57646 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 193 / Friday, October 3, 2008 / Notices 

imposed for the protection of the 

environment. 

(5) Approval of the HCPs would not 

establish a precedent for future actions 

or represent a decision in principle 

about future actions with potentially 

significant environmental effects. 

The Service, therefore, has made a 

preliminary determination that 

approvals of the HCPs qualify as 

categorical exclusions under NEPA, as 

provided by the Department of the 

Interior Manual (516 DM 2, Appendix 1 

and 516 DM 6, Appendix 1). Based 

upon this preliminary determination, 

we do not intend to prepare further 

NEPA documentation. The Service will 

consider public comments in making its 

final determination on whether to 

prepare such additional documentation. 

Public Review and Comment 

We will evaluate the permit 

applications, HCPs, and comments 

submitted thereon to determine whether 

the applications meet the requirements 

of section 10(a) of the Act. If we 

determine that the applications meet 

those requirements, we will issue the 

ITPs for incidental take of the Mount 

Hermon June beetle. We will also 

evaluate whether issuance of the section 

10(a)(1)(B) ITPs complies with section 7 

of the Act by conducting an intraService section 7 consultation. We will 

use the results of this consultation, in 

combination with the above findings, in 

the final analysis to determine whether 

or not to issue the ITPs. 

If you wish to comment on the permit 

applications, draft Environmental 

Action Statements or the proposed 

HCPs, you may submit your comments 

to the address listed in the ADDRESSES

section of this document. Our practice 

is to make comments, including names, 

home addresses, etc., of respondents 

available for public review. Individual 

respondents may request that we 

withhold their names and/or home 

addresses, etc., but if you wish us to 

consider withholding this information 

you must state this prominently at the 

beginning of your comments. In 

addition, you must provide a rationale 

demonstrating and documenting that 

disclosure would constitute a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of privacy. In the 

absence of exceptional, documented 

circumstances, this information will be 

released. All submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, are 

available for public inspection in their 

entirety. 

The Service provides this notice 

pursuant to section 10(c) of the Act and 

pursuant to implementing regulations 

for NEPA (40 CFR 1506.6). 

Dated: September 29, 2008. 

Diane K. Noda, 

Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife 

Office, Ventura, California. 

[FR Doc. E8–23403 Filed 10–2–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Proposed Big Sandy Casino and 

Resort Project, Fresno County, CA 

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public 

that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 

has replaced the National Indian 

Gaming Commission (NIGC) as lead 

agency in the preparation of an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for a proposed casino and hotel project 

to be located near Friant, in Fresno 

County, California. The BIA, with the 

Big Sandy Rancheria Band of Western 

Mono Indians (Tribe) as a cooperating 

agency, intends to gather information 

necessary for preparing the EIS. The 

NIGC initiated the public scoping 

process, including a public scoping 

meeting on September 15, 2005, to 

determine the issues, concerns and 

alternatives to be included in the EIS. 

The BIA is hereby continuing that 

process, but as project plans have not 

changed since the September 15, 2005, 

meeting, will not be holding additional 

public scoping meetings. 

DATES: Written comments on the scope 

and implementation of this proposal 

must arrive by November 4, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand carry 

written comments to Dale Morris, 

Regional Director, Pacific Regional 

Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 2800 

Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825. 

Please include your name, return 

address and the caption ‘‘DEIS Scoping 

Comments, Big Sandy Casino and Resort 

Project, Fresno County, California,’’ on 

the first page of your written comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Rydzik, (916) 978–6051. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

proposed project will be located east of 

Friant in Fresno County, California, on 

undeveloped foothill property 

comprising approximately 48 acres of 

allotted Indian land currently held in 

trust by the United States for the 

beneficial interest of an individual 

member of the Tribe. The Tribe and the 

individual Indian allotee have executed 

and submitted for BIA approval a lease 

agreement granting use of the property 

to the Tribe for the development of a 

casino, resort hotel, and supporting 

facilities. The BIA’s proposed federal 

action is the approval of this lease 

agreement. 

The Big Sandy Rancheria is a 

federally recognized Indian Tribe with a 

land base near Auberry, California. The 

Tribe has approximately 450 members 

and is governed by a Tribal Council 

consisting of five members, under a 

federally approved constitution. The Big 

Sandy Rancheria currently has a 

federally approved tribal-state gaming 

compact with the State of California. 

Public Comment Availability 

Comments, including names and 

addresses of respondents, will be 

available for public review at the 

mailing address shown in the 

ADDRESSES section, during regular 

business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays. Before including your address, 

telephone 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. 

Authority 

This notice is published in 

accordance with sections 1501.7 and 

1506.6 of the Council of Environmental 

Quality regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 

through 1508) implementing the 

procedural requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), the 

Department of the Interior Manual (516 

DM 1–6), and is in the exercise of 

authority delegated to the Assistant 

Secretary—Indian Affairs by 209 DM 

8.1. 

Dated: May 2, 2008. 

Carl J. Artman, 

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs. 

Editorial Note: This document was 

received in the Office of the Federal Register 

on September 30, 2008. 

[FR Doc. E8–23448 Filed 10–2–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–W7–P 

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