12306 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Notices 

motorized travel. The MVUM would be 

the primary tool used to determine 

compliance and enforcement with 

motor vehicle use designations on the 

ground. Currently, motorized travel on 

the OWNF is permitted unless 

designated closed. Following the 

decision and publication of the MVUM, 

motorized travel on the OWNF would 

be closed unless designated open. 

Additional details and a full 

description of the proposed action can 

be found on the Internet at http://www.

fs.fed.us/r6/okawen/travel-management. 

In addition, maps and details will be 

available for viewing at Forest Service 

offices in Republic, Tonasket, 

Okanogan, Winthrop, Chelan, Entiat, 

Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cle Elum, 

Naches, and North Bend, Washington. 

Maps will also be available for viewing 

at public libraries in Tonasket, Omak, 

Okanogan, Twisp, Winthrop, Chelan, 

Entiat, Wenatchee, Cashmere, 

Leavenworth, Cle Elum, Ellensburg, 

Naches, Tieton, Selah and Yakima, 

Washington. 

Possible Alternatives 

A full range of alternatives will be 

considered, including the proposed 

action, no action, and additional 

alternatives that respond to issues 

generated during the scoping process. 

The no action alternative would 

maintain current allowances and 

restrictions for OHV use and motorized 

cross-country travel described in the 

current Okanogan and Wenatchee 

National Forest Plans and Okanogan 

National Forest Travel Plan. All 

alternatives would comply with the 

Okanogan and Wenatchee National 

Forest Plans. 

Lead Agency 

The Forest Service will be the lead 

agency in accordance with 40 CFR 

1501.5(b), and is responsible for 

preparation of the environmental impact 

statement (EIS). 

Responsible Official 

The Forest Supervisor for the 

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, 

Rebecca Lockett Heath, will be the 

responsible official for this EIS and its 

Record of Decision. As the Responsible 

Official, the Forest Supervisor will 

document the decision and reasons for 

the decision in the Record of Decision. 

That decision will be subject to Forest 

Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR 

Part 215). 

Nature of the Decision To Be Made 

The Responsible Official will decide 

whether to adopt and implement the 

proposed action, an alternative to the 

proposed action, or take no action to: 

1. Designate where and under what 

conditions motor vehicles can be used 

on specific roads, trails and areas. 

2. Designate where and under what 

conditions motorized access for 

dispersed recreation would be allowed. 

3. Designate where and under what 

conditions motorized mixed use would 

be allowed on NFS roads. 

4. Determine whether or under what 

conditions to amend the Forest Plans. 

Preliminary Issues 

Preliminary issues identified during 

the earlier public involvement process 

include the following: 

1. Motorized use on specific roads 

and trails may affect: Wildlife (in 

particular grizzly bear and other focal 

species potentially affected by travel 

corridor disturbance), soil erosion 

(compaction and sedimentation), fish 

and aquatics species (sedimentation), 

and riparian habitat; 

2. Motorized use on specific roads or 

trails may cause social conflicts between 

different recreational user groups; 

3. Mixed motorized use on National 

Forest System roads may affect the 

safety of all users; 

4. Motorized use on specific roads 

and trails may affect the resources and 

noise level on adjacent private land. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent (NOI) initiates 

the scoping process, which guides 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. 

The OWNF held 13 public meetings 

in central Washington and in the 

Seattle, Washington area in 2006 and 

2007 to help develop the proposed 

action. These meetings were used to 

identify potential issues and potential 

components of the proposed action. 

The Forest Supervisor is seeking 

public and agency comment on the 

proposed action to identify issues that 

arise from the proposed action. These 

issues may lead to other alternatives, or 

additional mitigation measures and 

monitoring requirements. 

Comments are most valuable if they 

are site-specific. Comments about 

existing or proposed conditions on 

individual routes, desired motorized or 

non-motorized recreation opportunities, 

uses and impacts, and route 

designations are being sought. 

