44380 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 166 / Friday, August 28, 2009 / Notices 

(SR 37) in southern Sonoma County, 

California. The site is also traversed 

from east to west by an inactive rail line 

owned by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail 

Transit (SMART) District. 

The project site is a total of 2,327 ac 

owned by the Sonoma Land Trust (SLT) 

and is comprised of two large 

properties, the North Point Joint 

Venture (NPJV) parcel and the Dickson 

Ranch parcel, which are situated on the 

edge of San Pablo Bay between the 

mouth of the Petaluma River and Tolay 

Creek. The 1,679-ac NPJV parcel 

extends both north and south of SR 37. 

It is bounded on the north by the 

Infineon Raceway property, on the east 

by Cougar Mountain (north of SR 37) 

and Paradise Vineyards (south of SR 

37), on the south by the SMART rail 

line, and on the west by LakevilleReclamation Road. The 648-ac Dickson 

Ranch parcel is located entirely south of 

Highway 37, and is bounded on the 

north by the SMART rail line, on the 

west by Tolay Creek, on the south by 

San Pablo Bay, and on the west by the 

outboard levee as it veers bayward from 

the SMART rail line. The entire Dickson 

Ranch parcel and 858 ac of the NPJV 

parcel are located within the approved 

acquisition boundary of the San Pablo 

Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The SLT 

proposes to transfer a 350-acre parcel of 

this land bounded by Highway 37 and 

the SMART rail line, to the Service, and 

the remainder of the land to CDFG. 

Alternatives 

We identified and analyzed a total of 

eight alternatives. The alternatives were 

analyzed based on a set of criteria, 

including (1) ability to meet the project 

purpose and need, (2) technical, 

logistical, and financial feasibility, and 

(3) ability to avoid or substantially 

reduce one or more significant impacts. 

We removed five of these alternatives 

from further consideration because they 

did not meet the purpose and need, 

were not feasible, or did not provide 

substantial variation in environmental 

impacts. The lead agencies carried 

forward three possible alternatives for 

environmental analysis: the No-Action 

Alternative, the Partial-Tidal (Preferred) 

Restoration Alternative, and the FullTidal Restoration Alternative. 

No-Action Alternative 

Under the No-Action Alternative, 

there would be no wetland restoration 

or enhancement, no new trails, and no 

new habitat creation. The Sonoma Land 

Trust (SLT) would still move forward 

with the transfer of title of the Sears 

Point properties to the Federal and State 

agencies. SLT will honor existing 

agricultural and commercial leases on 

the property through June 2010. 

Partial-Tidal (Preferred) Restoration 

Alternative 

The Partial-Tidal Restoration 

Alternative would restore 970 acres of 

tidal marsh; improve tidal exchange in 

Tolay Creek along the eastern edge of 

the project boundary; preserve and 

enhance a 106-acre area of non-tidal 

seasonal wetland while maintaining 

existing agriculture between the SMART 

line and Highway 37; provide public 

recreation access south and possibly 

north of Highway 37; enhance 40 acres 

of non-tidal seasonal wetland north of 

Highway 37; and create 15.5 acres of 

additional breeding habitat for the 

California red-legged frog, including 0.5 

acres of excavation in the floodplain 

near the northern project boundary. 

Full-Tidal Restoration Alternative 

The Full-Tidal Restoration Alternative 

would restore 1,335 acres of tidal marsh; 

improve tidal exchange in Tolay Creek 

along the eastern edge of the project 

boundary; provide public recreation 

access south and possibly north of 

Highway 37; enhance 40 acres of nontidal seasonal wetland north of Highway 

37; and create 15.5 acres of additional 

breeding habitat, including 0.5 acres of 

excavation in the floodplain, for the 

California red-legged frog near the 

northern project boundary. 

NEPA Compliance 

The entire Dickson Ranch parcel and 

858 acres of the NPJV parcel are located 

within the approved acquisition 

boundary of the San Pablo Bay NWR. 

