5622 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 24 / Friday, February 4, 2000 / Notices

[FR Doc. 00–2440 Filed 2–3–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5001–10–C

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

Seventh Annual National Security

Education Program (NSEP)

Institutional Grants Competition

AGENCY: Department of Defense,

National Security Education Program

(NSEP).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The NSEP announces the

opening of its Seventh Annual

Competition for Grants to U.S.

Institutions of Higher Education.

DATES: The 2000 NSEP Grants

Competition begins on Friday, February

4, 2000. [Preliminary Proposals are due

Monday, April 10, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Grants Solicitations

(application and guidelines) will be

available and may be downloaded from

the NSEP home page (http://

www.ndu.edu/nsep) beginning Friday,

February 4, 2000. As alternate methods,

you may obtain copies of the solicitation

package by: writing to NSEP,

Institutional Grants, Rossyln P.O. Box

20010, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1210,

Arlington, VA 22209–2248; by facsimile

request nsepo@ndu.edu

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Carol Anne Spreen, Institutional grants

Director, National Security Education

Program, 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite

1210, Arlington, VA 22209–2248; (703)

696–1991; Electronic mail address:

spreenc@ndu.edu

Dated: November 22, 1999.

L.M. Bynum,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison

Officer, Department of Defense.

[FR Doc. 00–2442 Filed 2–3–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5001–10–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Corps of Engineers, Department of the

Army

Intent To Prepare a Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS) for the Eastern Arkansas

Region Comprehensive Study, Bayou

Meto Basin, AR, General Reevaluation

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

Department of Defense

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: The purpose of this general

reevaluation is to develop a plan that

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 24 / Friday, February 4, 2000 / Notices 5623

provides flood control, agricultural

water supply, groundwater protection

and conservation, waterfowl

management, and environmental

enhancement and restoration. The

Grand Prairie Region and Bayou Meto

Basin, Arkansas, flood-control project

was authorized by the Flood Control Act

of 1950 and deauthorized by the Water

Resources Development Act (WRDA) of

1986. This project was reauthorized by

the WRDA of 1996 with an expanded

scope that includes groundwater

protection and conservation,

agricultural water supply, and

waterfowl management. Language in the

Fiscal Year 1998 Appropriations Act

directed the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers to initiate a reevaluation of

the Bayou Meto Basin from within

available funds. The appropriations acts

for fiscal year 1999 and 2000 provided

funding to continue to reevaluation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Ken Bright, telephone (901) 544–0745,

CEMVM–PM, 167 North Main Street,

Room B–202, Memphis, TN 38103–

1894. Questions regarding the DEIS may

be directed to Mr. Edward Lambert,

telephone (901) 544–0707, CEMVM–

PM–E.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Proposed Action

The Eastern Arkansas Region

Comprehensive Study, completed in

1990, indicated that a feasible plan of

improvement for agricultural water

supply and conservation exists for the

Bayou Meto Basin, Arkansas. The Bayou

Meto Basin Project general reevaluation

will focus on developing a plan of

improvement that will meet the flood

control and water supply needs of the

project area while providing substantial

net environmental benefits. Preliminary

studies indicate the a combination of

measures of needed to meet the water

supply needs of the project area.

Identified water-supply components are

(1) water conservation (increased

irrigation efficiencies), (2) groundwater

protection and conservation, (3)

additional on-farm storage, and (4) a

system to import surface water from the

Arkansas River. Irrigation and floodcontrol features will be designed to

avoid or minimize adverse

environmental impacts; alternative plan

designs will include recommendations

from state and Federal natural resource

agencies. Moreover, a major emphasis

will be placed on the formulation of

environmental project features.

Measures to create and/or restore fish

and wildfish habitat (including

waterfowl habitat), improve water

quality, and protect existing surface

water and groundwater resources will

be integral components of all alternative

plans. The project area encompasses

779,109 acres between the Arkansas and

White rivers in east central Arkansas; it

includes portions of Arkansas, Jefferson,

Lonoke, and Prairie counties.

2. Alternatives

Alternatives will be developed that

provide flood control, agricultural water

supply, groundwater conservation and

protection, waterfowl management, and

environmental enhancement and

restoration. Comparisons will be made

among alternative plans, and alternative

plans will be compared to the ‘‘no

action’’ alternative.

3. Scoping Process

An intensive public involvement

program has been initiated and will be

maintained throughout the study to (1)

solicit input from individuals and

interested parties so that problems,

needs, and opportunities within the

project area can be properly identified

and addressed and (2) provide status

updates to concerned organizations and

the general public. Affected Federal,

state, and local agencies; affected Indian

tribes; and other interested private

organizations and parties are

encouraged to participate in the scoping

process. Significant issues to be

analyzed include potential impacts

(negative and positive) to groundwater

and surface water resources, fisheries,

water quality, wetlands, wildlife,

endangered species, cultural resources,

and agricultural lands. Two public

scoping meetings will be held within

the project area. The first scoping

meeting will be held on February 15,

2000, 5:30 p.m., at the England

Elementary School, 400 East DeWitt,

England, Arkansas. The second meeting

is scheduled for February 16, 2000, 5:30

p.m., at the Lonoke Primary School, 800

Lincoln Street, Lonoke, Arkansas. It is

anticipated that the DEIS will be

available for public review during the

fall of 2002. A public meeting will be

held during the review period to receive

comments and address questions

concerning the DEIS.

Dated: January 26, 2000.

Daniel W. Krueger,

Colonel, Corps of Engineers, District Engineer.

[FR Doc. 00–2545 Filed 2–3–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3710–KS–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army Corps of

Engineers

Intent To Prepare a Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS) for the Proposed Mining

Activities Associated With Hobet

Mining, Inc.’s (Hobet) Spruce No. 1

Surface Mine Located Near Blair, in

Logan County, West Virginia

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

DoD.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 404 of the

Clean Water Act, the Huntington

District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

(Corps), in cooperation with several

Federal and State cooperating agencies

will prepare (in accordance with

Section 102(2)(c) of the National

Environmental Policy Act) an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The EIS will evaluate potentially

significant impacts to the natural,

physical, and human environment as a

result of the proposed mining activities

associated with Hobet’s Spruce No. 1

Surface Mine.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and

suggestions concerning this proposal to

Teresa Hughes, U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, Huntington District, Attn:

Regulatory Branch–OR–FS, 502 8th

Street, Huntington, West Virginia,

25701. Telephone (304) 529–5710 or

electronic mail at

Teresa.D.Huges@Lrh01.usace.army.mil.

Requests to be placed on the mailing list

should also be sent to this address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael D. Gheen, Chief of Regulatory

Branch, Attn: Regulatory Branch–OR–F,

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

Huntington district, 502 8th Street,

Huntington, West Virginia 25701,

Telephone (304) 529–5487 or electronic

mail at Michael.D.Gheen@

Lrh01.usace.army.mil

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Corps

invites comments and suggestions

regarding potential effects of the

proposed action, including the

regulatory issues and significant

environmental effects to be addressed in

the EIS, to promote open

communication and better decision

making. All persons and organizations

that have an interest in the proposed

project, including affected Federal, state

and local agencies, affected Indian

tribes, and other interested private

organizations and parties, are urged to

participate in this NEPA environmental

analysis process. Written comments

from the public regarding the