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

34436

Vol. 65, No. 104

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Ray’s Valley Road Realignment, Uinta

National Forest, Utah County, UT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: The Uinta National Forest

will prepare an environmental impact

statement on a proposal to realign the

existing Ray’s Valley Road (Forest

Development Road #051). Ray’s Valley

Road is an arterial road on the Spanish

Fork Ranger District, Uinta National

Forest.

DATES: Comments should be received in

writing by May 14, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

mailed to Ken Gould, Ray’s Valley EIS

Team Leader, Uinta National Forest,

88W 100N, PO Box 1428, Provo, Utah

84601 or sent by e-mail to

kgould@fs.fed.us

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Ray’s

Valley Road is a heavily used travel

route that connects with the Diamond

Fork Road (Forest Development Road

#029), and the Right Fork Hobble Creek

Road (Forest Development Road #058)

at Springville Crossing. These arterial

travel routes provide access for the

Wasatch Front to Spanish Fork Canyon,

and Utah State Highway 6 via the

Diamond Fork and Ray’s Valley Roads.

They also provide access to and from

Utah State Highway 6 and the

Strawberry Reservoir Recreation

Complex via the Ray’s Valley Road.

The surface of the Diamond Fork

Road and most of the Ray’s Valley Road

are asphalt pavement or gravel.

However, a portion of the Ray’s Valley

Road is narrow, winding, and nativesurfaced. During inclement weather

conditions, the road surface becomes

extremely hazardous to travel, and/or

impassable.

Some of the existing road lies directly

adjacent to tributaries of Diamond Fork

Creek. Approximately 1.8 miles of this

route are located on soils subject to

severe slumping and/or erosion. Due to

the proximity of the road to the streams,

eroding soil is easily transported into

Diamond Fork and Sixth Water Creeks.

Diamond Fork Creek provides habitat

for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, a

sensitive species. Operation and

maintenance costs on this section of

road are high. Existing road conditions

do not meet Road Management

Objectives for an arterial system road.

The Forest Service has long planned to

realign this road to address these

concerns; however, funding has never

been available.

The proposed action is to construct

the Ray’s Valley Road on a new

alignment and to obliterate the road on

its existing alignment. The purpose and

need of the proposed action is to reduce

or eliminate these adverse watershed

and fisheries impacts, and to provide

safer driving conditions, while

maintaining a key arterial component of

the Forest’s travel system.

Preliminary Issues

Issues identified at this time include:

Health and safety; travel management;

soils; fisheries; threatened, endangered,

and sensitive plant and animal species;

and roadless areas.

Possible Alternatives

Three possible alternatives have been

identified: (1) No Action—Leave the

road in its current condition; (2)

Reconstruct Using the Existing

Alignment—Reconstruct on the existing

alignment and surface the road with

crushed aggregate; and (3) Construct on

a New Alignment (Proposed Action)—

Reconstruct, realign, and obliterate

portions of the Ray’s Valley Road.

The No Action Alternative would

leave the road in current condition.

Maintenance would be limited to

actions required for passage of high

clearance vehicles. The road would

remain unsafe during periods of

precipitation. Arterial system road

standards for capacity and safety would

not be addressed by this alternative.

Road induced sediment in nearby

streams would remain at current levels,

or increase as erosion of the roadway

continues.

The Reconstruct Existing Alignment

Alternative would reconstruct the road

on its existing alignment and add a

crushed aggregate surface.

Reconstruction would provide better

control of drainage from roadway

runoff, provide safer and more

comfortable vehicle travel during

precipitation, and support a greater

range of vehicle types. Road induced

sediment in nearby streams would

slightly decrease due to better drainage

and aggregate surfacing. Road

Management Objectives for an arterial

system road will not be fully

accomplished by this alternative due to

the location.

The Proposed Action is the Construct

New Alignment Alternative. Under this

alternative a small portion of the

existing Ray’s Valley Road would be

reconstructed on its existing alignment.

Other portions of the Rays Valley Road

would be constructed on a new

alignment on more stable soils, and

away from streams and riparian areas.

This proposal would result in

approximately 3.6 miles of a double

lane road with a crushed aggregate

surface. The existing road would be

abandoned, closed, and rehabilitated.

Access to Forest Development Road 715

from the new alignment would be

maintained by reconstructing a portion

of Forest Development Road 387. This

would ensure continued access to the

west portal of the Strawberry Tunnel.

Proposed Scoping Process

This Notice of Intent initiates the

scoping process. As part of the scoping

period, the Forest Service solicits public

comment on the nature and scope of the

environmental, social, and economic

issues related to the proposed action

that should be analyzed in depth in the

Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Comments on this proposal should be

sent to the address shown earlier in this

notice.

