72532 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_AK_FRN_MO4500174129] 

Notice of Availability of the Ambler 

Road Draft Supplemental 

Environmental Impact Statement, 

Alaska 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended, and the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act of 1976, as 

amended, the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) announces the 

availability of a Draft Supplemental 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for the proposed Ambler Road project. 

DATES: To afford the BLM the 

opportunity to consider comments in 

the Final Supplemental EIS, please 

ensure that the BLM receives your 

comments within 60 days following the 

date the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of 

Availability (NOA) of the Draft 

Supplemental EIS in the Federal 

Register. The EPA usually publishes its 

NOAs on Fridays. The BLM will hold 

public meetings and subsistence 

hearings in the vicinity of potentially 

affected communities. The dates, times, 

and locations of the meetings will be 

announced in advance through public 

notices, media releases, and/or mailings. 

ADDRESSES: The Draft Supplemental EIS 

is available for review on the BLM 

ePlanning project website at https://

www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS. You may 

submit written comments related to the 

Ambler Road Draft Supplemental EIS by 

any of the following methods: 

• Website: https://www.blm.gov/ 

AmblerRoadEIS. 

• Mail: Ambler Road Draft 

Supplemental EIS Comments, BLM 

Fairbanks District Office, 222 University 

Avenue, Fairbanks AK 99709. 

• Hand Deliver comments to: BLM, 

222 University Avenue, Fairbanks, 

Alaska 99709. 

Documents pertinent to this proposal 

may be examined: online at https://

www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS; at the 

BLM Alaska State Office, BLM Alaska 

Public Information Center, 222 West 7th 

Avenue (First Floor), Anchorage, 

Alaska; or at the Fairbanks District 

Office, 222 University Avenue, 

Fairbanks, Alaska. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stacie McIntosh, Ambler Road 

Supplemental EIS Project Manager, 

telephone: 907–474–2398; email 

address: s05mcint@blm.gov. You may 

also request to be added to the mailing 

list for the Supplemental EIS. 

Individuals in the United States who 

are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or 

have a speech disability may dial 711 

(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services for 

contacting Ms. McIntosh. Individuals 

outside the United States should use the 

relay services offered within their 

country to make international calls to 

the point-of-contact in the United 

States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM 

has prepared the Ambler Road Draft 

Supplemental EIS. The Draft 

Supplemental EIS is in response to an 

application for an industrial road rightof-way (ROW) in north-central Alaska 

across federal public lands and other 

lands that was initially approved 

through a Joint Record of Decision 

(JROD) issued in July 2020, by the BLM 

and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

after publication of the original Ambler 

Road EIS in March 2020. The road 

would run from the existing Dalton 

Highway to the Ambler Mining District. 

The area involved lies south of the 

Brooks Range, north of the Yukon River, 

west of the Dalton Highway and east of 

the Purcell Mountains. The Alaska 

Industrial Development and Export 

Authority, a public corporation of the 

State of Alaska, is the applicant. 

In May 2022, in two lawsuits 

challenging the JROD and associated 

environmental analyses, the U.S. 

District Court for the District of Alaska 

(District Court) granted voluntary 

remand at the request of the Department 

of the Interior (DOI) due to deficiencies 

in the BLM’s analysis of subsistence 

impacts under Alaska National Interest 

Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) 

Section 810 and consultation with 

Tribes pursuant to Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA). In the motion for remand, the 

DOI committed to address the identified 

legal deficiencies, consider new 

information about declines in salmon 

and caribou populations, reconsider the 

appropriate scope of the area of 

potential effects for purposes of the 

NHPA, and supplement the EIS, as 

appropriate, to more thoroughly assess 

the impacts and resources identified as 

areas of concern in the two lawsuits 

challenging the now-remanded JROD. 

The Draft Supplemental EIS analyzes: 

the No Action Alternative; Alternative 

A, the applicant’s 211 mile-long 

proposed road alignment beginning at 

Mile 161 of the Dalton Highway and 

extending west, ending at the Ambler 

River; Alternative B, which starts and 

ends in the same location as Alternative 

A but contains a shorter route through 

Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; 

and Alternative C, an alternate route 

that starts at Mile 59.5 of the Dalton 

Highway and extends 332 miles 

northwest, ending at the Ambler River. 

The Army Corps of Engineers is a 

cooperating agency on the 

Supplemental EIS. 

Section 810 of ANILCA requires BLM 

to evaluate the effects of the alternatives 

presented in the Draft Supplemental EIS 

on subsistence uses and needs, and to 

hold public hearings if it finds that any 

alternative may significantly restrict 

subsistence uses. The BLM has found in 

the evaluation of subsistence impacts 

that Alternatives A, B, and C and the 

cumulative case analyzed in the Draft 

Supplemental EIS may significantly 

restrict subsistence uses in multiple 

communities. Therefore, the BLM will 

hold public hearings on subsistence 

resources and activities in conjunction 

with the public meetings on the Draft 

Supplemental EIS in the vicinity of 

potentially affected communities. 

Information about subsistence hearings 

will be available on the project website 

listed in the ADDRESSES section, and will 

be announced through additional public 

notices, news releases, and mailings. 

The input of Alaska Native Tribes and 

Corporations is of critical importance to 

this Supplemental EIS. Therefore, 

during the NEPA process, the BLM will 

continue to consult with potentially 

affected federally recognized Tribes on 

a government-to-government basis, and 

with affected Alaska Native 

Corporations in accordance with 

Executive Order 13175, as well as 

Public Law 108–199, Div. H, sec. 161, 

118 Stat. 452, as amended by Public 

Law 108–447, Div. H, sec. 518, 118 Stat. 

