Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 118 / Monday, June 22, 2009 / Notices 29463 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology should be addressed to: Desk 

Officer for Agriculture, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB), OIRA_Submission 

@OMB.EOP.GOV or fax (202) 395–5806 

and to Departmental Clearance Office, 

USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 7602, 

Washington, DC 20250–7602. 

Comments regarding these information 

collections are best assured of having 

their full effect if received within 30 

days of this notification. Copies of the 

submission(s) may be obtained by 

calling (202) 720–8681. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number and the agency informs 

potential persons who are to respond to 

the collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

Title: Floriculture Survey. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0093. 

Summary of Collection: The primary 

function of the National Agricultural 

Statistics Service (NASS) is to prepare 

current official state and national 

estimates of crop and livestock 

production. Since 1985 Congress has 

provided funds to conduct an annual 

Commercial Floriculture Survey which 

obtains data on this important and 

growing industry. General authority for 

these data collection activities is granted 

under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204. 

This statute specifies that ‘‘The 

Secretary of Agriculture shall procure 

and preserve all information concerning 

agriculture which can be obtained by 

the collection of statistics * * * and 

shall distribute them among 

agriculturists’’. The floriculture industry 

accounted for more than $8.6 billion in 

agricultural cash receipts at the U.S. 

level. 

Need and Use of the Information: 

NASS will collect information to assess 

alternative agriculture opportunities. 

Data from the survey will provide 

statistics for Federal and State agencies 

to monitor the use of agricultural 

chemicals. If the information is not 

collected, data users could not keep 

abreast of changes. 

Description of Respondents: Farms; 

Business or other for-profit. 

Number of Respondents: 12,500. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 4,054. 

Ruth Brown, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. E9–14533 Filed 6–19–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3420–20–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Allegheny National Forest; 

Pennsylvania; Transition EIS 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service is 

proposing to authorize reasonable 

access for site-specific proposals to 

develop reserved and outstanding 

mineral rights within the Allegheny 

National Forest, with provisions to 

mitigate impacts to surface resources. 

We are also proposing to use design 

criteria and a site-specific review 

process through this decision to 

authorize reasonable access for future 

site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest, 

with provisions to mitigate impacts to 

surface resources. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

August 21, 2009. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected January 2010, and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected April 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Anthony V. Scardina, Allegheny 

National Forest, 4 Farm Colony Drive, 

Warren, PA 16365. Comments may also 

be sent via e-mail to comments-easternallegheny@fs.fed.us, or via facsimile to 

814–726–1465. Comments sent via 

email should use the subject line 

‘‘Transition EIS.’’ 

Comments received in response to 

this solicitation, including names and 

addresses of those who comment, will 

be part of the public record for this 

proposed action. Comments submitted 

anonymously will be accepted and 

considered; however, anonymous 

comments may limit the respondents 

ability to participate in subsequent 

administrative review or judicial 

review. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony V. Scardina, Allegheny 

National Forest, 4 Farm Colony Drive, 

Warren, PA 16365; (814) 728–6115 or 

ascardina@fs.fed.us. 

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 

Time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Allegheny National Forest consists 

largely of land acquired from the private 

sector via purchase or donation. At the 

time of acquisition, ownership of oil 

and gas resources had often been 

conveyed to other private parties 

(‘‘outstanding rights’’), or reserved by 

the private seller or donor (‘‘reserved 

rights’’). As a result, ninety-three 

percent of the Forest is subject to 

outstanding or reserved oil and gas 

rights. 

On April 9, 2009, the Forest Service, 

Forest Service Employees for 

Environmental Ethics (FSEEE), 

Allegheny Defense Project, and the 

Sierra Club filed a stipulation of 

dismissal, based upon a settlement 

agreement, with the U.S. District Court 

for the Western District of Pennsylvania 

(FSEEE et al. v. Forest Service, 08–323 

(W.D. Pa.)). This lawsuit challenged the 

issuance of Notices to Proceed for 

development of reserved and 

outstanding mineral rights within the 

Allegheny National Forest without 

preparation of environmental analyses 

pursuant to the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. The lawsuit 

was dismissed in May 2009. 

Briefly, the settlement filed with the 

court included the processing of 54 oil 

and gas proposals for a total of 588 

wells, 2 pipelines, and 1 seismic line 

using current review and approval 

procedures. Furthermore, the settlement 

established that the appropriate level of 

NEPA be conducted prior to 

authorization of future proposals. 

The Allegheny National Forest is also 

in the process of preparing a 

supplemental environmental impact 

statement for the 2007 Forest Plan. This 

process responds to instructions in the 

February 15, 2008, decision by the Chief 

of the Forest Service on appeals of the 

Allegheny National Forest Revised Land 

and Resource Management Plan 

pertaining to design criteria associated 

with the development of reserved and 

outstanding mineral rights within the 

Allegheny National Forest. Information 

for this process can be found at http:// 

www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/ and 

by clicking on the link for the ANF 2007 

Forest Plan Supplemental EIS. 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose of this action is to 

authorize reasonable access for forestVerDate Nov<24>2008 16:55 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 217001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\22JNN1.SGM 22JNN1

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29464 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 118 / Monday, June 22, 2009 / Notices 

wide site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest, 

with provisions to mitigate impacts to 

surface resources. The need to take such 

action includes: 

1. To provide reasonable access to 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

beneath National Forest System lands of 

the Allegheny National Forest. 

