This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

32789

Vol. 66, No. 117

Monday, June 18, 2001

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Canyon Lake Dam and Wyant Lake

Dam Project, Darby Ranger District,

Bitterroot National Forest, Ravalli

County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will

prepare an environmental impact

statement to disclose the effects of a

proposal by Canyon Creek Irrigation

District to rehabilitate Canyon and

Wyant Dams. The proponents request

helicopter use to airlift equipment and

materials to the dam sites. The proposed

rehabilitation would utilize ‘‘on site’’

material sources. The Canyon Lake Dam

and Wyant Lake Dam are located

approximately eight miles due west of

Hamilton, Montana within the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot

National Forest. The dams are located in

T.6 N., R. 22 W., Sec. 27.

The purpose and need for the project

stems from the Canyon Creek Irrigation

District’s existing rights and obligations

to operate and maintain Canyon and

Wyant Dams to meet current State and

Federal Dam Safety Standards and

pertinent laws and regulations

governing the proponent’s use and the

protection of National Forest System

lands.

Construction may start in August of

2002 for the Canyon Lake Dam and

August 2003 for the Wyant Lake Dam.

The construction period would be late

summer and fall.

This project level EIS will tier to the

Bitterroot National Forest Plan and

Final EIS (September 1987) which

provides overall guidance of all land

management activities on the Bitterroot

National Forest, the Region One

Wilderness Dam Policy (June 1992), and

the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

General Management Direction (1992

Update).

DATES: Written comments and

suggestions concerning the scope of the

analysis should be received on or before

July 18, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

Frank V. Guzman, Rangeland

Management Specialist, Sula Ranger

District, Bitterroot National Forest, 7338

Hwy. 93 S., Sula, Montana 59871.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elizabeth Ballard, EIS Team Leader,

Phone: (406) 777–5461.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest

Service objective is to reasonably

regulate the proponent’s easement in

order to achieve the purposes for which

the National Forests were reserved and

the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness was

designated.

The Forest Service will consider a

range of alternatives. One of these will

be the ‘‘no action’’ alternative, in which

none of the proposed activities would

be implemented. Additional alternatives

will examine varying levels of the

proposed activities to achieve the

proposal’s purposes as well as to

respond to any public issues and other

resource values.

The EIS will analyze the direct,

indirect, and cumulative environmental

effects of the alternatives. Past, present,

and reasonably foreseeable activities on

both private and National Forest system

lands will be considered. The EIS will

disclose the analysis of site specific

mitigation measures and their

effectiveness.

Public participation is an important

part of the analysis, commencing with

the initial scoping process.

The Forest Service will be seeking

information, comments and assistance

from Federal, State, and local agencies

and other individuals or organizations

that may be interested in or affected by

the proposed action. A 30-day comment

period will be provided immediately

following publication of this notice. In

addition, the public is encouraged to

visit with Forest Service Officials at any

time during the analysis and prior to the

decision. The Forest Service has not

scheduled public meetings at this time.

Comments from the public and other

agencies will be used in preparation of

the Draft EIS. The scoping process will

be used to:

1. Identify potential issues.

2. Identify major issues to be analyzed

in depth.

3. Eliminate minor issues or those that

have been covered by a relevant

previous environmental analysis, such

as the Bitterroot Forest Plan EIS.

4. Identify alternatives to the

proposed action.

5. Identify potential environmental

effects of the proposed action and

alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect and

cumulative effects).

6. Determine potential cooperating

agencies and task assignments.

Preliminary issues that have been

identified include:

1. Public safety and protection of

property.

2. Wilderness resource and recreation.

3. Water storage.

4. Social and economic costs and

benefits.

5. General environmental concerns.

Any required permits or licenses will

be obtained prior to implementation of

the project.

The United States Forest Service,

Bitterroot National Forest is the lead

agency.

The responsible official for this

environmental impact statement is Rodd

Richardson, Forest Supervisor,

Bitterroot National Forest. Address for

Forest Supervisor is Bitterroot National

Forest, 1801 N. First St., Hamilton, MT

59840.

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) and available for public

review in march 2002. At that time the

EPA will publish a Notice of

Availability of the Draft EIS in the

Federal Register. The comment period

on the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the

date the EPA’s notice of availability

appears in the Federal Register. The

Final EIS is scheduled to be completed

by June 2002. The Forest Service

believes it is important to give reviewers

notice at this early stage of several court

rulings related to public participation in

the environmental review process. First,

reviewers of draft environmental impact

statements must structure their

participation in the environmental

review of the proposal so that it is

meaningful and alerts an agency to the

reviewer’s position and contentions.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v.

NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also,

environmental objections that could be

raised at the draft environmental impact

32790 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 117 / Monday, June 18, 2001 / Notices

statement stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final

environmental impact statement may be

waived or dismissed by the courts.

Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490

F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980).

Because of these court rulings, it is very

important that those interested in this

proposed action participate by the close

of the 45-day comment period so that

substantive comments and objections

are made available to the Forest Service

at a time when it can meaningfully

consider them and respond to them in

the final environmental impact

statement.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns on the proposed action,

comments on the draft environmental

impact statement 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 environmental

impact statement 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

40CFr 1503.3 in addressing these

points.).

Dated: June 11, 2001.

Rodd Richardson,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 01–15207 Filed 6–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service

Information Collection Activity;

Comment Request

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44

U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended), the

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) invites

comments on this information

collection for which RUS intends to

request approval from the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB).

DATES: Comments on this notice must be

received by August 17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: F.

Lamont Heppe, Jr., Program

Development & Regulatory Analysis,

Rural Utilities Service, USDA, 1400

Independence Ave., SW., Stop 1522,

Room 4034 South Building,

Washington, DC 20250–1522.

Telephone: (202) 720–0736. FAX: (202)

720–4120.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Electric and

Telecommunications Standards and

Specifications, and

Telecommunications Field Trials and

Contract Forms

OMB Control Number: 0572–0059

Type of Request: Reinstatement, with

change, of a previously approved

collection for which approval has

expired.

Abstract: In order to facilitate the

programmatic interest of the RE Act,

and, in order to assure that loans made

or guaranteed by RUS are adequately

secured, RUS, as a secured lender, has

established certain standards and

specifications for materials, equipment

and construction of electric and

telecommunications systems. The use of

standard forms, construction contracts,

and procurement procedures helps

assure RUS that appropriate standards

and specifications are maintained, RUS’

loan security is not adversely affected;

and the loan and loan guarantee funds

are used effectively and for the intended

purposes.

Compliance with RUS specifications

and standards is demonstrated to a large

extent via presentation of laboratory

tests resulting and other informational

data upon which the determination of

acceptability can be made. RUS

evaluates this data to determine that the

qualification of the products is

acceptable and that their use will not

jeopardize loan security. In the

telecommunications program, because

of the complex and highly technical

nature of equipment, services, and

system architectures, RUS also requires

a manufacturer to demonstrate

successful product use in a working

telecommunications system. In most

cases, manufacturers develop

telecommunications products with field

verifications as a normal business

operating practice and they easily

provide this information resource by

simply providing the names of several

users that RUS personally may contact

and discuss product performance.

Products that have not been deployed in

a working environment can be handled

and RUS’ field trial procedures.

This request for reinstatement

proposes to combine two of RUS’

information collections under one

control number. Control No. 0572–0076,

RUS Specification for Quality Control

and Inspection of Timber Products, will

be combined into Control No. 0572–

0059, Electric and Telecommunications

Standards and Specifications, and

Telecommunications Field Trials, and

Control Forms. This effort is to

streamline RUS’ information collections

into a more logical grouping of packages

which eliminates duplication of efforts.

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting

burden for this collection of information

is estimated to average 1 hour per

response.

Respondents: Business or other forprofit and non-profit institutions.

Estimated Number of Respondents:

280.

Estimated Number of Responses per

Respondent: 19.

Estimate Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: 5,861 hours.

Copies of this information collection

can be obtained from Dawn Wolfgang,

Program Development and Regulatory

Analysis, Rural Utilities Service at (202)

720–0812. Comments are invited on (a)

whether the collection of information is

necessary for the proper performance of

the functions of the agency, including

whether the information will have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of burden including

the validity of the methodology and

assumption used; (c) ways to enhance

the quality, utility and clarity of the

information to be collected; and (d)

ways to minimize the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including through the

use of appropriate automated,

electronic, mechanical, or other

technological collection techniques on

other forms of information technology.

All responses to this notice will be

summarized and included in the request

for OMB approval. All comments will

also become a matter of public record.

Dated: June 12, 2001.

Blaine D. Stockton,

Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.

[FR Doc. 01–15217 Filed 6–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A–588–852]

Notice of Extension of Time for the

Preliminary Results of the

Antidumping Duty New Shipper

Review: Structural Steel Beams from

Japan

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of an extension of time

for the preliminary results of the

antidumping duty new shipper review

of structural steel beams from Japan.