3267, and other Department and Bureau 

policies. We respectfully request 

participation in consultation by Alaska 

Native Tribes and Alaska Native 

Corporations to provide their views and 

recommendations on the analysis, 

including effects from the proposed 

activities. The BLM will hold individual 

consultation meetings upon request. 

It is important that reviewers provide 

their comments at such times and in 

such manner as are useful to the 

agency’s preparation of the Final 

Supplemental EIS. Therefore, comments 

should be provided prior to the close of 

the comment period and should clearly 

articulate the reviewer’s concerns and 

contentions. Comments received in 

response to this solicitation, including 

names and addresses of those who 

comment, will be part of the public 

record for this proposed action. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 72533 

Comments submitted anonymously will 

be accepted and considered. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email 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. 

Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6(b) 

Steven M. Cohn, 

State Director, Alaska. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22870 Filed 10–19–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–10–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[NDM_21192] 

Public Land Order No. 7932; 

Withdrawal for Dash Lake Waterfowl 

Production Area; North Dakota 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Public Land Order. 

SUMMARY: This Public Land Order (PLO) 

withdraws 13.50 acres of public land 

from appropriation under the public 

land laws, including location and entry 

under the United States mining laws, 

but not from leasing under the mineral 

and geothermal leasing laws, subject to 

valid existing rights, for 100 years, and 

reserves the land for 100 years for 

management by the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service as part of the Dash Lake 

Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) in 

Towner County, North Dakota. 

DATES: This PLO takes effect on October 

20, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cyndi Eide, Realty Specialist, Bureau of 

Land Management, Montana/Dakotas 

State Office, telephone (406) 896–5094, 

email: ceide@blm.gov. Individuals in the 

United States who are deaf, deafblind, 

hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 

TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

withdrawal places these lands under the 

management of the Department of the 

Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

pursuant to the National Wildlife Refuge 

System Administration Act (NWRSAA) 

at 16 U.S.C. 668dd, as part of the Dash 

Lake WPA. These lands were previously 

withdrawn and reserved as part of the 

refuge for a 40-year term under PLO No. 

6225 (47 FR 11675), which expired on 

March 17, 2022. Under the NWRSAA at 

16 U.S.C. 668dd(a)(6), once land is 

included as part of the Refuge System 

via public land withdrawal, it remains 

part of the System until otherwise 

specified by an Act of Congress. This 

Order reflects the prior withdrawal and 

reservation and withdraws the land 

from the laws specified to protect the 

land from uses incompatible with 

Refuge purposes. 

Order 

By virtue of the authority vested in 

the Secretary of the Interior by Section 

204 of the Federal Land Policy and 

Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C. 

1714, it is ordered as follows: 

1. Subject to valid existing rights, the 

following described public land is 

hereby withdrawn from all forms of 

appropriation under the public land 

laws, including location and entry 

under the United States mining laws, 

but not from leasing under the mineral 

and geothermal leasing laws, and 

reserved for administration by the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service for wildlife 

refuge purposes as part of the Dash Lake 

WPA. 

Fifth Principal Meridian, North Dakota 

T. 163 N., R. 65 W., 

Sec. 5, lot 3. 

The area described contains 13.50 acres. 

2. This withdrawal will expire 100 

years from the effective date of this 

order, unless as a result of a review 

conducted before the expiration date, 

pursuant to Section 204(f) of the Federal 

Land Policy and Management Act of 

1976, 43 U.S.C. 1714(f), the Secretary 

determines that the withdrawal shall be 

extended. 

(Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1714) 

Shannon A. Estenoz, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23183 Filed 10–19–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4500173630] 

Notice of Extension of Segregation of 

Public Lands for the Copper Rays 

Solar Project, Nye County, NV 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of segregation extension. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) on October 21, 

2021, segregated public lands included 

in the right-of-way application (N– 

089655) for the Copper Rays Solar 

Project from appropriation under the 

public land laws, including the Mining 

Law, but not the Mineral Leasing or 

Material Sales Acts, for a period of 2 

years subject to valid existing rights. 

This 2-year extension of the segregation 

is necessary for the orderly 

administration of the public lands in 

order to allow the BLM to complete 

review of the Copper Rays Solar Project 

application and reach a decision on the 

application. 

DATES: This segregation extension for 

the lands identified in the notice of 

segregation published in the Federal 

Register on October 21, 2021 (86 FR 

58301) takes effect on October 21, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information and/or to have your 

name added to the project mailing list, 

send requests to: Whitney Wirthlin, 

Southern Nevada District Energy and 

Infrastructure Team, at telephone (702) 

515–5284; address 4701 North Torrey 

Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130–2301; 

or email BLM_NV_SND_

EnergyProjects@blm.gov. Individuals in 

the United States who are deaf, 

deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a 

speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, 

TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services for 

contacting Whitney Wirthlin. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-of 

contact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice extends the segregation 

published in the Federal Register on 

October 21, 2021 (86 FR 58301) for an 

additional 2 years. Copper Rays Solar, 

LLC, a subsidiary of Leeward Renewable 

Energy, LLC, submitted a right-of-way 

application to the BLM Pahrump Field 

Office for the Copper Rays Solar Project 

requesting authorization to construct, 

operate, maintain, and eventually 

decommission a 700-megawatt 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1