Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 79 / Friday, April 24, 1998 / Notices 20421

the USFS in the Uncompahgre and San

Juan National Forests, Colorado, are

crossed by the TransColorado pipeline

project. The Supplement addresses the

environmental impacts of the

construction, operation, maintenance,

and ultimate abandonment of known

proposed route changes and minor

realignments (less than 100 ft.) of the

approved pipeline and right-of-way

(ROW) grant COC–51280, and the

impacts of the proposed construction

and use of known additional temporary

work areas adjacent to the approved

ROW or proposed ROW route changes

or minor realignments. The Supplement

also addresses the impacts of the

construction of minor realignments and

the construction and use of relocated or

additional temporary work areas, in

unspecified locations. These

unspecified temporary work areas and

minor realignments are addressed to

accommodate conditions that might be

encountered during construction. Also

addressed in the Supplement are

proposed modifications to several

environmental protection measures

contained in the 1992 Right of Way

(ROW) grant and Record of Decision

(ROD).

The Supplement, and the 1992

TransColorado FEIS are available for

public review at the following BLM and

USFS offices: BLM Grand Junction

District, BLM Montrose District

(Montrose District Office, 2465 S.

Townsend Avenue, Montrose, Colorado

81401), Montrose District, Grand Mesa,

Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National

Forests (2250 Highway 50, Delta,

Colorado 81416), San Juan National

Forest and BLM San Juan Resource Area

(Federal Building, Room 102, 701

Camino Del Rio, Durango, Colorado

81301), and BLM Farmington District

(1235 N. LaPlata Hwy., Suite A,

Farmington, New Mexico 87401). Public

reading copies are available at the

federal depository libraries in Colorado

and New Mexico and public libraries

within San Juan County, New Mexico,

and La Plata, Montezuma, Dolores, San

Miguel, Montrose, Delta, Mesa, Garfield

and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado, and

at TransColorado Offices in Salt Lake

City and Montrose, CO.

DATES: The Final Supplement to the

1992 Final EIS will be available to the

public for 30-days starting April 24,

1998. After the 30-day availability

period, one Record of Decision (ROD)

will be issued for all federal lands.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill

Bottomly (970) 240–5337, Ilyse Auringer

(970) 385–1341, or Steve Hemphill (970)

874–6633.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: After

preparing Draft and Final

Environmental Impact Statements, the

BLM and the USFS signed Records of

Decision on December 1, 1992 and

issued a ROW grant and adjacent

Temporary Use Permit (TUP) for

subsequent construction, operation and

maintenance of the 292 mile-long

TransColorado Gas Transmission

pipeline from Meeker, Colorado to

Bloomfield, New Mexico. Under the

authority of the Mineral Leasing Act of

1920 (30 U.S.C. 185), as amended by the

Act of November 16, 1973 (37 Stat. 567),

BLM issued a 50 foot-wide ROW grant

on December 4, 1992, accompanied by

a 25 foot-wide TUP, excepting 1.7 miles

near Grand Junction, Colorado. The

FERC issued TransColorado a Certificate

of Public Convenience and Necessity on

June 3, 1994. TransColorado completed

the 22.5 mile Phase I of the project in

December, 1996. The proponent is now

prepared to construct the remainder of

the pipeline during 1998.

Public participation has occurred

throughout the preparation of the

Supplement. The Notice of Intent (NOI)

to prepare this Supplement to the FEIS

was published in the Federal Register

on November 21, 1997. ‘‘Open House’’

forums were held from October 21

through December 10, 1997 at Norwood,

Durango, Delta, Rangely, Dolores, and

Grand Junction, Colorado. Field trips to

locations on the San Juan National

Forest were offered on November 15 and

22, 1997. The Draft Supplement was

published on January 23, 1998, and was

available for public comments for a 60-

day period that closed on March 18,

1998. The BLM and USFS received 52

written comment letters and several oral

comments at the public meetings held

on February 17, 18, and 19, 1998 in

Durango, Dolores, and Grand Junction,

Colorado, respectively.

Dated: April 14, 1998.

