Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 178 / Friday, September 12, 2008 / Notices 52945 

Substation. The proposed route is 

approximately 278 miles long. The 

requested ROW width is 250 feet. Idaho 

Power Company proposes to utilize 

steel lattice type structures 

approximately 150 feet in height with 

average spans between towers of 1200 

feet. Access roads would be 

approximately 14 to 20 feet wide. 

Additional temporary work space would 

also be required during construction. 

Approximately 195 miles or 70 percent 

of the route is privately owned; 45 miles 

or 16 percent is administered by the 

BLM; 27 miles or 10 percent is 

administered by the USFS; and 11 miles 

or 4 percent is administered by the State 

of Oregon or other jurisdictions. 

The route generally parallels 

Interstate 84 and other existing 

overhead and underground utilities and 

roadways. The proposed route also 

makes use of existing or proposed utility 

corridors on Federal lands. The BLM is 

the designated lead Federal agency for 

preparation of the EIS. Cooperating 

agencies identified at this time include: 

USFS, Wallowa-Whitman National 

Forest, and the State of Oregon 

Department of Energy. Other agencies 

will be invited to participate as 

cooperating agencies. The EIS will 

analyze the proposed action and a 

reasonable range of route alternatives. 

The BLM and USFS encourage you to 

send your comments concerning the 

Project as currently proposed, feasible 

alternative locations, possible mitigation 

measures, and any other information 

relevant to the Project. Authorization of 

the Project may require amendments to 

one or more of the following BLM land 

use plans: Baker Resource Management 

Plan, Southeastern Oregon Resource 

Management Plan, Owyhee Resource 

Management Plan, Cascade Resource 

Management Plan, and one or more of 

the following USFS Forest Plans: 

Wallowa-Whitman Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan. This notice 

serves to notify the public of these 

potential land use plan amendments as 

required by 43 CFR 1610.2 (c) and 36 

CFR 219.7(c). If a land use plan 

amendment is determined to be 

required, the BLM and/or USFS will 

integrate the land use planning process 

into the NEPA analysis for this Project. 

Public input is important to ensure 

project-specific issues are evaluated 

prior to the agencies making a decision. 

Comments submitted timely will be 

considered in the NEPA process. 

Comments received after November 14, 

2008 will be considered to the extent 

feasible. Please note that public 

comments and information submitted 

including names, street addresses, and 

e-mail addresses of respondents will be 

available for public review and 

disclosure at the above address during 

normal business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 

p.m.) Monday through Friday, except 

for Federal holidays. Before including 

your address, phone number, e-mail 

address, or other personal identifying 

information in your comment, you 

should be aware that your entire 

comment—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you can ask us in your comment to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. Periodic project updates during 

preparation of the EIS will be provided 

to the public through additional 

informational meetings, newsletters, 

postcard notices, or through the project 

Web site. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information or to have your 

name added or removed from the 

project mailing list, contact Lucas 

Lucero, BLM Project Manager, (702) 

515–5059 or Lucas_Lucero@blm.gov. 

Dated: September 8, 2008. 

David R. Henderson, 

District Manager. 

Dated: September 8, 2008. 

Steven Ellis, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. E8–21285 Filed 9–11–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Huron-Manistee National Forests, 

Michigan, White Pines Wind Farm 

Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service has 

accepted an application for a special use 

authorization from White Pines Wind 

Farm LLC for the installation and 

operation of 20 to 28 wind turbines and 

associated infrastructure to provide 

between 50 and 70 megawatts (MW) of 

wind energy on National Forest System 

(NFS) lands managed by the HuronManistee National Forests. The White 

Pines Wind Farm Project (the Project) 

would occupy approximately 75 acres of 

NFS land within a Project Area of about 

10,000 acres on the Cadillac-Manistee 

Ranger District over its proposed 30- 

year life. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

October 12, 2008. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected May 2009 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected December 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Patricia O’Connell, Interdisciplinary 

Team Leader, Cadillac-Manistee Ranger 

District, Huron-Manistee National 

Forests, 412 Red Apple Road, Manistee, 

MI 49660; fax: 231–723–8642. Send 

electronic comments to: commentseastern-huron-manisteemanistee@fs.fed.us. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patricia O’Connell, Cadillac-Manistee 

