Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 20, 2002 / Notices 13039

Issued on: March 14, 2002.

William R. Gedris,

Structural/Environmental Engineer, Salt Lake

City, Utah.

[FR Doc. 02–6685 Filed 3–15–02; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–22–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement for Passenger Rail

Improvements to the Los Angeles to

San Diego Rail Corridor

AGENCY: Federal Railroad

Administration, (FRA), Department of

Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to

advise the public that FRA will join the

California Department of Transportation

(Department) in the preparation of a

program level environmental impact

statement (EIS) and program

environmental impact report (EIR) for

passenger rail improvements to the Los

Angeles to San Diego (LOSSAN) rail

corridor. FRA is also issuing this notice

to solicit public and agency input into

the development of the scope of the EIR/

EIS and to advise the public that

outreach activities conducted by the

Department and its representatives will

be considered in the preparation of the

EIR/EIS. Alternatives to be evaluated

and analyzed in the Program EIR/EIS

include (1) take no action (No-Project or

No-Build); (2) construction of passenger

rail improvements in the LOSSAN rail

corridor; and (3) modal alternatives that

would include a combination of air and

highway improvements. Possible

environmental impacts include

displacement of commercial and

residential properties; disproportionate

impacts to minority and low-income

populations; community and

neighborhood disruption; increased

noise along the rail corridor or at

airports and along highways; traffic

impacts associated with stations or

airports; effects to historic properties or

archaeological sites; impacts to parks

and recreation resources; visual quality

effects; exposure to seismic and flood

hazards; impacts to water resources,

wetlands, and sensitive biological

species and habitat; land use

compatibility impacts; energy use; and

impacts to agricultural lands.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

further information regarding the

programmatic environmental review,

please contact: Mr. Patrick Merrill,

Manager, California Department of

Transportation, Division of Rail, MS 74,

PO Box 942874, Sacramento, CA 94274–

0001, (telephone 916–654–7543) or Mr.

David Valenstein, Environmental

Program Manager, Office of Passenger

Programs, Federal Railroad

Administration, 1120 Vermont Avenue

(Mail Stop 20), Washington, DC 20590,

(telephone 202–493–6368).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Department has determined that

improvements to the existing LOSSAN

rail corridor may be necessary to meet

the expected growth in population and

resulting increases in intercity travel

demand between Los Angeles and San

Diego. As a result of this growth in

travel demand, there will be increases in

travel delays from the growing

congestion on California’s highways and

at airports. In terms of passenger

volumes, the LOSSAN corridor is the

second-busiest intercity rail corridor in

the nation, after the Northeast Corridor

connecting Washington DC, New York

and Boston. Amtrak uses the LOSSAN

rail corridor for the Pacific Surfliner

Service between Los Angeles and San

Diego that is supported by the

Department. The Southern California

Regional Rail Authority also uses the

LOSSAN rail Corridor for their

Metrolink commuter rail service

between Los Angeles and Oceanside

and the North County Transit District

uses it for their Coaster commuter rail

service between Oceanside and San

Diego. Finally, the Burlington Northern

Santa Fe also uses the LOSSAN rail

corridor for freight service.

The California High Speed Rail

Authority (Authority) has designated

the LOSSAN rail corridor as a potential

component of the proposed statewide

high speed rail system that the

Authority is studying. FRA and the

Authority are preparing a separate

program EIR/EIS for the proposed

statewide train system. The Authority

will be considering shared use of the

LOSSAN rail corridor and tracks in the

program EIR/EIS for the statewide

system. The Department has decided to

coordinate the public review of

proposed improvements to the LOSSAN

rail corridor with the Authority’s

environmental review of the statewide

system. The Authority and the

Department will share the results of

technical studies related to the LOSSAN

rail corridor.

Alternatives

An initial system alternatives

evaluation will consider all reasonable

system alternatives at a broad level of

analysis. This analysis will be followed

by a more detailed consideration of the

most practical and feasible alternatives

in the Program EIR/EIS. The alternatives

will include:

No-Build Alternative

The take no action (No-Project or NoBuild) alternative is defined to serve as

the baseline for comparison of all

alternatives. The No-Build Alternative

represents the state’s transportation

system (highway, air, and rail) as it

exists, and as it would exist after

completion of programs or projects

currently being implemented. The NoBuild Alternative would draw upon the

following sources of information:

• State Transportation Improvement

Program (STIP)

• Regional Transportation Plans (RTPs)

for all modes of travel

• Airport plans

• Passenger rail plans

Passenger Rail Alternative

The LOSSAN Rail Corridor

improvements are incremental rail

upgrades to the LOSSAN corridor. The

upgrade of the LOSSAN rail corridor

was previously studied in the Amtrak

20-Year Passenger Transportation Plan

issued in March of 2001, which

identified major improvements that

could be undertaken between San Juan

Capistrano and the Santa Fe Depot in

downtown San Diego. The

improvements to be discussed in the

program EIR/EIS include:

• Completion or substantial

completion of a second main track in

the LOSSAN corridor;

• The consideration of alternative

profiles (e.g. trenches, tunnels, viaducts)

and/or deviations from the existing

LOSSAN corridor in:

• San Juan Capistrano

• San Clemente

• Encinitas

• Del Mar

• Miramar Hill;

• Curve realignment at the Fullerton

Junction, the Orange Junction and Dana

Point;

• The increase to four main tracks in

the corridor between Commerce and

Fullerton; and

• Possible alternative profiles (e.g.

trenches, tunnels, viaducts), deviations

from the existing LOSSAN corridor and/

or additional grade-separations as

potential mitigation treatments in

Orange-Santa Ana, Oceanside and

Carlsbad.

