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.

Notices Federal Register

71666 

Vol. 75, No. 226 

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

November 18, 2010. 

The Department of Agriculture has 

submitted the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. Comments 

regarding: (a) Whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of burden including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology should be addressed to: Desk 

Officer for Agriculture, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB), 

OIRA_Submission@OMB.EOP.GOV or 

fax (202) 395–5806 and to Departmental 

Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail 

Stop 7602, Washington, DC 20250– 

7602. Comments regarding these 

information collections are best assured 

of having their full effect if received 

within 30 days of this notification. 

Copies of the submission(s) may be 

obtained by calling (202) 720–8958. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number and the agency informs 

potential persons who are to respond to 

the collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

Farm Service Agency 

Title: 7 CFR 761, General Program 

Administration. 

OMB Control Number: 0560–0238. 

Summary of Collection: Authority to 

establish the regulatory requirements 

contained in 7 CFR 761, which provides 

that ‘‘The Head of an Executive 

department or military department may 

prescribe regulations for the government 

of his department, the distribution and 

performance of its business * * *’’ The 

Secretary delegated authority to 

administer the provisions of the Act 

applicable to the Farm Loan Program 

(FLP) to the Under Secretary for Farm 

and Foreign Agricultural Service in 

section 2.16 of 7 CFR part 2. FLP 

provides loans to family farmers to 

purchase real estate equipment and 

finance agricultural production. The 

regulations covered by this information 

collection package describes, the 

policies and procedures the agency uses 

to provide supervised credit to direct 

FLP applicants and borrowers in 

accordance with the provisions of the 

Consolidated Farm and Rural 

Development Act (Pub. L. 87–128), as 

amended. 

Need and Use of the Information: 

Information collections are submitted by 

FLP direct applicants and borrowers to 

the local FSA office serving the county 

in which their business is 

headquartered. The information is 

necessary to provide supervised credit 

as legislatively mandated and is used by 

Agency Officials to: (1) Ensure that 

when loan funds or insurance proceeds 

are used for construction and 

development, projects, work is 

completed according to applicable state 

and local requirements, and in a manner 

that protects the Agency’s financial 

interest. (2) Ensure that the loan 

repayment plan is developed using 

realistic data, based on the actual 

history of the operation and any 

planned improvements. (3) Identify 

potential concerns limiting the success 

of the operation and develop a loan 

assessment outlining the course of 

action to be followed, to improve the 

operation so that commercial credit is 

available. The agency is mandated to 

provide supervised credit; therefore, 

failure to collect the information, or 

collecting it less frequently, could result 

in the failure of the farm operation or 

loss of agency security property. 

Description of Respondents: Business 

or other for-profit; Farms. 

Number of Respondents: 92,947. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

On occasion; Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 248,551. 

Ruth Brown, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–29564 Filed 11–23–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Bend/Ft. Rock Ranger District; 

Deschutes National Forest; Deschutes 

County, OR; West Bend Vegetation 

Management Project EIS 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, 

will prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) on a proposed action to 

promote development of large tree 

structural conditions and to improve 

forest health and fuel conditions within 

the 25,700-acre West Bend planning 

area. The planning area is located to the 

west of Bend, Oregon, bounded on the 

east side by the urban interface of Bend, 

and on the west by the Bend Watershed 

Roadless Area. The planning area is 

entirely within public lands managed by 

the Deschutes National Forest, except 

for a 588-acres inholding of privatelyowned land. An analysis has been 

initiated that takes a landscape 

approach to managing the vegetation to 

meet objectives for resilient forest, fuels 

and fire behavior, wildlife habitat, and 

aesthetics. Methods that would be used 

to reduce tree density and hazardous 

fuels are: non-commercial and 

commercial thinning, mechanical shrub 

treatment, prescribed burning, arid 

invasive plant treatment with herbicide. 

The alternatives will include the 

proposed action, no action, and, if 

necessary, additional alternatives that 

respond to issues generated through the 

scoping process. The agency will give 

notice of the full environmental analysis 

and decision-making process so 

interested and affected public may 

WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 24, 2010 / Notices 71667 

participate and contribute to the final 

decision. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 30 

days following the date that this notice 

appears in the Federal Register. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Shane Jeffries, District Ranger, BendFort Rock Ranger District, Red Oaks 

Square, 1230 NE. Third Street, Suite A– 

262, Bend, Oregon 97701. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beth 

Peer, Environmental Coordinator, BendFort Rock Ranger District, Red Oaks 

Square, 1230 NE. Third Street, Suite A– 

262, Bend, Oregon 97701, phone (541) 

383–4769. 

Responsible Official: The responsible 

official is John Allen, Forest Supervisor, 

Deschutes National Forest, 1001 SW. 

