authorized 

officer for this project.

DATES: A 30-day public scoping period 

will begin on the date this notice is 

published in the Federal Register. A 

public scoping open house and 

information meeting will be conducted 

during the scoping period. Details on 

this meeting will be released to the 

public at least 15 days from the 

scheduled date. If you have any 

information, data or concerns related to 

potential impacts of the proposed 

action, including the issues identified 

above, or have suggestions for 

additional alternatives, please submit 

them to the address listed below.

ADDRESSES: Written scoping comments 

should be sent to: Field Manager, 

Bureau of Land Management, Vernal 

Field Office, 170 South 500 East. Vernal, 

Utah 84078, ATTN: QEP Field 

Development Project. 

Comments, including names and 

street addresses of respondents will be 

available for public review at the BLM 

Vernal Field Office and will be subject 

to disclosure under the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA). They may be 

published as part of the EIS and other 

related documents. Individual 

respondents may request 

confidentiality. If you wish to withhold 

your name or street address from public 

review and disclosure under the FOIA, 

you must state this prominently at the 

beginning of your written comment. 

Such requests will be honored to the 

extent allowed by law. All submissions 

from organizations or businesses will be 

made available for public inspection in 

their entirely.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean 

Nitschke-Sinclear, 435–781–4437 or email: jean_nitschke-sinclear@blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

project area is located about 30 miles 

southeast of Vernal, Utah. It involves 

about 71% BLM-administered lands 

(22,693 acres); 6% (1,914 acres) State of 

Utah-administered lands; 21% Northern 

Ute Tribal and/or allotted lands 

administered by the BIA (6,577 acres); 

and, 2% (688 acres) patented land. 

Currently 325 producing gas wells, with 

their attendant service roads, exist 

within the project area, and about 100 

additional wells have been approved for 

drilling under a Decision Record, dated 

April 11, 2000, entitled Chapita Wells 

Unit Infill Development, Uintah County, 

Utah (EA No. UT–080–1999–032). There 

are currently no oil wells or produced 

water disposal wells in the project area. 

EOG’s long term development plan 

includes drilling additional wells at the 

rate of about 90 wells per year, over a 

period of 7 years, or until the resource 

base is fully developed. A total of up to 

627 new wells would be drilled. Of 

these, 473 would be new locations and 

154 would be twins drilled from 

existing locations (representing 25% of 

the total new wells that would be 

drilled). About 3% of the total wells 

drilled may result in dry holes. The total 

number of wells drilled would depend 

largely on factors outside of EOG’s 

control, such as production success, 

engineering technology, economic 

factors, availability of commodity 

markets, and lease stipulations and 

restrictions. 

Required infrastructure includes 

electric power lines, roads, gas flowlines 

and pipelines, well pads, water 

injection facilities, and gas treatment 

facilities. Gas would be transported via 

pipeline to existing centralized 

compression and treatment facilities. 

Produced water would be trucked to 

approved evaporation pits or EOG water 

injection wells where it would be reinjected into the oil reservoir or disposal 

zone via an injection well system. Major 

issues at this time include potential 

impacts on desert and semi-desert 

ecosystems and their dependent wildlife 

species (including antelope, sage grouse, 

white-tailed prairie dog colonies and 

their associated species), vegetation 

(including noxious weeds and 

reclamation), and riparian habitat 

associated with the Green River 

corridor. Alternatives identified at this 

time include the proposed action, the no 

action alternatives and in accordance 

with national policy, an alternative 

incorporating Best Management 

Practices designed to reduce the 

environmental effects of production 

operations. Best Management Practices 

considered could include burial of 

flowlines in the roadbeds for transport 

of condensate, water and gas to 

centralized facilities, more extensive 

interim reclamation of production areas, 

and other techniques designed to 

substantially reduce the footprint of 

new and existing oil and gas production 

facilities and infrastructure.’’

Dated: September 20, 2004. 

William Stringer, 

Vernal Field Manager.

[FR Doc. 04–22056 Filed 9–30–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–$$–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[WO 850–1820–XA–241A] 

Acceptance of Electronic Forms and 

Digital Signatures

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) will accept the 

electronic submission of forms, 

including the use of digital signatures 

where practicable.

DATES: October 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: 1849 C St., NW., Mail Stop 

LS 1000, Washington, DC 20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on BLM’s online forms, 

Karen Wrenn, BLM Forms Manager, 

303–236–0233. For information on 

BLM’s e-Government initiative, Peter G. 

D. Ertman, BLM e-Government Program 

Manager, 202–452–7706.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Effective 

October 1, 2004, the BLM will accept as 

‘‘properly filed’’ any form in electronic 

format that was previously available 

only in paper format. If you choose to 

file on-line, you must use the forms 

available from http://www.nc.blm.gov/

blmforms. BLM will not accept as 

‘‘properly filed’’ the use of electronic 

forms in other formats or from other 

sources. In addition to using the form 

from the BLM forms Web site, you must 

also have a Federal Bridge Trusted 

credential. This credential provides a 

secure means of identifying you across 

the Internet. At the present time, you 

may obtain these credentials from two 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 190 / Friday, October 1, 2004 / Notices 58947

providers. The contact information for 

the current providers is: (1) Verisign, 

Inc., NPiazzola@verisign.com, 410–691–

2100 and (2) Betrusted US, Inc., 

TGreco@betrusted.com, 443–367–7052, 

or JTLazo@betrusted.com, 443–367–

7011. 