Federally owned lands within the 

Refuge boundary are adjacent to these 

properties. In order to implement the 

action alternatives described above, 

some activity (channel dredging and 

levee breaching) within the San Pablo 

Bay NWR is necessary. We will use the 

EIR/EIS to determine whether to 

authorize activities within the San Pablo 

Bay NWR in order to accomplish project 

goals. 

The EIR/EIS discusses the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative impacts of the 

alternatives on biological resources, 

cultural resources, land use, air quality, 

water quality, water resources, and 

other environmental resources. It also 

identifies appropriate mitigation 

measures for adverse environmental 

effects. 

We are conducting public review of 

the EIR/EIS in accordance with the 

requirements of NEPA, as amended (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ), its implementing 

regulations (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), 

other applicable regulations, and our 

procedures for compliance with those 

regulations. The EIR/EIS meets the 

requirements of both NEPA and the 

California Environmental Quality Act 

(CEQA). The California Department of 

Fish and Game is the CEQA lead 

agency. We provide this notice under 

regulations implementing NEPA (40 

CFR 1506.6). 

Public Meeting 

We will hold one public meeting to 

solicit comments on the DEIR/EIS. We 

will mail a separate notice to the public 

and local publications that identifies the 

time, date, and location of the meeting. 

Public Comments 

We invite the public to comment on 

the DEIR/EIS during the comment 

period. Before including your address, 

phone number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. We will use the comments to 

prepare a final EIR/EIS. A decision will 

be made no sooner than 30 days after 

the publication of the final EIR/EIS. We 

anticipate that a Record of Decision will 

be issued by the Service in 2010. 

Dated: August 20, 2009. 

Margaret T. Kolar, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest 

Region. 

[FR Doc. E9–20582 Filed 8–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Final Environmental Impact Statement 

for the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara (MHA) 

Nation’s Proposed Clean Fuels 

Refinery, Fort Berthold Indian 

Reservation, Ward County, ND 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Availability. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public 

that the Department of Interior, Bureau 

of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

as co-lead agencies; and the Mandan, 

Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation and 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as 

cooperating agencies, intend to file a 

Final Environmental Impact Statement 

(FEIS) with the EPA for the proposed 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 166 / Friday, August 28, 2009 / Notices 44381 

Clean Fuels Refinery, and that the FEIS 

is now available for public review. The 

proposed Federal actions are: (1) The 

taking into trust of 469 acres of fee land 

by the BIA in support of the MHA 

Nation’s proposal to construct and 

operate a clean fuels refinery and 

produce buffalo forage; and (2) the 

issuance by the EPA of a Clean Water 

Act, National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System Discharge (NPDES) 

permit for the discharge of treated 

wastewater from the proposed refinery. 

DATES: The Record of Decision on the 

proposed action will be issued no 

sooner than 30 days after the release of 

the FEIS. Thus, any comments on the 

FEIS must arrive by September 28, 2009. 

A public meeting will be held on 

September 9 at Four Bears Casino, 202 

Frontage Road, New Town, ND, at 

7 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand carry 

written comments to Mike Black, 

Regional Director, Bureau of Indian 

Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office, 

115 4th Avenue, SE., Aberdeen, SD. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mike Black, BIA, 605–226–7343, or 

Steve Wharton, EPA, 303–312–6935 or 

800–227–8917. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Three 

Affiliated Tribes (MHA Nation) has 

requested that BIA accept into trust 

status 469 acres for the MHA Nation to 

construct, own, operate, and maintain a 

petroleum refinery on 190 acres of the 

469-acre parcel. The remaining acres 

would be used to grow forage for 

buffalo. The land in the northeast corner 

of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation 

is located along Highway 23, four miles 

west of the town of Makoti in Ward 

County, North Dakota. 

The MHA Nation has also applied to 

EPA for an NPDES permit under the 

Clean Water Act for discharges from the 

proposed refinery. 

Feedstock for the proposed refinery 

would include 10,000 barrels per stream 

day (BPSD) of synthetic crude oil via 

existing pipeline from Alberta, Canada; 

3,000 BPSD of field butane from local 

suppliers; 6 million standard cubic feet 

per day of natural gas via existing 

pipeline; and 300 barrels of bio-diesel or 

8,500 bushels per day of soybeans. From 

the feedstock, the refinery would 

produce about 5,750 BPSD of diesel 

fuel, 6,770 BPSD of gasoline, and 300 

BPSD of propane. 