Ranger District, Huron-Manistee 

National Forests; telephone: 231–723– 

2211, ext. 3119; fax: 231–723–8642. See 

address above under ADDRESSES. Copies 

of documents may be requested at the 

same address. Another means of 

obtaining information is to visit the 

Forest Web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/ 

r9/hmnf then click on ‘‘Project and 

Planning,’’ then ‘‘Cadillac and Manistee 

Projects,’’ and then ‘‘White Pines Wind 

Farm Project.’’ 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose of this project is to 

respond to an application for a special 

use authorization submitted by White 

Pines Wind Farm LLC to develop a 

wind farm on National Forest System 

lands within the Huron-Manistee 

National Forests. White Pines Wind 

Farm LLC proposes to generate 50 to 70 

MW of wind energy by constructing and 

operating between 20 and 28 wind 

turbines, in proximity to existing 

distribution facilities (utility grid), in an 

area with an adequate wind resource on 

National Forest System lands with 

consolidated ownership. The proposed 

project is needed to help meet 

Michigan’s and the region’s growing 

demand for reliable sources of clean, 

cost-effective, renewable energy. The 

project is consistent with the HuronManistee National Forests’ Land and 

Resource Management Plan and with 

Forest Service objectives for 

management of special uses on National 

Forest System lands. 

Proposed Action 

White Pines is proposing to install 

and operate the Project on land located 

mostly within the boundaries of the 

Huron-Manistee National Forests. The 

Project proposes construction of the 

wind turbines and associated 

infrastructure in April 2010, with an 

anticipated in-service date of December 


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52946 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 178 / Friday, September 12, 2008 / Notices 

2010, and operation of the facility for an 

estimated service life of 30 years. 

The vast majority of the Project’s 

facilities and activities would occur on 

National Forest System lands on the 

Cadillac-Manistee Ranger District of the 

Forest. A portion of the Project’s 

transmission line route would be 

located off of National Forest System 

lands. In addition, it would be necessary 

to expand the public road system to 

support development of the Project. 

The Project would consist of the 

construction, installation, operation, 

and maintenance of 28 new state-of-theart 2.5 MW wind turbines, which would 

have a combined power generating 

capacity of 70 MW (at peak capacity). 

The Project is proposing to use the 

Clipper Class II Liberty Series 2.5 MW 

Wind Turbine, which are manufactured 

domestically in Iowa. It is feasible that 

a higher megawatt turbine could become 

available and be utilized for this Project. 

If available in the future, turbines with 

a larger capacity would be located 

within the existing array plan footprint 

and would not affect the overall 

maximum Project power generating 

capacity of 70 MW. 

Each turbine is comprised of three 

components—the tower, the nacelle, 

and the rotor blades. The turbines use 

a tubular steel tower, with a hub height 

of 262 feet. The tower is topped by the 

nacelle, which houses the turbine’s 

mechanical components. The rotor, 

mounted on the nacelle, consists of 

three fiberglass blades 153 feet in length 

and has a rotor diameter of 315 feet. The 

total height of the wind turbines would 

be approximately 420 feet above a 

concrete foundation base. Each turbine 

would be anchored to a 60 foot diameter 

concrete foundation of which a 20-foot 

diameter pedestal would be visible 

above ground. A pad mounted step-up 

transformer would be located on each 

concrete foundation base to increase the 

voltage from each wind turbine 

generator to 34.5 kilovolt (kV). The area 

of the total disturbed footprint per 

turbine, including clearing and grubbing 

of vegetation, would have a radius of 

approximately 125 feet, for an aggregate 

footprint of about 1.1 acres per wind 

turbine foundation during construction. 

Subsequent to construction, the turbine 

footprint area would be reduced to less 

than 0.2 acres. 