Public meetings to explain and gather 

comments about the proposed action 

will be held at the following locations 

and dates from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.: 

Ellensburg, WA, April 6, Hal Holmes 

Community Center. 

Yakima, WA, April 7, Howard 

Johnson Ballroom. 

Cashmere, WA, April 8, Apple Annie 

Antique Gallery. 

Okanogan, WA, April 9, Okanogan 

County Agriplex. 

Seattle, WA area: To be announced 

and posted on the Travel Management 

Web site (http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/

okawen/travel-management). 

Early Notice of Importance of Public 

Participation in Subsequent 

Environmental Review 

A draft environmental impact 

statement will be prepared for comment. 

The comment period on the draft EIS 

will be 45 days from the date the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

publishes the notice of availability in 

the Federal Register. The draft EIS is 

expected to be filed with the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

and to be available for public review in 

December 2009. The final EIS is 

expected to be completed by July 2010. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns about the proposed action, 

comments on the draft EIS should be as 

specific as possible. It is also helpful if 

comments refer to specific pages or 

chapters of the draft statement. 

Comments may also address the 

adequacy of the draft EIS or the merits 

of the alternatives formulated and 

discussed in the statement. Reviewers 

may wish to refer to the Council on 

Environmental Quality Regulations for 

implementing the procedural provisions 

of the National Environmental Policy 

Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing 

these points. 

Dated: March 18, 2009. 

Rebecca Lockett Heath, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. E9–6385 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Notice of Availability (NOA) Record of 

Decision (ROD) for the Designation of 

Energy Corridors on Federal Land in 

the 11 Western States, Including 

Proposed Amendments to Selected 

Land Management Plans 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of record 

of decision. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the 

National Forest Management Act 

(NFMA, 16 U.S.C. 1600–1614 et seq.), 

the Forest Service announces the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Notices 12307 

decision to amend selected Land 

Management Plans. Specifically, the 

ROD amends 38 Land Management 

Plans for National Forests in 10 of the 

11 Western States. The United States 

Department of the Interior and the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are 

expected to concurrently announce a 

similar decision amending their 

respective Resource Management Plans. 

Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act 

of 2005 (EPAct 2005), Public Law 109– 

58, directs the Secretaries of 

Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and the 

Interior to designate corridors on 

Federal land in the 11 Western States 

for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines, as 

well as electricity transmission and 

distribution facilities, and incorporate 

the designated corridors into relevant 

agency land use and resource 

management plans or equivalent plans. 

The 11 Western States are Arizona, 

California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, 

Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, 

Washington, and Wyoming. The Forest 

Service is not designating any corridors 

in the State of New Mexico. 

DATES: Effective Date: This decision is 

effective April 23, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: The ROD is available on the 

internet at http://www.corridoreis.anl.

com. Printed copies will be available at 

one of the involved National Forest 

supervisor or district ranger offices in 

the 10 Western States. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glen 

Parker, Realty Specialist, Lands, 202– 

205–1196 or Ron Pugh, Planning 

Specialist, Ecosystem Management 

Coordination, 202–205–0992. USDA 

Forest Service, L; (Glen Parker); 1400 

Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 

1124; Washington, DC 20050–1124. 

Individuals who use 

telecommunication devices for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern 

Standard Time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In October 

2008, the BLM released a final 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement (PEIS) to designate corridors 

for future oil, gas, and hydrogen 

pipelines, as well as electricity 

transmission and distribution facilities, 

and to incorporate the designated 

corridors into the relevant agencies’ 

land use and resource management 

plans or equivalent plans. Section 368 

directs the involved agencies to take 

into account the need for upgraded and 

new infrastructure and to take actions to 

improve reliability, relieve congestion, 

and enhance the capability of the 

national grid to deliver energy. This 

action only pertains to the designation 

of corridors for potential facilities on 

Federal lands located within the 11 

Western States. 

