34624 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 126 / Friday, June 29, 2001 / Notices

DATES: Comments from specific

individuals who received a copy of the

Supplement with a June 22, 2001 letter

from DOE regarding this oversight are

now due by August 13, 2001. DOE will

consider all comments received from

those individuals by that date in

preparing the Final EIS. Comments

received from those individuals after

August 13, 2001 will be considered to

the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and

requests for further information on the

Supplement to the Draft EIS, and

requests for copies of the document

(hard copy or CD–ROM) should be

directed to: Dr. Jane Summerson, EIS

Document Manager, M/S 010, U.S.

Department of Energy, Office of Civilian

Radioactive Waste Management, Yucca

Mountain Site Characterization Office,

P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas,

Nevada 89036–0307, Telephone 1–800–

967–3477, Facsimile 1–800–967–0739.

Written comments via facsimiles

should include the following identifier:

‘‘Yucca Mountain Supplement to the

Draft EIS.’’

Written comments on or requests for

copies of the document may also be

submitted over the internet via the

Yucca Mountain Project website at

http://www.ymp.gov, under the listing

‘‘Environmental Impact Statement.’’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

Jane Summerson, EIS Document

Manager, M/S 010, U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive

Waste Management, Yucca Mountain

Site Characterization Office, P.O. Box

30307, North Las Vegas, Nevada 89036–

0307, Telephone 1–800–967–3477,

Facsimile 1–800–967–0739.

For general information on the DOE

NEPA process, contact: Ms. Carol M.

Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA

Policy and Compliance (EH–42), U.S.

Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20585, Telephone 202–

586–4600, or leave a message at 1–800–

472–2756.

Issued in Washington, DC, June 25, 2001.

Lake Barrett,

Acting Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive

Waste Management.

[FR Doc. 01–16420 Filed 6–28–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Los Alamos Area Office, National

Nuclear Security Administration;

Notice of Floodplain Involvement for

the Wildfire Hazard Reduction and

Forest Health Improvement Program

Projects at Los Alamos National

Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security

Administration, Los Alamos Area

Office, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of floodplain

involvement.

SUMMARY: The National Nuclear

Security Administration (NNSA) of the

Los Alamos Area Office at the

Department of Energy (DOE) plans to

implement individual projects using

mechanical and manual thinning

methods to treat the forests at Los

Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in

an effort to reduce fuel loading and

wildfire hazards, and to improve the

overall forest health. These ecosystembased management program projects

will be implemented over the next 18 to

36 months, or until completed, and will

be followed by periodic maintenance

projects to retain the desired end-state

for wildfire risk reduction with

enhancements to improve forest health.

The projects will include construction

of access roads and fuel breaks as

treatment measures. Wood materials

generated by the treatment measures

will be either donated or salvaged; wood

waste materials will primarily be

disposed of through chipping and use

on-site or by burning in pits with the

use of an air curtain destructor.

Implementation of these projects will

include areas of forest located on mesa

tops, along canyon sides, and in canyon

bottoms, including floodplain areas (but

excluding wetland areas), located

within the Los Alamos National

Laboratory (LANL) boundaries in Los

Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, New

Mexico. In accordance with 10 CFR part

1022, DOE will prepare a floodplain

assessment and will perform this

proposed action in a manner so as to

avoid or minimize potential harm to or

within the affected floodplain.

DATES: Comments are due to the address

below no later than July 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to: Elizabeth Withers,

Department of Energy, National Nuclear

Security Administration, Los Alamos

Area Office, 528 35th Street, Los

Alamos, NM 87544, or submit them to

the Mail Room at the above address

between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:30

p.m., Monday through Friday. Written

comments may also be sent

electronically to: ewithers@doeal.gov or

by facsimile to (505) 667–9998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Everett Trollinger, Department of

Energy, National Nuclear Security

Administration, Los Alamos Area

Office, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, NM

87544. Telephone (505) 667–0281,

facsimile (505) 667–9998.