In addition to the turbines, the Project 

would consist of the following 

components: 

• Approximately 9 miles of road 

reconstruction to existing roads (3 miles 

of Forest Service roads and 6 miles of 

County roads) and approximately 5 

miles of new road construction would 

occur on NFS lands. During 

construction of the Project, these roads 

would be widened and cleared to 

approximately 40 feet to allow for 

equipment delivery and crane transport 

between turbine locations. However, to 

allow for the installation of the 

collection system and drainage, some of 

these roads may be cleared to 

approximately 80 feet. Road reclamation 

and revegetation would be performed at 

the end of construction to reduce access 

roads to standards mutually agreed 

upon with the appropriate road agencies 

(i.e., Forest Service and Mason County). 

Roads would remain accessible, to the 

extent practicable, to the public. The 

new roads for the Project would be 

permanent roads added to the road 

system on NFS lands. 

• Installation of over 40 miles of 34.5 

kV underground electrical 

interconnections between turbines to 

collect and deliver electricity to a new 

substation. Where practicable, the 

underground electrical collection 

system would be installed along the 

same right-of-way (RoW) corridor as the 

access roads. In addition, fiber optic 

communication lines would be installed 

along with the electrical collection 

system to monitor the operation of the 

wind farm. No additional clearing 

beyond that described for the roadway 

clearing would be required for the 

installation of the electrical collection 

system and fiber optic lines between 

turbines. 

• A step-up transformer at each 

turbine location plus one transformer 

for the electrical substation site. Each 

step-up transformer would be located on 

the concrete foundation base. 

• An electrical substation on a 5-acre 

parcel would be constructed on NFS 

lands within the Project Area to step up 

the electrical collection system voltage 

to the existing local transmission line 

voltage. 

• An above ground, 138 kV 

transmission line to connect the 

proposed wind farm substation to the 

existing Pere Marquette-Stronach 138- 

kV transmission line running northsouth and located east of the Project 

Area. The transmission line would have 

a RoW corridor of approximately 150 

feet. Approximately 3 miles of the 

transmission line would be located on 

NFS lands and approximately 2 miles of 

the line would cross private lands. 

• Three 199-foot tall meteorological 

monitoring towers have been 

constructed and are currently collecting 

data within the Project Area boundary. 

At the completion of the Project, 1 to 3 

meteorological towers would remain 

within the Project Area during the life 

of the Project. 

• Three temporary staging areas 

would be located within the Project 

Area for construction-related temporary 

facilities, which include a concrete 

batch plant and cleared areas for 

construction parking, equipment 

laydown, and construction management 

trailers. These areas, totaling 

approximately 10 acres, would be 

restored and revegetated upon 

completion of construction. 

• A second electrical substation 

would be needed at the end of the 138 

kV transmission line to tie into the 

existing 138 kV overhead transmission 

line. This substation would be located 

on private land outside of the Project 

Area. 

In addition to these facilities, the 

Project development process would also 

involve upgrading local transportation 

infrastructure to accommodate the 

expected size of construction materials. 

At this time, it is anticipated that the 

infrastructure upgrades would be minor 

in scale (e.g., increased turning radius at 

road intersections). 

The Project area boundary 

encompasses a total of approximately 

10,024 acres, of which 8,600 acres are 

within the NFS lands within the 

Cadillac-Manistee Ranger District. The 

Project components described above 

would be sited within this Project Area 

boundary and would occupy a 

permanent footprint of approximately 

75 acres of NFS lands. Consideration of 

species management and habitat, water 

resources, cultural resources, visuals, 

public access and safety, maximization 

of existing facilities, and the layout of 

buried and above ground facilities have 

been incorporated as part of the Project 

design to the extent practicable and 

would be evaluated through the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) site-specific environmental 

analysis process. 

Responsible Official 

Barry Paulson, Forest Supervisor, 

Huron-Manistee National Forests, 1755 

S. Mitchell Street, Cadillac, MI 49601. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

White Pines Wind Farm LLC has 

submitted an application to the Forest 

Service for a Special Use authorization 

seeking approval to occupy and use NFS 

lands for the purpose of constructing 

and operating a wind power facility on 

the Huron-Manistee National Forests. 