Emkay Dr., Bend, OR 97701. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background. Forested vegetation 

within the West Bend project area is 

outside of the Historic Range of 

Variability (HRV) because industrial 

logging and wildfire suppression/ 

exclusion have shifted the structural 

stages and species mix. What was once 

dominated by ponderosa pine and 

maintained by low intensity fire is now 

primarily mid-seral black bark pine with 

more lodgepole and white fir than what 

occurred historically. Disturbance 

processes are best kept within 

proportions that historically occurred or 

they have the potential to remove 

important habitat structure, particularly 

large trees that are desired over the longterm. The HRV is important to wildlife 

populations because the distribution, 

quality, and quantity of habitat largely 

determines the potential for a wildlife 

species to exist at viable levels. As 

habitat was converted, fragmented, and 

opened to motorized access, many 

species were reduced in number and 

others were precluded from portions of 

their geographic range altogether. 

Vegetation management is intended to 

move the project area towards the HRV 

which will benefit certain focal species 

that are currently lacking habitat. 

The project area is located within two 

Community Wildfire Protection Plan 

(CWPP) areas. The CWPPs have defined 

the wildland-urban interface (WUI), and 

outlined priorities and strategies for 

reducing fuels in the WUI and other 

areas of special concern such as 

evacuation routes. The project area is 

very popular with recreationists. 

Bounded by the Cascade Lakes Scenic 

Byway to the south, Skyliner Road to 

the north, and the city limits of Bend to 

the east, the area supports miles of 

biking, hiking, snowmobile, 

crosscountry skiing, and snowshoeing 

trails. The Forest is the central 

component of the recreation experience. 

Purpose and Need. The purpose for 

entering the West Bend project area 

includes restoration of the forest 

landscape towards historic conditions 

that are considered more resilient than 

the current condition. Resilience to fire 

and insects is important so that 

disturbance events will not lead to 

large-scale loss of forest. This objective 

will also lead to creating and 

maintaining a diversity of wildlife 

habitats closer to what historically 

occurred. There is also a need to 

maintain forest conditions conducive to 

the desired recreation experience. 

Public safety is another purpose for 

the project. Maintaining previous fuels 

reduction treatments to provide for 

long-term public safety and further 

reduce fire and fuels hazard to Bend and 

the Bend watershed are important 

objectives. There is also a need to 

provide travel corridors that are safe for 

the public and provide wildland 

firefighter access during a wildfire 

event. 

The project area is located in Forest 

Plan management allocations that are 

appropriate for producing wood 

products. There is a need to contribute 

to the local and regional economies by 

providing timber and other wood fiber 

products now and in the future. 

Proposed Action. The Forest Service 

proposes to implement activities across 

approximately 22,000 acres within the 

West Bend project area. Silviculture 

treatments (e.g. thinning) will provide a 

diversity of forest structures that are 

more in line with historical conditions. 

Thinning will encourage the 

development of late and old structure 

characteristics in stands where not 

currently present. Commercial thinning 

accounts for approximately 13,190 

acres. Shrub mowing will reduce 

surface and ladder fuels and allow fire 

to be used as an ecological restoration 

tool. Prescribed fire will be applied in 

the fire-dependent ecosystems to reduce 

fuels, maintain habitat, and allow fire to 

perform its natural ecological function. 

Treatments are designed to address the 

objectives for each stand type and 

management area objective. Treatments 

will occur most often in combination, 

such as thinning followed by mowing 

followed by underburning. Herbicides 

are proposed for the control and 

elimination of invasive plant sites on 

approximately 18 acres. 

Issues. Preliminary issues include the 

potential effect of the proposed action 

on soil productivity, invasive plant 

introduction and spread, and 

Management Indicator Species. 

Comment. Public comments regarding 

this proposal are requested in order to 

assist in identifying issues, determine 

how to best manage the resources, and 

to focus the analysis. Comments 

received to this notice, 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. This 

is also an opportunity to participate in 

the National Historic Preservation Act, 

section 106 process. 

A draft EIS will be filed with the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

and available for public review by 

August 2011. The EPA will publish a 

Notice of Availability (NOA) of the draft 

EIS in the Federal Register. The final 

EIS is scheduled to be available 

February 2012. 

The comment period on the draft EIS 

will be 45 days from the date the EPA 

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 a draft EIS 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)]. 

Also, environmental objections that 

could be raised at the draft EIS stage but 

that are not raised until after completion 

of the final EIS may be waived or 

dismissed by the courts [City of Angoon 

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 EIS. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns on the proposed action, 

comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS of 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. 

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71668 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 24, 2010 / Notices 

In the final EIS, the Forest Service is 

required to respond to substantive 

comments received during the comment 

period for the draft EIS. The Forest 

Service is the lead agency and the 

responsible official is the Forest 

Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest. 

The responsible official will decide 

where and whether or not to apply 

natural fuels treatments, thin stands, 

and reforest group cuts. The responsible 

official will also decide how to mitigate 

impacts of these actions and will 

determine when and how monitoring of 

effects will take place. 

The West Bend Vegetation 

Management decision and the reasons 

for the decision will be documented in 

the record of decision, which will be 

subject to Forest Service Appeal 

Regulations (35 CFR part 215). 

Dated: November 15, 2010. 

A. Shane Jeffries, 

District Ranger, Bend/Ft. Rock Ranger 

District, Deschutes National Forest. 

