47862 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 160 / Friday, August 18, 2006 / Notices 

from the planned Loop 49 West/IH 20 

interchange to connect with the existing 

U.S. 69 north of the City of Lindale, a 

roadway distance of approximately 5–6 

miles. 

The proposed Lindale Reliever Route 

would serve as a connector between 

Loop 49 and U.S. 69 and address safety, 

mobility, connectivity and capacity 

needs. 

Alternatives under consideration 

include (1) taking no action (the nobuild alternative), (2) constructing a 

proposed Lindale Reliever Route facility 

built to current highway standards, and 

(3) improvements to existing highways. 

The proposed facility will be evaluated 

as a toll road project. A Feasibility 

Study prepared in 2001 evaluated four 

corridor alternatives along new location 

right-of-way and a No-Build alternative, 

resulting in the identification of a 

recommended study corridor. 

Subsequent public involvement 

opportunities have identified additional 

study corridors. Evaluation of a 

reasonable number of alignment 

alternatives will be documented in the 

EIS, as well as the no-build and existing 

highway improvement alternatives, 

based on input from federal, state, and 

local agencies, as well as private 

organizations and concerned citizens. 

The EIS will evaluate potential 

impacts from construction and 

operation of the proposed roadway 

including, but not limited to, the 

following: Impacts to residences and 

businesses, including potential 

relocations and displacements; 

transportation impacts (construction 

detours, construction traffic, and 

mobility improvement); air and noise 

impacts from construction equipment 

and operation of the roadway; social 

and economic impacts; impacts to 

cultural resources; water quality 

impacts from construction and roadway 

runoff; impacts related to tolling; and 

impacts to waters of the U.S. including 

wetlands from right-of-way 

encroachment. 

Correspondence describing the 

proposed project and soliciting 

comments will be sent to appropriate 

federal, state, and local agencies, and to 

private organizations and citizens who 

have previously expressed interest in 

the proposal. TxDOT completed a 

Feasibility Study for the project in May 

2001. In conjunction with the 

Feasibility Study, TxDOT developed a 

steering committee, provided project 

information at two public meetings, and 

met with interested stakeholders. An 

agency scoping meeting is anticipated to 

be held by TxDOT in September 2006 to 

coordinate and solicit agency 

representatives’ input on project plans 

including the purpose and need and the 

range of alternatives, introduce project 

team members, obtain comments 

pertaining to the scope of the EIS, 

identify important issues, set goals, 

develop project schedule, and respond 

to questions. A continuing public 

involvement program will include a 

project mailing list, project newsletters, 

a public scoping meeting (public notice 

will be given of the time and place), and 

numerous informal meetings with 

interested citizens and stakeholders. In 

addition, a public hearing will be held 

after the publication of the Draft EIS. 

Public notice will be given of the time 

and place of the hearing. The Draft EIS 

will be available for public and agency 

review and comment prior to the public 

hearing. 

To ensure that the full range of issues 

related to this proposed action are 

addressed and all significant issues 

identified, comments and suggestions 

are invited from all interested parties. 

Comments or questions concerning this 

proposed action and the EIS should be 

directed to the FHWA at the address 

provided above. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Number 20.205, Highway Research 

Planning and Construction. The regulations 

implementing Executive Order 12373 

regarding intergovernmental consultation on 

Federal programs and activities apply to this 

program.) 

Donald E. Davis, 

District Engineer. 

[FR Doc. 06–7012 Filed 8–17–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–22–M 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Adoption of Environmental Impact 

Statement, Participation in a Section 

106 Programmatic Agreement, and 

Notice of Availability of Section 4(f)/ 

303 Statement 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Adoption and Recirculation of 

Final Environmental Impact Statement 

and Final Supplemental Environmental 

Impact Statement; Participation as a 

Concurring Party to a Section 106 

Programmatic Agreement; and Notice of 

Availability of a Draft Section 4(f)/303 

Statement. 

SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to 

advise the public and interested 

agencies that FRA has decided to adopt 

the Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) and Supplemental Environmental 

Impact Statement (SEIS) issued by the 

Surface Transportation Board (STB) for 

construction and operation of a new rail 

line and related improvements by the 

Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad 

Corporation (DM&E). Under applicable 

regulations, FRA is allowed to adopt 

and recirculate the STB’s Final EIS and 

Final SEIS as its own, since FRA’s 

proposed action is substantially the 

same as the action covered by the STB’s 

EISs. The FRA further announces the 

availability of a draft Section 4(f)/303 

Statement prepared for the Project by 

the FRA pursuant to Section 4(f) of the 

Department of Transportation Act (49 

U.S.C. § 303(c)). The draft Section 4(f)/ 

303 Statement and STB’s EISs are 

available and comments may be 

submitted as indicated below. 