The decision to be made is whether to 

grant the authorization for the 

construction and operation activities as 

proposed, or as modified by an 

alternative to the proposed action, or to 

deny granting the authorization. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 178 / Friday, September 12, 2008 / Notices 52947 

Scoping Process 

The Forest Service plans to scope for 

information by contacting persons and 

organizations interested or potentially 

affected by the proposed action by using 

mailings, public announcements, and 

personal contacts. In addition, two 

separate public scoping meetings will be 

held to collect public input on the scope 

of this project: 

Scoping Meeting #1: September 30, 

2008, at the Ramada Inn, 4079 W. U.S. 

10, Ludington, MI. An open house 

format will be used. The public is 

welcome between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. 

Scoping Meeting #2: October 1, 2008, 

at the Days Inn, 1462 U.S. Hwy. 31, 

Manistee, MI. An open house format 

will be used. The public is welcome 

between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. 

Comment Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. The primary purpose 

of scoping is to gather public comments, 

issues, and concerns regarding the 

proposed action. We are especially 

interested in information that might 

identify a specific undesired result of 

implementing the proposed action. 

Comments will be used to help 

formulate alternatives to the proposed 

action. Please make your written 

comments as specific as possible as they 

relate to the proposed action, and 

include your name, address, and if 

possible, telephone number and e-mail 

address. Comments received in response 

to this solicitation, including names and 

addresses of those who comment, will 

be considered part of the public record 

on this proposed action and will be 

available for public inspection. 

Comments submitted anonymously will 

be accepted and considered; however, 

those who submit anonymous 

comments will not have standing to 

appeal the subsequent decisions under 

36 CFR parts 215 or 217. Additionally, 

pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any persons 

may request the agency to withhold a 

submission from the public record by 

showing how the FOIA (Freedom of 

Information Act) permits such 

confidentiality. Persons requesting such 

confidentiality should be aware that 

under FOIA confidentiality may be 

granted in only very limited 

circumstances, such as to protect trade 

secrets. The Forest Service will inform 

the requester of the agency’s decision 

regarding the request for confidentiality 

and, should the request be denied, 

return the submission and notify the 

requester that the comments may be 

resubmitted with or without name and 

address within 90 days. 

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 environmental 

impact statement will be 45 days 

following the date the Environmental 

Protection Agency publishes the notice 

of availability in the Federal Register. 

The Forest Service believes, at this early 

stage, that it is important to give 

reviewers notice 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 

statement stage but that are not raised 

until after completion of the final 

environmental impact statement may be 

waived or dismissed by the courts. City 

of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 

1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and 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 40 

CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points. 

Comments received, including the 

names and addresses of those who 

comment, will be considered part of the 

public record on this proposal and will 

be available for public inspection. 

Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; 

Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 

21. 

Dated: August 22, 2008. 

Barry Paulson, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. E8–20764 Filed 9–11–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM 

PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR 

SEVERELY DISABLED 

Procurement List; Proposed Deletions 

AGENCY: Committee for Purchase From 

People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled. 

ACTION: Proposed deletions from 

Procurement List. 

SUMMARY: The Committee is proposing 

to delete products previously furnished 

by nonprofit agencies employing people 

who are blind or severely disabled. 

Comments Must be Received On or 

Before: October 12, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase 

From People Who Are Blind or Severely 

Disabled, Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800, 

1421 Jefferson Davis Highway, 

Arlington, Virginia 22202–3259. 

For Further Information or to Submit 

Comments Contact: Kimberly M. Zeich, 

Telephone: (703) 603–7740, Fax: (703) 

603–0655, or e-mail 

CMTEFedReg@AbilityOne.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice is published pursuant to 41 U.S.C 

47(a)(2) and 41 CFR 51–2.3. Its purpose 

is to provide interested persons an 

opportunity to submit comments on the 

proposed actions. 

Deletions 

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification 

I certify that the following action will 

not have a significant impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The major factors considered for this 

certification were: 

1. If approved, the action will not 

result in additional reporting, 

recordkeeping or other compliance 

requirements for small entities. 

2. If approved, the action may result 

in allowing other small entities to 

furnish the products to the Government. 

3. There are no known regulatory 

alternatives which would accomplish 

the objectives of the Javits-WagnerO’Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46–48c) in 

connection with the products proposed 

for deletion from the Procurement List. 

End of Certification 

The following products are proposed 

for deletion from the Procurement List: 


ebenthall on PROD1PC60 with NOTICES