For Further Information on General

DOE Floodplain Environmental Review

Requirements, contact: Carol M.

Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA

Policy and Compliance, EH–42,

Department of Energy, 100

Independence Avenue, S.W.,

Washington DC 20585–0119. Telephone

(202) 586–4600 or (800) 472–2756,

facsimile (202) 586–7031.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August

9, 2000, the NNSA issued a Finding of

No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the

Proposed Action (the No Burn

Alternative) together with the Final

Environmental Assessment for the

Wildfire Hazard Reduction and Forest

Health Improvement Program at Los

Alamos National Laboratory, Los

Alamos, New Mexico (DOE/EA 1329).

More recently, on May 29, 2001, the

NNSA issued a FONSI for the Limited

Burn Alternative (Waste Only) analyzed

in DOE/EA 1329. The NNSA now plans

on implementing the actions described

in the Limited Burn Alternative of DOE/

EA 1329 beginning in July 2001. Up to

an estimated 10,000 acres (ac) (4,000

hectares (ha)), or about 35 percent of

LANL, will be treated over the next 18

to 36 months or until completed.

Implementation of program projects will

include areas of forest located on mesa

tops, along canyon sides, and in canyon

bottoms, including floodplain areas (but

excluding wetland areas), located

within LANL boundaries in Los Alamos

and Santa Fe Counties, New Mexico.

The treatment of LANL forested areas

will include the use of mechanical

thinning and thinning with hand-held

tools and equipment.

The program projects will be

composed of a series of strategically

planned projects implemented in three

phases. The phases are as follows: Phase

1 (high priority strategic projects,

primarily fuel breaks, in heavily

forested urban interface areas to reduce

the wildfire hazard to the pubic, LANL

employees, and key facilities and

infrastructure); Phase 2 ( moderate

priority, larger forest fuels reduction

projects in heavily forested areas to

reduce the general wildfire hazard and

improve forest health); and Phase 3

(lower priority, larger forest fuels

reduction projects in more moderately

forested and remote areas to reduce

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 126 / Friday, June 29, 2001 / Notices 34625

wildfire hazard in general and improve

forest health). Each project as it is

developed will follow certain planning

steps that include formulating a plan of

action that will identify and assess

potential risks and environmental

concerns and formulating a reasoned

treatment plan. These plans will include

facility and forest fire hazard

assessment, identification of resource

issues, coordination with neighboring

land management agencies and land

owners, development of end-state

conditions, and formulation of

treatment and environmental protection

measures. Treatment measures will be

identified for each project including the

equipment and involved job

performances, and types of treatment

measures to be performed based on the

forest and site conditions in the project

area. Integral to treatment measures

would be complementary measures to

protect public health and welfare and to

protect and enhance cultural and

natural resources. Worker protection

and health and safety measures, cultural

resource protection measures, air

quality protection measures, water

quality protection measures, threatened

and endangered species protection

measures, as well as other biological

resources protection measures would be

employed on each project. Wood

materials and wastes generated from the

treatment activities would be disposed

of as follows: wood materials will be

donated or salvaged for use by the

surrounding communities, or may be

contracted for to offset program

operational costs; wastes will be

disposed of on-site by chipping and

reuse as mulch, by burning within pits

using air curtain destructor devices to

enhance the burning process, or at onsite waste disposal facilities.

Additionally, waste may be sent to offsite disposal facilities as well. Posttreatment assessments will be

conducted for each project area that will

include some or all of the following:

end-state conditions assessment, fuel

load inventories, ecological field

studies, watershed assessment and

monitoring, and data analysis and

modeling. Maintenance measures would

be implemented on project areas at least

once every 5 years (or as necessary) to

maintain the desired end-state

conditions of the forests at LANL. These

maintenance measures will include the

type of treatment measures used to

initially treat an area and may also

include periodic mowing and the

maintenance of access roads. NNSA

may also consider the use of prescribed

burning under very carefully controlled

conditions in the future as a forest

maintenance tool. However, at this time,

DOE is still in the process of developing

a complex-wide policy on prescribed

burning and a moratorium on the use

prescribed burning at DOE sites is in

effect until the policy has been issued.