Mark W. Stiles,

District Manager, Montrose District, Bureau

of Land Management.

Dated: April 14, 1998.

Dale E. Trenda,

Range, Fire, and Timber Staff Officer, Grand

Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National

Forests, Forest Service.

[FR Doc. 98–11007 Filed 4–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–JB–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

(AZ–917/AZ–060; AZA 28350)

Notice of Availability of the Decision

Record for the White Canyon Plan

Amendment/Environmental

Assessment for the Phoenix Resource

Management Plan, Pinal County, AZ

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: The State Director has

approved that portion of the proposed

plan amendment for the designation and

management of the White Canyon Area

of Critical Environmental Concern

(ACEC). In compliance with the Federal

Land Policy and Management Act of

1976, as amended, and Section 102(2)(c)

of the National Environmental Policy

Act of 1969, the plan amendment

revises designation and management

decisions made through the Phoenix

Resource Management Plan (RMP). The

proposed modification to land tenure

designations have been set aside and

will be integrated with an

environmental impact statement under

preparation for the proposed Ray Land

Exchange.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Shela McFarlin, Project Manager,

Bureau of Land Management, Arizona

State Office, 222 North Central Avenue,

Phoenix, AZ 85004, or telephone (602)

417–9568.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Decision Record will amend the

Phoenix RMP to modify the White

Canyon ACEC designation as follows:

(1) 300 non-wilderness federal acres

will be retained as the White Canyon

ACEC (within T3S, R12E, Section 23,

NE 1⁄4 and Section 25, NW 1⁄4); (2) 1,620

wilderness acres formerly designated as

ACEC will continue to be managed as

wilderness under all appropriate

guidelines, but will cease to be

designated as ACEC; and, (3) BLM will

seek to acquire 480 acres in Section 24

(T3S, R12E) to be managed upon

acquisition as ACEC. Acquisition will

be from the state of Arizona or

subsequent land owners through

appropriate mechanisms such as

donation, friendly condemnation or

exchange. New ACEC management

prescriptions will replace the Phoenix

RMP management actions and a

coordinated resource management plan

will be completed. Motorized travel will

be limited to designated roads and

trails. Surface occupancy for oil and gas

leasing will be prohibited. The plan will
20422 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 79 / Friday, April 24, 1998 / Notices

evaluate whether any ACEC areas not

already under mining claims should be

withdrawn.

Public reading copies may be

reviewed at the following BLM locations:

Arizona State Office, 222 North Central

Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85004

Tucson Field Office, 12661 East

Broadway, Tucson, Arizona 85748–

7208

Phoenix Field Office, 2015 West Deer

Valley Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85027.

Dated: April 17, 1998.

Lonna O’Neal,

Acting State Director.

[FR Doc. 98–10951 Filed 4–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–91–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Phosphate Mine Expansion Dry Valley,

Caribou County, ID

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

USDI and Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare

Environmental Impact Statement.

SUMMARY: The Department of Interior,

Bureau of Land Management (BLM),

Pocatello Resource Area and the

Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service (FS), Caribou National Forest,

will jointly prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposal to

expand FMC Corporation’s active Dry

Valley Phosphate Mine. The Dry Valley

Mine is located about 17 air miles

northeast of Soda Springs, Caribou

County, Idaho. The proposed mining

and reclamation activities for the

expansion of the Dry Valley Mine would

occur on existing Federal Phosphate

Leases I–014184, I–0678 and I–011866,

State of Idaho Leases 3823R and 7961,

and private mineral rights. Surface

ownership includes BLM, FS, State of

Idaho, and private lands. The U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers will be a cooperating

agency in the preparation of the EIS.

SCOPING PROCEDURE: The scoping

procedure to be used for this EIS has

and will involve the following: a broad

mailing asking for comments, issues and

concerns to interested and potentially

affected individuals, groups, Federal,

State and local governments; news

releases; and public scoping meetings.

An initial mailing was done in February

1998, comments received by mid-March

highlighted several issues associated

with this proposal. Another

comprehensive mailing to individuals,

groups and agencies known to be

interested will be conducted concurrent

with publication of this notice in the

Federal Register.