2. Mitigating impacts to surface 

resources of the Allegheny National 

Forest associated with providing 

reasonable access for development of 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

by applying Forest Plan design criteria 

and site-specific mitigations. 

Proposed Action 

The Forest Service is proposing to 

authorize reasonable access for sitespecific proposals to develop reserved 

and outstanding mineral rights within 

the Allegheny National Forest, with 

provisions to mitigate impacts to surface 

resources. 

We are also proposing to use design 

criteria and a site-specific review 

process through this decision to 

authorize reasonable access for future 

site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest, 

with provisions to mitigate impacts to 

surface resources. We may approve 

future proposals consistent with the 

design criteria and review process, 

when and where appropriate, pursuant 

to 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 

1506.3 and related regulations. 

For purposes of scoping, this 

proposed action will be consistent with 

standards and guidelines in the 2007 

Forest Plan Supplement Environmental 

Impact Statement proposed action. 

The 2007 Forest Plan proposed action 

standards and guidelines, as well as 

site-specific information such as maps, 

number of wells, and approximate road 

mileage for the proposed action, can be 

found at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/ 

allegheny/ and by clicking on the link 

for the Transition EIS. 

Possible Alternatives 

Alternatives are likely to include 

authorization of reasonable access for 

site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest, 

using the alternative standards and 

guidelines that are being considered as 

part of the current Allegheny National 

Forest Plan Supplemental 

Environmental Impact process and other 

site-specific mitigations as provisions to 

mitigate impacts to surface resources. 

Alternative standards and guidelines 

that are being considered can be found 

at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/ 

allegheny/ and by clicking on the link 

for the Transition EIS. 

For the purpose of analysis and 

disclosure of environmental, social, and 

economic effects, denying reasonable 

access to reserved and outstanding 

mineral rights will serve as the Noaction alternative. The No-action 

alternative will only serve as a baseline 

for comparing effects of other 

alternatives considered, as the Forest 

Service acknowledges that it lacks the 

legal authority to deny reasonable 

access to reserved and outstanding 

mineral rights without engaging in a 

taking of private property rights. 

Lead and Cooperating Agencies 

The lead agency for this proposal is 

the USDA Forest Service. The U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. 

Bureau of Land Management, and 

Pennsylvania Department of 

Environmental Protection will be 

invited to become cooperating agencies 

for this proposal. 

Responsible Official 

The Responsible Official for the 

decision is the Allegheny National 

Forest Supervisor, Leanne M. Marten. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

The decisions to be made by the 

Forest Supervisor are (1) what 

mitigations, if any, to apply in the 

authorization of reasonable access for 

site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest; 

(2) what design criteria, review process, 

and mitigations, if any, to apply in the 

authorization of reasonable access for 

future site-specific proposals to develop 

reserved and outstanding mineral rights 

within the Allegheny National Forest. 

Permits or Licenses Required 

The Forest Service is not required to 

obtain any permits or licenses in order 

to implement this proposal. 

Scoping Process 

This Notice of Intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. Public comment and 

involvement opportunities for this 

project can be found at http:// 

www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/. 

Upon entering this Web site, there is a 

link for the Transition EIS that will 

provide information pertaining to this 

project. 

It is important that reviewers provide 

their comments at such times and in 

such manner that they are useful to the 

agency’s preparation of the 

environmental impact statement. 

Therefore, comments should be 

provided prior to the close of the 

comment period and should clearly 

articulate the reviewer’s concerns and 

contentions. The submission of timely 

and specific comments can affect a 

reviewer’s ability to participate in 

subsequent administrative appeal or 

judicial review. 

Dated: June 16, 2009. 

Leanne M. Marten, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. E9–14545 Filed 6–19–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Utilities Service 

Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Inc.: 

Notice of Intent To Hold Public 

Scoping Meetings and Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement 

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to hold public 

scoping meetings and prepare two 

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS). 

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service 

(RUS) intends to hold public scoping 

meetings and prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) to meet its 

responsibilities under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 7 

CFR part 1794 in connection with 

potential impacts related to projects 

proposed by Oglethorpe Power 

Corporation (Oglethorpe) of Tucker, 

Georgia. The proposal consists of the 

construction of a 100-MW biomass 

power plant in Appling County near 

Baxley, Georgia. Oglethorpe is 

requesting RUS to provide financial 

assistance for the proposed action. 

DATES: RUS will conduct a public 

scoping meeting in an open house 

format in order to provide information 

and solicit comments for the 

preparation of the EIS. The public 

meeting will be held on Wednesday, 

July 8, 2009 from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at 

Courthouse Annex at 69 Tippins Street, 

Baxley, Georgia 31513; telephone (912) 

367–8100 in Baxley, Georgia. All 

written questions and comments must 

be received by RUS by July 22, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: To send comments or for 

further information, contact Stephanie 

Strength, Environmental Protection 

Specialist, USDA Rural Development 

Utilities Programs, at 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 1571, 

Washington, DC 20250–1571, or e-mail 

stephanie.strength@wdc.usda.gov. 

An Alternatives Report (AR) prepared 

by Oglethorpe will be available at the 


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