Designation of Section 368 energy 

corridors is an important step in 

addressing critical energy needs in the 

West. Energy corridors on Federal lands 

provide pathways for future longdistance energy transmission that will 

help to relieve congestion, improve 

reliability, and enhance the national 

electric grid. Future use of corridors 

should reduce the proliferation of 

rights-of-way (ROWs) across the 

landscape and minimize the 

environmental footprint of future 

development. 

Section 368 energy corridors are 

located to avoid, to the maximum extent 

possible, significant, known 

environmental resources. The corridors 

are designated considering potential 

renewable energy development in the 

West, which is currently constrained in 

part by a lack of transmission capacity. 

The coordinated, interagency permitting 

and environmental compliance 

processes, evaluated in the PEIS and 

adopted by this ROD, will foster longterm, systematic planning for energy 

transportation development and offer a 

consistent and improved interagency 

permitting process. The amendment of 

the land management plans is 

responsive to USDA’s responsibilities 

under Section 368 of the Act and 

represents a forward-looking proactive 

response to the Nation’s energy needs 

and the sustainable management of NFS 

lands. 

The ROD is intended to improve 

coordination among the agencies to 

increase the efficiency of using 

designated corridors. In many areas of 

the United States, including the West, 

the infrastructure required to deliver 

energy has not always kept pace with 

growth in energy demand. The agencies 

hope to improve the delivery of energy, 

while enhancing the electric 

transmission grid for the future, by 

establishing a coordinated network of 

Section 368 energy corridors on Federal 

lands in the West. The final PEIS 

analyzes the environmental impacts of 

designating Section 368 energy 

corridors in 11 Western States and 

incorporating those designations into 

relevant agency land use and resource 

management plans or equivalent plans. 

The Agencies prepared this PEIS at 

the designation stage because they 

believe it is an appropriate time to 

examine environmental concerns at the 

programmatic level. Impacts that affect 

the quality of the environment will only 

occur after specific proposals are 

submitted, analyzed through the NEPA 

process, and approved by the land 

management agency. The agencies 

expect that the PEIS will assist 

subsequent site-specific analyses for 

individual project proposals. 

These energy corridors comprise a 

comprehensive, coordinated network of 

preferred locations for future energy 

projects that could be developed to 

satisfy demand for energy. This ROD 

designates approximately 990 miles of 

energy corridors on National Forest 

System lands in 10 of the 11 Western 

States as the preferred location for oil, 

natural gas, and hydrogen pipelines as 

well as electricity transmission and 

distribution lines. Environmental, 

engineering, and land use screening 

criteria were applied during the 

development of the proposed action to 

reduce potential environmental and 

land use conflicts. The energy corridors 

will typically be 3,500 feet wide, 

although the width may vary in certain 

areas due to environmental, 

topographic, or management 

requirements. 

The policies and Interagency 

Operating Procedures (IOPs) developed 

under the proposed action establish 

requirements for the management of 

future individual energy transportation 

projects. The IOPs identify required 

management procedures to be 

incorporated into the analysis of future 

project-specific energy transportation 

development proposals. 

The ROD amends a total of 38 Forest 

Service land management plans in 10 of 

the 11 Western States. The land use 

plan amendments designate the Section 

368 energy corridors identified in the 

final ROD. The plan amendments do not 

eliminate the need for site-specific 

NEPA analyses of individual 

development proposals. 

Readers should note this decision was 

signed by the Under Secretary of 

Agriculture for Natural Resources and 

the Environment; therefore, no 

administrative review of the Record of 

Decision under 36 CFR part 217 is 

available. 

Reference to previously published 

Federal Register documents: 73 FR 

72521, November 28, 2008; 73 FR 2905, 

January 16, 2008; 72 FR 64591, 

November 16, 2007; and 70 FR 56647, 

September 28, 2005. 

Dated: March 12, 2009. 

Ann Bartuska, 

Acting Deputy Under Secretary, Natural 

Resources and Environment. 

[FR Doc. E9–6346 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

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