This project, known as the Powder 

River Basin Expansion Project (Project), 

would involve construction of 

approximately 280 miles of new rail line 

to reach the coal mines of Wyoming’s 

Powder River Basin and reconstruction 

of another approximately 600 miles of 

DM&E’s existing rail line that would 

allow operation of unit coal trains along 

the reconstructed route to and from the 

new line. The Project takes place in the 

States of Minnesota, South Dakota and 

Wyoming. The DM&E has applied to the 

FRA for a $2.3 billion loan under the 

Railroad Rehabilitation and 

Improvement Financing (RRIF) program 

to finance the Project. 

DATES: Submit comments on the Final 

EIS, Final SEIS, or the draft Section 4(f)/ 

303 Statement no later than October 10, 

2006 to David Valenstein, 

Environmental Program Manager, at the 

address listed below. 

ADDRESSES: The EIS documents and the 

draft Section 4(f)/303 Statement can be 

inspected at the FRA office at the 

address listed below. The draft Section 

4(f)/303 Statement may be obtained 

from the FRA Web site at http:// 

www.fra.dot.gov or by contacting the 

FRA. Additionally, the STB’s Draft EIS, 

Final EIS, Draft SEIS and Final SEIS are 

available in electronic format on the 

STB Web site at http://www.stb.dot.gov 

under Environmental Matters, Key 

Cases, DM&E Links and one or more of 

the EISs may be viewed in 70 libraries 

in the Project area as listed on FRA’s 

Web site. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David Valenstein, Environmental 

Program Manager; 1120 Vermont 

Avenue, NW.; Mail Stop 20; 

Washington, DC 20590; Phone (202) 

493–6368. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

DM&E filed an application in 1998 with 

the STB for authority to construct and 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 160 / Friday, August 18, 2006 / Notices 47863 

operate the Project, which would 

involve construction of approximately 

280 miles of new rail line to reach the 

coal mines of Wyoming’s Powder River 

Basin. See STB Finance Docket No. 

33407. Reconstruction of another 

approximately 600 miles of DM&E’s 

existing rail lines would be required in 

conjunction with the new line 

construction to allow operation of unit 

coal trains along the reconstructed route 

to and from the new line. STB’s 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) review considered the impacts 

of both the new line construction and 

existing line reconstruction. The STB’s 

Section of Environmental Analysis 

(SEA) prepared a Draft Environmental 

Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Project 

on September 27, 2000, provided a 

comment period from October 6, 2000 to 

March 6, 2001, and prepared a Final EIS 

on November 19, 2001. After litigation 

challenging the adequacy of the EIS, the 

court remanded the case back to the 

STB. Mid States Coalition for Progress v. 

Surface Transportation Board, 345 F.3d 

520 (8th Cir. 2003). The STB 

subsequently issued a Draft SEIS on 

April 15, 2005, and a Final SEIS on 

December 30, 2005. On February 15, 

2006, the STB issued a decision 

approving the construction and 

operation of the proposed project, 

subject to various environmental 

conditions and oversight. The STB 

issued the above-mentioned EISs with 

assistance from the following five 

cooperating agencies which had 

jurisdiction over various aspects of the 

Project: The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service; the U.S. 

Department of Interior, Bureau of Land 

Management; the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers; the U.S. Department of 

Interior, Bureau of Reclamation; and the 

U.S. Coast Guard. The FRA was not a 

cooperating agency because it had no 

involvement or jurisdiction over any 

aspect of the Project at that time. 

Amendments to the RRIF program 

adopted in section 9003 of the Safe 

Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for 

Users (Pub. L. 109–59, 119 Stat 1144) 

expanded the scope of the RRIF program 

and made other changes to the 

underlying statute and implementing 

regulations which, when taken together, 

made possible the DM&E RRIF 

application to finance the Project. The 

DM&E originally submitted a 

preliminary application for RRIF 

financing in late 2005 that contained 

several components, including the 

construction of a new rail line into the 

Powder River Basin (PRB), and the 

rehabilitation of several segments of its 

existing system. However, that 

application was subsequently replaced 

by two separate applications, one in 

February, 2006 for the PRB construction 

and another in March, 2006 for some 

rehabilitation work necessary for the 

west end of the DM&E rail system 

independent of the PRB project. 