The FEIS analyzes potential 

environmental effects of two Federal 

agency decisions: (1) Whether BIA 

should accept lands into trust in 

support of the MHA Nation’s proposal 

to construct and operate a clean fuels 

refinery and produce buffalo forage; and 

(2) whether EPA should issue a Clean 

Water Act NPDES permit for the process 

water discharges associated with the 

operation of the proposed refinery. The 

FEIS has identified the Agencies’ 

preferred alternatives. BIA and EPA will 

be making their decisions in separate 

Records of Decision (RODs), which will 

be issued after the 30-day wait period 

on the FEIS. The MHA Nation will be 

deciding whether to build and operate 

the refinery. 

BIA has identified its preferred 

alternative as Alternative 3. In this 

alternative, BIA would not place the 

land into trust status and the refinery 

could be constructed by the Tribes. If 

the proposed refinery is constructed, 

EPA has identified Alternative A, 

issuance of an NPDES permit for 

effluent discharges associated with the 

refinery as its preferred water discharge 

alternative. EPA and BIA recommend 

that the design of the refinery, if 

constructed, be modified consistent 

with Alternative 4. 

Public Availability of the FEIS 

The FEIS is available on the Web at: 

http://www.epa.gov/region8/ 

compliance/nepa. 

Hard copies of the document are 

available for public review at the 

following locations: 

—Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains 

Regional Office, 115 4th Avenue, SE., 

Aberdeen, SD. 

—Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort 

Berthold Agency, 202 Main Street, 

New Town, ND. 

—EPA Region 8 Library, 1595 Wynkoop 

Street, Denver, CO. 

—Three Affiliated Tribes Governmental 

Offices, 404 Frontage Road, New 

Town, ND. 

—Each of the MHA Nation’s Segment 

Offices: Four Bears (Tribal Gov. 

Center), Mandaree, Shell Creek (New 

Town), Lucky Mound (Parshall), Twin 

Buttes, and White Shield, and 

—Rensch garage in Makoti, ND. 

Authority 

This notice is published in 

accordance with section 1506.10 of the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 

1508) implementing the procedural 

requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and 

related Department of the Interior 

requirements in the Department of the 

Interior Manual (516 DM 1–6), and is in 

exercise of authority delegated to the 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary— 

Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8. 

Dated: August 21, 2009. 

George T. Skibine, 

Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary— 

Indian Affairs. 

[FR Doc. E9–20816 Filed 8–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–W7–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Proclaiming Certain Lands as a 

Reservation for the Match-e-be-nashshe-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians 

of Michigan, aka, Gun Lake Tribe 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Reservation 

Proclamation; Correction. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs 

(BIA) published a document in the 

Federal Register of August 18, 2009, 

concerning the Assistant SecretaryIndian Affairs proclaiming 

approximately 147 acres as the Matche-be-nash-she-wish Band of 

Pottawatomi Indian Reservation. The 

document contained an error in the 

legal description. 

DATES: Effective Date: August 28, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben 

Burshia, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Division of Real Estate Services, MS– 

4639 MIB, 1849 C Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20240, telephone (202) 

208–7737. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Corrections 

In the Federal Register of August 18, 

2009, in FR Doc. E9–19751, on page 

41741, in the first column, line one, 

insert the following text after the word 

‘‘section,’’ and before the word ‘‘said:’’ 

which is North 86 degrees 57 minutes 

24 seconds East 481.98 feet from the 

West line of said Section 

Also on page 41741, in the first 

column, line 33, change ‘‘East 431.00 

feet;’’ to the following and delete lines 

34, 35, 36, 37 and 38 in their entirety: 

East 325.00 feet. 

Dated: August 21, 2009. 

George T. Skibine, 

Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary— 

Indian Affairs. 

[FR Doc. E9–20791 Filed 8–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–W7–P 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with NOTICES