Public participation will be solicited

by notifying affected interests through

personal contacts and by mail. This

project has been listed in the Uinta

National Forest’s ‘‘Schedule of Proposed

Actions’’ (i.e. NEPA Quarterly). News

releases will also be utilized to give the

public general notice. Comments

concerning the Proposed Action and EIS

should address environmental issues to

be considered, feasible alternatives to

examine, possible mitigation, and

information relevant to or bearing on the

Proposed Action.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 104 / Tuesday, May 30, 2000 / Notices 34437

The comment period on the draft

environmental impact statement will be

45 days from the date the

Environmental Protection Agency

publishes the notice of availability in

the Federal Register.

The Forest Service believes it is

important to give reviewers notice at

this early stage of several court rulings

related to public participation in the

environmental review process. First,

reviewers of draft environmental impact

statements must structure their

participation in the environmental

review of the proposal so that 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 environmental impact

statement stage, but are not raised until

after completion of the final

environmental impact statement, may

be waived or dismissed by the courts.

City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2D 1016,

1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin

Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp.

1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of

these court rulings, it is very important

that those interested in the 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 be meaningfully consider

them and respond to them in the final

environmental impact statement.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns on the proposed action,

comments on the draft environmental

impact statement 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 environmental

impact statement or 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.

Tentative Project Schedule:

Begin Comment Period—April, 2000;

Comment Period Ends—May 26, 2000;

Draft EIS—September 30, 2000; Final

EIS—January, 2001; Record of

Decision—March 2001.

Responsible Official: Jack A.

Blackwell, USDA Forest Service

Intermountain Regional Supervisor, 324

25th Street, Ogden, Utah 84401.

For Further Information Contact: Ken

Gould, (801) 342–5100 or at the address

listed previously.

Dated: April 6, 2000.

Peter W. Karp,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 00–13394 Filed 5–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Willamette Provincial Advisory

Committee (PAC); Meeting

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Action of meeting.

SUMMARY: The Willamette Province

Advisory Committee (PAC) will meet on

Thursday, June 15, 2000. The meeting is

scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., and will

conclude at approximately 2 p.m. The

meeting will be held at the Salem Office

of the Bureau of Land Management,

1717 Fabry Road SE, Salem, Oregon,

(503) 375–5646. The tentative agenda

includes: (1) Information sharing by

PAC members, (2) Threatened and

Endangered Species update—spotted

owl, Canada lynx, (3) Public forum, (4)

Presentation and discussion on FS

Roadless area conservation DEIS, (5)

PAC discussion and advice on

rechartering membership.

The Public Forum is tentatively

scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Time

allotted for individual presentations

will be limited to 3–4 minutes and the

total time allotted for the Public Forum

will be 40 minutes. Written comments

may be submitted prior to the June 15

meeting by sending them to Designated

Federal Official Neal Forrester at the

address given below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

more information regarding this

meeting, contact Designated Federal

Official Neal Forrester; Willamette

National Forest; 211 East Seventh

Avenue; Eugene, Oregon 97401; (541)

465–6924.

Dated: May 23, 2000.

Darrell L. Kenops,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 00–13387 Filed 5–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development Administration

Petitions by Producing Firms for

Determination of Eligibility To Apply

for Trade Adjustment Assistance

AGENCY: Economic Development

Administration (EDA), Commerce.

ACTION: To give firms an opportunity to

comment.

Petitions have been accepted for filing

on the dates indicated from the firms

listed below.

LIST OF PETITION ACTION BY TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR PERIOD 04/15/2000–05/26/2000

Firm name Address Date petition accepted Product

Bulk-Tainers Corp ................................... 20 Erie Street, Belmont, NY 14813 ....... 18–Apr–2000 .... Large storage tanks made of carbon

and stainless steel.

North Star Ice Equipment Corp ............... 8151 Occidental Avenue S., Seattle,

WA 98108.

19–Apr–2000 .... Ice making machines and equipment.

Nafta Textile Mills, L.L.C ......................... 315 Old River Road, Manville, RI 02838 25–Apr–2000 .... Woven fabrics of natural and synthetic

materials.

Lapco Manufacturing, Inc ........................ 98 Glenwood Street, Morgan City, LA

70380.

25–Apr–2000 .... Cotton work shirts.

Nomad USA ............................................ 3209 Washington Ave., Newport News,

VA 23607.

25–Apr–2000 .... Baseball caps.

Jorgensen Forge ..................................... 8531 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, WA

98108.

26–Apr–2000 .... Pipe collars and billets and other forgings for the aerospace, oil, aircraft,

automotive and shipbuilding industries.

Hillcrest Knitting Mills, Inc., ..................... 908 S. Evans Street, Uvalde, Texas

78801.

26–Apr–2000 .... Cotton sweaters.