Provision of a loan to the DM&E under 

the RRIF program requires FRA 

compliance with the requirements of the 

NEPA, Section 4(f) of the Department of 

Transportation Act, 49 U.S.C. 303(c), 

and FRA’s Environmental Procedures 

[64 FR 28545, 28522 at § 12 (May 6, 

1999)], see also 49 CFR 260.35. 

FRA has conducted an independent 

review of the EIS and SEIS for the 

purpose of determining whether FRA 

could adopt these documents pursuant 

to 40 CFR 1506.3. FRA’s review 

concluded that the action encompassed 

by the DM&E RRIF application is 

substantially the same as the action 

documented in the EIS and SEIS, that 

the EIS and SEIS adequately assess the 

environmental impacts associated with 

the Project and meet the standards of 

the Council on Environmental Quality 

(CEQ) NEPA Regulation (40 CFR parts 

1500–1508), and that the EIS and SEIS 

can be adopted by the FRA. CEQ’s 

regulations implementing NEPA 

strongly encourage agencies to reduce 

paperwork and duplication, 40 CFR 

1500.4. One of the methods identified 

by CEQ to accomplish this goal is 

adopting the environmental documents 

prepared by other agencies in 

appropriate circumstances, 40 CFR 

1500.4(n), 1500.5(h), and 1506.3. In 

instances where the actions covered by 

the original environmental impact 

statement and the proposed action are 

substantially the same, the agency 

adopting another agency’s statement is 

not required to recirculate it except as 

a final statement, 40 CFR 1506.3(b). 

In accordance with the Environmental 

Protection Agency’s (EPA) requirements 

regarding the filing of EISs, FRA has 

provided the EPA with a notice of 

adoption and five copies of the STB’s 

Final EIS and Final SEIS. EPA will 

publish a notice of availability of the 

Final EIS and SEIS in the Federal 

Register consistent with its usual 

practices. Because of the multi-volume 

size of the FEIS and SEIS and its 

continued availability in libraries in the 

affected States and on the STB’s Web 

site, FRA is not republishing the 

document on its own. This would be 

costly, defeat CEQ’s goals of reducing 

paperwork and duplication of effort, 

and be of little or no additional value to 

other agencies or the public. FRA has 

mailed a notification of FRA’s adoption 

and where the EISs are available to 

persons and parties of record who have 

participated in the most recent phase of 

STB’s EIS process. 

Because the STB’s EIS for the Project 

did not include an evaluation pursuant 

to Section 4(f) of the Department of 

Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. § 303(c)), 

the FRA, with assistance from an 

independent contractor, has prepared a 

separate draft Section 4(f)/303 

Statement consistent with FRA 

procedures and posted it on FRA’s Web 

site (http://www.fra.dot.gov). Comments 

on the draft section 4(f)/303 Statement 

may be forwarded to the FRA at the 

address listed above. 

In adopting the STB EIS and issuing 

a draft 4(f)/303 Statement, the FRA finds 

that FRA’s undertaking under Section 

106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act is substantially the 

same as the undertaking addressed by 

the STB and consequently FRA seeks to 

join, as a concurring party, the March 

2003 Programmatic Agreement (PA) 

agreed to pursuant to Section 106 for the 

Project and included in the Draft SEIS 

as Appendix D. The PA was developed 

and executed by the STB, the DM&E, the 

Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation, State Historic Preservation 

Officers, and other invited signatories in 

the affected States to coordinate 

additional evaluation and consultation 

regarding historic and cultural 

resources. FRA agrees with the area of 

potential effects, the level of effort for 

identification of historic properties, and 

the procedures to be followed for 

treatment of affected historic properties 

outlined in the PA. By joining as a 

concurring party, the FRA would be 

better able to require the applicant to 

comply with the PA as a condition of 

the FRA loan and permit continued FRA 

involvement in future decisions 

regarding historic resources should the 

FRA decide to approve the loan. 

Accordingly, FRA has adopted the 

STB EIS and SEIS, is recirculating the 

Final EIS and Final SEIS, is seeking to 

join the PA, and has concluded that no 

supplement or additional environmental 

review beyond the Section 4(f)/303 

Statement referenced herein is required 

to support the FRA’s proposed action. 

FRA anticipates that a final Section 4(f)/ 

303 Statement and Record of Decision 

will be issued after October 10, 2006. 

Issued in Washington, DC on August 10, 

2006. 

Joseph H. Boardman, 

Federal Railroad Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E6–13531 Filed 8–17–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 


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