NNSA will likely revisit this issue at a

later time.

Additional information about wildfire

hazard reduction projects can be found

in the April 2001 document entitled

Wildfire Hazard Reduction Project Plan

(LA–UR–01–2017). Both DOE/EA 1329

and this plan are available by contacting

Elizabeth Withers at (505) 667–8690, or

writing to her at the previously

identified Los Alamos Area Office

address. These documents have also

been placed electronically at: http://libwww.lanl.gov/pubs/Environment.htm

and in hard copy at the DOE Reading

Rooms at: the Community Relations

Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory,

Los Alamos, NM 87545; and the

Government Information Department,

Zimmerman Library, University of New

Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131–1466.

In accordance with DOE regulations

for compliance with floodplain and

wetlands environmental review

requirements (10 CFR Part 1022), NNSA

will prepare a floodplain assessment for

this proposed action, which will be

made available by contacting Elizabeth

Withers at the previously identified

addresses, phone and facsimile

numbers. It will available electronically

at: http://lib-www.lanl.gov/pubs/

Environment.htm. After DOE issues the

assessment, a floodplain statement of

findings will be published in the

Federal Register.

Issued in Los Alamos, New Mexico on June

25, 2001.

David A. Gurul,

Area Manager, U.S. Department of Energy,

National Nuclear Security Administration Los

Alamos Area Office.

[FR Doc. 01–16451 Filed 6–28–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[FE Docket No. PP–242]

Application for Presidential Permit

Maestros Group L.L.P.

AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Application.

SUMMARY: Maestros Group L.L.P.

(Maestros) has applied for a Presidential

permit to construct, operate, maintain,

and connect a double-circuit electric

transmission line across the U.S. border

with Mexico.

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests

to intervene must be submitted on or

before July 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests, or

requests to intervene should be

addressed as follows: Office of Coal &

Power Import and Export (FE–27),

Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department

of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC 20585–0350.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Russell (Program Office) 202–586–

9624 or Michael T. Skinker (Program

Attorney) 202–586–2793.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

construction, operation, maintenance,

and connection of facilities at the

international border of the United States

for the transmission of electric energy

between the United States and a foreign

country is prohibited in the absence of

a Presidential permit issued pursuant to

Executive Order (EO) 10485, as

amended by EO 12038.

On May 10, 2001, Maestros, an

independent power producer, filed an

application with the Office of Fossil

Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy

(DOE) for a Presidential permit.

Maestros proposes to construct a 500-

megawatt (MW) combined-cycle, natural

gas-fired powerplant in the vicinity of

Nogales, Arizona, and a double-circuit

230,000 volt (230-kV) transmission line

across the U.S. border to Nogales,

So`nora, Mexico. In Mexico, Maestros

plans to interconnect with the main

power grid of Comision Federal de

Electricidad, the national electric utility

of Mexico, and to export the electrical

output of the powerplant to Mexico. The

generating facilities are proposed to be

placed in service in late 2004; Maestros

does not propose to be interconnected

with the electric power system of the

U.S. In a related activity, outside the

jurisdiction of the DOE, Maestros

proposes to construct a 100 MW natural

gas-fired powerplant at the same site

with the electrical output dedicated to

the U.S. market.

Since restructuring of the electric

power industry began, resulting in the

introduction of different types of

competitive entities into the

marketplace, DOE has consistently

expressed its policy that cross-border

trade in electric energy should be

subject to the same principles of

comparable open access and nondiscrimination that apply to

transmission in interstate commerce.

DOE has stated that policy in export

authorizations granted to entities

requesting authority to export over

international transmission facilities.

Specifically, DOE expects transmitting

utilities owning border facilities to