DATES: Written comments concerning

the scope of the analysis described in

this Notice should be received on or

before May 26, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

Bureau of Land Management, Pocatello

Resource Area, 1111 N. 8th Ave.,

Pocatello, Idaho 83201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions concerning the proposed

action and EIS should be directed to Jeff

Cundick, Mining Engineer, Pocatello

Resource Area, 1111 N. 8th Ave.,

Pocatello, Idaho 83201, phone: (208)

236–6860, or Jeff Jones, Geologist,

Caribou National Forest, Soda Springs

Ranger District, 421 W. Second South,

Soda Springs, Idaho 83276, phone: (208)

547–4356.

The Bureau of Land Management

(BLM) has received a proposal from

FMC Corp. to expand its existing Dry

Valley Phosphate Mine to the south.

The 1920 Mineral Leasing Act, as

amended, gives the primary

responsibility for approval of mining

and reclamation plans for solid leasable

minerals, like phosphate, to the BLM

when the proposed action is located on

Federal leases, regardless of the surface

owner or manager. This proposal covers

a mixture of surface and mineral estate

ownership, including Federal (FS and

BLM), State and private.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When

lands administered by the FS are

involved, the FS will develop and

submit recommendations to the BLM for

those proposed on-lease activities, while

activities off-lease will require FS

Special Use Permit authorization. The

BLM and FS do not have approval or

recommendation authority where State

surface and mineral estate or private

surface and mineral estate exist, as is

the case for portions of this project.

FMC Corp. has been mining at their

Dry Valley Mine since 1992, and the

present proposal is for the expansion of

that mine on existing leases. Ancillary

facilities including shop, office, railroad

line with loading facility, stockpile area,

etc. are currently in place and

functioning for this mine. Those

existing facilities would continue to be

utilized for the proposed expansion.

The proposed expansion consists of the

mining of two pits, referred to as pits C

and D. Pit A has already been mined

and reclaimed; pit B has been partially

mined. Reclamation and mining are

concurrent in different parts of this pit

development. Mining in pit B is

projected to be complete by early 2000.

The purpose of the mine expansion is to

provide a continued supply of ore to

FMC’s Pocatello, Idaho processing

plant. Mining in Pits A and B was

approved in 1990.

FMC has completed extensive

exploration drilling on pits C and D;

sufficient to develop a proposed mine

and reclamation plan and two

alternatives. Under the proposed

alternative, about 600 acres of surface

disturbance would occur, just over 200

of which are Federally owned and

almost entirely FS administered lands.

As mining progresses, waste rock is

generally placed as backfill into minedout pits. However, external waste rock

dumps will be required because the

volume of waste rock swells as

consolidated materials are fractured

during the mining process. In the

current proposal, about 166 acres are

planned to be covered with waste rock

dumps, about 90 acres on the National

Forest and about 76 acres on FMC’s

private land. When mining is

completed, the last portion of the mine

pit is proposed to be left open. Fiftythree acres, all of which will be on NFS

lands, would not be reclaimed or filled

with overburden.

Preliminary and informal public

scoping for the FMC Corporation’s Dry

Valley Mine expansion project was first

conducted in 1998. During the

consideration of issues to be analyzed in

depth, and in the development of

alternatives, the Pocatello Resource

Area (BLM) and the Caribou NF

preliminarily identified these issues.

1. Water quality. Potential water

quality and quantity effects. Potential

effects on water rights and possible

mitigation measures.

2. Wetlands. Potential effects and

mitigation for wetlands affected by the

proposal or alternatives.

3. Range. Potential effects on

developments used to manage livestock

grazing currently occurring on the

Federal lands involved.

4. Wildlife. Potential effects on

wildlife and their habitats.

Four preliminary alternatives have

been identified. Additional alternatives

may be developed from the analysis and

further scoping. The preliminary

alternatives are:

• Alternative 1—The proposed

action.

• Alternative 3—Do not mine the

north portion of pit C to protect

wetlands.

• Alternative 2—Reduce the size of

the north end of pit C to reduce impacts

to wetlands.

• Alternative 4—No Action.