BLM will consider an electronic form 

submission to be: (1) Received at the 

date and time BLM receives the 

submission electronically by the BLM; 

and (2) Received in the proper office if 

filed on-line. 

The Government Paperwork 

Elimination Act of 1998 (GPEA) 

mandates that the Federal Government 

accept electronically submitted forms. 

The GPEA specifically states that 

electronic records and their related 

electronic signatures are not to be 

denied legal effect, validity, or 

enforceability merely because they are 

in electronic form. The public may 

continue to use, and BLM will continue 

to accept, filings on paper forms. 

In many cases, our existing 

regulations require a written signature 

and filing of a paper form in a specific 

office. GPEA supercedes these 

regulations. Our intention is to propose 

regulations to address the inconsistency 

and to clarify that digital signatures and 

on-line filing (when performed as 

described above) is an acceptable way to 

file applications and other documents. 

For more information on electronic 

signatures and e-Government in general, 

please visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/

omb/egov/ea.htm and http://

www.egov.gov.

Dated: September 8, 2004. 

Lawrence E. Benna, 

Assistant Director, Business and Fiscal 

Resources.

[FR Doc. 04–21785 Filed 9–30–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–84–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service 

Colorado River Management Plan, 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement, 

Grand Canyon National Park, Grand 

Canyon, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, 

Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft 

environmental impact statement for the 

Colorado River Management Plan for 

Grand Canyon National Park. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to subsection 

102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 

Policy Act of 1969, codified at 42 U.S.C. 

4332(2)(C), the National Park Service 

announces the availability of a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement for the 

Colorado River Management Plan, 

Grand Canyon National Park, Grand 

Canyon, Arizona. The document 

describes and analyzes the 

environmental impacts of several action 

alternatives, including a preferred 

alternative, for future visitor use 

management of the Colorado River 

through Grand Canyon National Park, 

including the Lower Gorge. A no-action 

alternative is also evaluated.

DATES: The National Park Service will 

accept comments from the public on the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

for 90 days after publication of this 

notice. Public meeting dates will be 

posted on the Internet at http://

www.nps.gov/grca/crmp.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement are 

available from the Office of the 

Superintendent, Grand Canyon National 

Park, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, 

Arizona 86023. The document is also 

available on the Internet at: http://

www.nps.gov/grca/crmp.

You may submit comments to any one 

of several addresses: (1) You may mail 

comments to CRMP Project, Grand 

Canyon National Park, P.O. Box 129, 

Grand Canyon Arizona 86023; (2) You 

may comment via the Internet to http:/

/www.nps.gov/grca/crmp; and (3) You 

may hand-deliver comments to Grand 

Canyon National Park at Park 

Headquarters, 1 Village Loop Drive, 

Grand Canyon, Arizona 86023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Killeen, Project Assistant, Grand 

Canyon National Park, 928–638–7885.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Document distribution and public 

meetings: The public review and 

comment process will involve 

distribution of the document and a 

comment form. Public meetings will be 

held in Denver, Colorado; Phoenix, 

Arizona; Flagstaff, Arizona; Salt Lake 

City, Utah; the San Francisco, California 

area; and the Washington, DC area. 

Specific information on these meeting 

locations and their dates, and on any 

other locations and dates that may be 

added, will be posted at http://

www.nps.gov/grca/crmp. Specific 

information may also be obtained from 

the individuals listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, 

below. 

Commenting by e-mail: Please submit 

Internet comments as an ASCII file 

avoiding the use of special characters 

and any form of encryption. Please also 

include ‘‘Attn: CRMP Project’’ and your 

name and return address in your 

Internet message. If you do not receive 

a confirmation from the system that we 

have received your Internet message, 

contact Linda Jalbert 928–638–7909. 

Confidentiality: Our practice is to 

make comments, including names and 

home addresses of respondents, 

available for public review during 

regular business hours. Individual 

respondents may request that we 

withhold their home addresses from the 

record, which we will honor to the 

extent allowable by law. There also may 

be circumstances in which we would 

withhold from the record a respondent’s 

identity, as allowable by law. If you 

wish us to withhold your name and/or 

address, you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comment. We will make all submissions 

from organizations or businesses, and 

from individuals identifying themselves 

as representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Killeen, 928–638–7885, or Linda 

Jalbert, 928–638–7909.

Dated: September 24, 2004. 

Stephen P. Martin, 

Director, Intermountain Region, National 

Park Service.

[FR Doc. 04–22040 Filed 9–30–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–ED–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation 

Renewal of the Sacramento River 

Settlement Contracts, Shasta, Tehama, 

Butte, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, Yolo, and 

Sacramento Counties, CA

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft 

environmental impact statement (Draft 

EIS) and notice of public hearing (DES 

04–50). 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 

1969 (as amended), the Bureau of 

Reclamation (Reclamation) as lead 

Federal Agency, has made available for 

public review a Draft EIS for the 

renewal of long-term contracts to deliver 

water from the Central Valley Project 

(CVP) to the Sacramento River 

Settlement Contractors. The Sacramento 

River Settlement Contractors are entities 

and individuals that typically receive 

both non-CVP water, referred to as base 

supply, and supplemental water from 

the CVP, referred to as Project Water. 

The proposed contract renewals would 

continue the delivery of base supply 

and Project Water for an additional 40 

years. The Draft EIS describes and