Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 147 / Thursday, July 31, 1997 / Notices 41075

of the impacts of the Proposed Action

and all the alternatives, BLM has

identified a Preferred Action in

response to regulatory requirements,

issues raised, resources present, impact

analysis results and the effectiveness of

mitigation and reclamation measures.

A public scoping process was

initiated by the BLM and Kem County

to identify issues and concerns relating

to the proposed mining operation and

assist the lead agencies in formulating

alternatives to the Proposed Action. The

scoping process was designed to

provide an opportunity for receipt of

verbal and written comments from the

public, organizations and government

agencies. This was achieved through

two public meetings, newspaper

publications, Federal Register notice

and notice of preparation of an EIR/EIS.

Project description, resource inventories

and public meeting proceedings were

made available on the world wide web.

Site can be reached with the following

address: htt:www.ca.blm.gov/

GoldenQueen.

The project area includes

approximately 1,690 acres of which

1,219 acres are privately owned land

and 471 acres are unpatented mining

claims on public lands administered by

the BLM. The proposed surface

disturbance is 930 acres of which 735

acres are on private land and 195 acres

are on public land

A Federal Register notice was

published on June 2, 1997 (Volume 62,

Number 105) Page 29736 to announce

the public meeting dates and comment

period schedules.

Dated: July 25, 1997.

Lee Delaney,

Area Manager.

[FR Doc. 97–20139 Filed 7–30–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 1990–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

Soledad Mountain Project, CA

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that

the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

and the County of Kern, State of

California are extending the comment

period for the Draft Environmental

Impact Statement/Environmental

Impact Report for the Soledad Mountain

Project, a proposed gold mining

operation on public and private lands in

Kern County, California.

DATES: Comments on the Draft

Environmental Impact Report/

Environmental Impact Statement must

be postmarked no later than August 4,

1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to Bureau of Land

Management, Ridgecrest Resource Area,

300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrest,

California, 93555, Attention: Ahmed

Mohsen—EIS Coordinator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ahmed Mohsen-EIS Coordinator (760)

385–5421.

PUBLIC MEETINGS: Public meetings were

held on: June 24 and June 25 at

Rosamond and Mojave, California.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

purpose of the Draft EIR/EIS is to

present BLM and Kern County’s

comparative analysis of the impacts of

the Proposed Action and Alternatives

on the physical, biological, social and

economic resources of the area. The

Proposed Action is a mining proposal to

extract minerals from the subsurface,

process the ore using chemical leaching

methods and place the waste rock

adjacent to the processing and mining

areas. Alternatives to the Proposed

Action include variations on the

duration of operations and placement of

waste rock. After careful consideration

of the impacts of the Proposed Action

and all the alternatives, BLM has

identified a Preferred Action in

response to regulatory requirements,

issued raised, resources present, impact

analysis results and the effectiveness of

mitigation and reclamation measures.

A public scoping process was

initiated by the BLM and Kern County

to identify issues and concerns relating

to the proposed mining operation and

assist the lead agencies in formulating

alternatives to the Proposed Action. The

scoping process was designed to

provide an opportunity for receipt of

verbal and written comments from the

public, organizations and government

agencies. This was achieved through

two public meetings, newspaper

publications, federal register notice and

notice of preparation of an EIR/EIS.

Project description, resource inventories

and public meeting proceedings were

made available on the world wide web.

Site can be reached with the following

address: http:www.ca.blm.gov/

GoldenQueen.

The project area includes

approximately 1,690 acres of which

1,219 acres are privately owned land

and 471 acres are unpatented mining

claims on public lands administered by

the BLM. The proposed surface

disturbance is 930 acres of which 735

acres are on private land and 195 acres

are on public land.

Five alternatives to the Proposed

Action are analyzed in detail: (1) No

Action, (2) Increased Mining and

Processing Rate, (3) Decreased Mining

and Processing Rate, (4) Reduced Project

Size, and (5) Partial Backfilling.

Five alternatives to the Proposed

Action are analyzed in detail: (1) No

Action, (2) Increased Mining and

Processing Rate, (3) Decreased Mining

and Processing Rate, (4) Reduced Project

Size, and (5) Partial Backfilling.

A Federal Register notice was

published on June 2, 1997 (Volume 62,

Number 105) Page 29736 to announce

the public meeting dates and comment

period schedules.

Lee Delaney,

Resource Area Manager.

[FR Doc. 97–20201 Filed 7–30–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 1990–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CA–010–1220–00]

Meeting of the Bakersfield Resource

Advisory Council

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Meeting of the Bakersfield

Resource Advisory Council.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the authorities in

the Federal Advisory Committee Act

(Public Law 92–463) and the Federal

Land Policy and Management Act of

1976 (sec. 309), the Bureau of Land

Management Resource Advisory

Council for the Bakersfield District will

meet in Bridgeport, California.

DATES: August 15–16, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Bridgeport Elementary

School, 205 Kingsley Street.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 12

member Bakersfield Resource Advisory

Council is appointed by the Secretary of

the Interior to advise the Bureau of Land

Management on public land issues. The

Council will meet on Friday and

Saturday, August 15–16, 1997,

beginning at 8:00 a.m. both days.

Agenda items include election of

officers, a plan to set priorities for the

expenditure of range improvement

funds, an update on the proposal to

trade federal oil leases for the

Headwaters forest, a discussion of RS–

2477 rights of way, reports on the role

of fire in native plant and deer herd

management, an update on the draft

Environmental Impact Statement for the

Healthy Rangelands initiative, and an

update on the status of proposed

recreation fees for BLM lands. There

will be a field trip Friday afternoon to

Bodie State Historic Park. A public