FRA and the Department will

consider all stations for the existing

State-supported Amtrak Surfliner

service in the development of LOSSAN

rail corridor improvements. These are:

13040 Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 20, 2002 / Notices

LA Union Station, Fullerton, Anaheim,

Santa Ana Transportation Center, Irvine

Transportation Center, San Juan

Capistrano, Oceanside Transportation

Center, Solana Beach, and San Diego

Santa Fe Depot. Additional stations and

improvements to existing stations will

be determined based on ridership

potential, system-wide needs, and local

planning constraints/conditions. Station

needs will be coordinated with local

and regional planning agencies, and

seamless connectivity with other modes

of travel will be emphasized. Potential

new station locations will be evaluated

in the Program EIR/EIS including: San

Diego Airport, and University Town

Center (La Jolla).

Other Modal Alternatives

There are currently three main

options for intercity travel between the

major urban areas of San Diego and Los

Angeles: vehicles on the highway

system, commercial air service, and

conventional passenger trains (Amtrak).

The FRA and the Department will

evaluate a set of Modal/System

Alternatives consisting of expansion of

highways and airports at a similar level

of investment serving the markets

identified for the Passenger Rail

Alternative, with no substantial change

to intercity and commuter rail systems.

The modal alternatives will be defined

by assigning the expected incremental

travel demand forecasted for the 20-year

horizon to the state’s transportation

infrastructure, then identifying

alternatives for accommodating that

travel demand without passenger rail

improvements.

Scoping and Comments

FRA encourages broad participation

in the EIR/EIS process during scoping

and subsequent review of the resulting

environmental documents. Comments

and suggestions are invited from all

interested agencies and the public at

large to insure the full range of issues

related to the proposed action and all

reasonable alternatives are addressed

and all significant issues are identified.

In particular, FRA is interested in

determining whether there are areas of

environmental concern where there

might be the potential for significant

impacts identifiable at a program level.

Public agencies with jurisdiction are

requested to advise the FRA and the

Department of the applicable permit and

environmental review requirements of

each agency, and the scope and content

of the environmental information that is

germane to the agency’s statutory

responsibilities in connection with the

proposed improvements.

Scoping meetings will be advertised

locally and are planned for the

following major cities along the

LOSSAN rail corridor at the dates and

times indicated:

• Los Angeles: April 2, 1:30 to 3:30 pm,

MTA Bldg, Union Station Room, One

Gateway Plaza

• San Clemente: April 2, 6:00 to 8:00

pm, San Clemente Inn, 2600 Avenida

de Presidente

• Anaheim: April 3, 10:00 am to 12:00

pm, City Hall West, Gordon Hoyt

Conference Center, 201 S. Anaheim

Blvd.

• Carlsbad: April 3, 6:00 to 8:00 pm,

Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine

Street

Persons interested in providing

comments on the scope of the program

EIR/EIS should do so by April 17, 2002.

Comments can be sent in writing to Mr.

David Valenstein at the FRA address

identified above. Comments may also be

addressed to Mr. Patrick Merrill of the

Department at their address identified

above. Information regarding the

environmental review process will also

be made available through the

Department’s rail services Internet site:

http://www.amtrakcalifornia.com/.

Information and documents regarding

technical studies will be made available

though the Authority’s Internet site:

http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/.

Issued in Washington DC, on March 14,

2002.

Mark E. Yachmetz,

Associate Administrator for Railroad

Development.

[FR Doc. 02–6644 Filed 3–19–02; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs

Administration Office of Hazardous

Materials Safety; Notice of Delays in

Processing of Exemption Applications

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: List of applications delayed

more than 180 days.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5117(c), RSPA

is publishing the following list of

exemption applications that have been

in process for 180 days or more. The

reason(s) for delay and the expected

completion date for action on each

application is provided in association

with each identified application.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J.

Suzanne Hedgepath, Director, Office of

Hazardous Materials, Exemptions and

Approvals, Research and Special

Programs Administration, U.S.

Department of Transportation, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC

20590–0001, (202) 366–4535.

Key to ‘‘Reasons for Delay’’

1. Awaiting additional information

from applicant.

2. Extensive public comment under

review.

3. Application is technically complex

and is of significant impact or

precedent-setting and requires extensive

analysis.

4. Staff review delayed by other

priority issues or volume of exemption

applications.

Meaning of Application Number

Suffixes

N—New application.

M—Modification request.

PM—Party to application with

modification request.

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 13,

2002.

J. Suzanne Hedgepeth,

Director, Office of Hazardous Materials,

Exemptions and Approvals.

NEW EXEMPTION APPLICATIONS

Application No. Applicant Reason for

delay

Estimated

date of completion

11862–N ............ The BOC Group, Murray Hill, NJ ................................................................................................... 4 05/31/2002

11927–N ............ Alaska Marine Lines, Inc., Seattle, WA ......................................................................................... 4 05/31/2002

12353–N ............ Monson Companies, South Portland, ME ..................................................................................... 4 05/31/2002

12381–N ............ Ideal Chemical & Supply Co., Memphis, TN ................................................................................. 4 04/30/2002

12406–N ............ Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dallas, TX ............................................................................... 4 03/29/2002

12412–N ............ Great Western Chemical Company, Portland, OR ........................................................................ 4 03/29/2002

12434–N ............ Salmon Air, Salmon, ID ................................................................................................................. 4 04/30/2002