[FR Doc. 2010–29476 Filed 11–23–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Cibota National Forest, Mount Taylor 

Ranger District, NM, Roca Honda Mine 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: Roca Honda Resources, LLC 

has submitted a Plan of Operations 

proposing to develop and conduct 

underground uranium mining 

operations on their mining claims on 

and near Jesus Mesa in the Mount 

Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola 

National Forest. The proposed mine is 

located within portions of Sections 9, 10 

and 16, Township 13 North, Range 8 

West, New Mexico Principal Meridian. 

These sections are located in McKinley 

County, New Mexico approximately 

three miles northwest of San Mateo and 

22 miles northeast of Grants, New 

Mexico. Sections 9 and 10 are National 

Forest System lands, which are open to 

mineral entry under the General Mining 

Law of 1872. Section 16 is State of New 

Mexico land, which is not subject to the 

regulatory jurisdiction of the Forest 

Service. Roca Honda proposes a mine 

permit area encompassing all three 

sections (1,920 acres) and a surface 

disturbance area of 183 acres within 

Sections 9, 10 and 16. Additional 

surface disturbance associated with the 

mine haul roads is proposed for 

Sections 11, 17 and 20. The Cibola 

National Forest will prepare an 

environmental impact statement (EIS) to 

assess the development of a uranium 

mining operation on the Mount Taylor 

Ranger District. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 30 

days after the publication of the NOI. 

Public scoping open houses will be held 

during the scoping period in Grants and 

Gallup, New Mexico. The tentative 

schedule for the open houses is as 

follows: Tuesday, December 14, 2010, in 

Grants, New Mexico, and Thursday, 

December 16, 2010, in Gallup, New 

Mexico. The final times and locations of 

these meetings will be announced by 

public notice and will be posted on the 

Cibola National Forest Web site. The 

draft environmental impact statement is 

expected by the summer of 2011 and the 

final environmental impact statement 

and Record of Decision (ROD) is 

expected by the end of 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Diane Tafoya, Minerals Project Manager, 

Cibola National Forest, 2113 Osuna 

Road, NE., Albuquerque, NM 87113. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information, mail 

correspondence to Diane Tafoya, 

Minerals Project Manager, Cibola 

National Forest, 2113 Osuna Road, NE., 

Albuquerque, NM 87113. 

Individuals who use 

telecommunication devices for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern 

Time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

Roca Honda Resources, LLC has 

submitted a Plan of Operations for 

development of a uranium mine at the 

Roca Honda claims. The purpose of the 

EIS is to evaluate the environmental 

impacts of the proposed Plan of 

Operations and determine whether to 

approve the Plan as proposed or to 

require additional mitigation measures 

to protect the environment (in 

accordance with Forest Service 

regulations for locatable minerals). 

The need for action is to allow Roca 

Honda Resources, LLC to exercise their 

rights under U.S. mining laws. Roca 

Honda Resources, LLC has a right to 

develop and remove the mineral 

resources as set forth by the General 

Mining Law of 1872 as amended. The 

1872 Mining Law and 1897 Organic Act 

provide that the public has a statutory 

right to conduct prospecting, 

exploration, development and 

production activities on federal lands 

(unless specifically exempted), provided 

these activities are reasonably incident 

(1955 Multiple Use Mining Act and case 

law) to mining and comply with other 

federal laws. 

The Forest Service has the 

responsibility to protect surface 

resources. Mining regulations state that, 

‘‘operations shall be conducted so as, 

where feasible, to minimize adverse 

environmental effects on National 

Forest System surface resources (36 CFR 

228.8),’’ provided such regulation does 

not endanger or materially interfere 

with prospecting, mining, or processing 

operations or reasonably incidental uses 

(1955 Multiple Use Mining Act and case 

law). 

Proposed Action 

Roca Honda proposes to conduct 

mining operations for a period of 

approximately 18–19 years, including 

mine development, operations and 

reclamation. The proposed mining 

operations consist of three phases: (1) 

Mine Development—baseline data 

gathering, initial site development, 

construction, and depressurizing 

activities, which would be conducted to 

facilitate mine shaft construction. 

Depressurizing activities include 

constructing a ring of wells around the 

perimeter of the area of the productions 

shafts into the Gallup, Dakota, and 

Westwater formations. These wells 

would be installed in advance of shaft 

construction and pumped in order to 

relieve the hydrostatic pressure in the 

formation, thus reducing the amount of 

water flowing into the shaft excavation 

as it advances through the formation. 

Five ventilation shafts, 8–10 ft in 

diameter, and two concrete-lined 

production shafts, 18 ft in diameter, 

would be constructed. (2) Mine 

Operation activities directly related to 

production of uranium ore from the 

underground mine, and transport of the 

ore offsite for mineral processing. Soils, 

rock, and ore would be stockpiled on 

the surface. Up to 4,000 gallons per 

minute of water would be pumped from 

the mine and treated prior to discharge 

in a tributary of San Mateo Creek. (3) 

Mine Reclamation—activities intended 

to reclaim land affected by mine 

development and operation, and to 

return that land to an approved postmining land use (grazing). 

The proposed federal action is to 

approve Roca Honda Resources, LLC’s 

Plan of Operations with mitigations 

needed to protect other non-mineral 

surface resources consistent with Forest 

Plan, regulations, and other applicable 

laws. 

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