Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 5 / Monday, January 8, 2001 / Notices 1365

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont,

Virginia, West Virginia, and the District

of Columbia for the purpose of scientific

research and enhancement of survival of

the species, to include the recently

listed Gulf of Maine distinct population

segment of Atlantic salmon (Salmo

salar).

DATES: Written comments on this

request for a permit amendment must be

received on or before February 7, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written data or comments

should be submitted to the Regional

Endangered Species Permits

Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, 300 Westgate Center Drive,

Hadley, Massachusetts 01035; facsimile:

413–253–8482.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Documents and other information

submitted with this request for an

amendment are available for review,

subject to the requirements of the

Privacy Act and Freedom of Information

Act, by any party who submits a written

request for a copy of such documents

within 20 days of the date of publication

of this notice to the address above;

telephone: 413–253–8628.

Dated: December 19, 2000.

Dr. Mamie A. Parker,

Acting Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 01–403 Filed 1–5–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management; Alaska

[AK–921–1410–BK–P]

Notice for Publication; Filing of Plat of

Survey; Alaska

The plat of survey of the following

described land was officially filed in the

Alaska State Office, Anchorage, Alaska,

on the date indicated.

A plat representing the dependent

resurvey of Tract A, U.S. Survey No.

465, Alaska, situated near the westerly

shore of Shelikof Strait, in Alaska, was

accepted November 1, 2000, and was

officially filed November 8, 2000.

This plat was prepared at the request

of the National Park Service to delineate

the surrounding public lands.

This plat will immediately become

the basic record for describing the land

for all authorized purposes. This survey

has been placed in the open files in the

Alaska State Office and is available to

the public as a matter of information.

All inquiries relating to these lands

should be sent to the Alaska State

Office, Bureau of Land Management,

222 West Seventh Avenue, #13,

Anchorage, Alaska 99513–7599; 907–

267–1403.

Daniel L. Johnson,

Chief, Branch of Field Surveys.

[FR Doc. 01–404 Filed 1–5–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 1410–BK–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service (MMS)

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Alaska

Region, Beaufort Sea, Proposed

Liberty Development and Production

Plan (DPP)

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the

Draft Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS) and Locations and Dates of Public

Hearings for British Petroleum

Exploration (Alaska) (BPXA) Inc.’s

Proposed Liberty DPP Offshore Alaska.

SUMMARY: The MMS is issuing a draft

EIS for the BPXA Inc.’s proposed

Liberty Development Project DPP in the

Beaufort Sea, Alaska. The U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers (COE) and the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

were cooperating agencies, with the

MMS, in preparing the EIS. Information

on the availability of the EIS and dates

and locations for public hearings and

submission of comments are presented

in this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

matters pertaining to this notice, contact

Mr. Fred King (Alaska OCS Region,

Anchorage) at (907) 271–6696 or toll

free at 1–800–764–2627.

DATES: Comments on the draft EIS will

be accepted until March 13, 2001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MMS,

in cooperation with the COE and EPA,

prepared a draft EIS on BPXA Inc.’s

proposed Liberty Development Project

DPP. This EIS additionally serves as the

environmental analysis for the BPXA’s

Oil Discharge Prevention and

Contingency Plan (ODPCP) and the

construction and operation of a pipeline

that would be associated with any

Right-of-Way (ROW) for the OCS

portion of the proposed Liberty

pipeline. The public review for the DPP,

ODPCP, and ROW will be announced

separately by the MMS Alaska OCS

Region.

This EIS is also intended to meet

NEPA compliance and public notice

requirements for EPA’s issuance of a

National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES) permit,

pursuant to Section 402 of the Clean

Water Act. By this notice, the EPA is

seeking public review and comment of

the NPDES permit and explanatory fact

sheet which are included as Appendix

I in the draft EIS.

The Liberty prospect is located on the

OCS in the Beaufort Sea northeast of the

Prudhoe Bay oil field. The MMS is the

lead agency which developed the EIS, in

cooperation with the COE and the EPA,

as required by the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of

1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et

seq.). In February 1998, BPXA

submitted a DPP, subsequently revised

in November 1998 (Revision 1) and July

2000 (Revision 2), describing how they

proposed to produce, develop, and

transport oil from the Liberty Prospect

using a manmade gravel island

constructed on the Federal OCS and

located in 22 feet of water about 6.1

miles offshore in Foggy Island Bay and

1.5 miles west of the abandoned Tern

Island. The Liberty Island facility would

be a self-contained offshore drilling

operation with processing facilities. Oil

would be transported to shore in a

common carrier pipeline which

connects with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

System. A new gravel mine site and

offshore and onshore ice roads are part

of the proposed project. The MMS based

the EIS analyses on estimates of the

kinds and amounts of activity onshore

and offshore that could result from

transporting personnel and equipment

offshore, constructing the self-contained

manmade gravel island and structures,

installing structures and equipment on

the island, drilling wells, and

constructing a common carrier oil

pipeline buried in an undersea trench to

an onshore landfall and then elevated

onshore by vertical support members to

a tie-in with the existing onshore

Badami oil pipeline, then to the TransAlaska Pipeline System.

The EIS addresses a range of

potentially applicable technologies and

construction options. The EIS evaluates

the BPXA Proposal, a No-Action

alternative, and a variety of alternatives

that were developed in light of the most

significant issues raised from scoping.

The alternatives examine three island

locations and pipeline routes, four

pipeline designs, two types of upper

slope protection for the production

island, two gravel mine sites, and two

pipeline burial depths. The EIS also

evaluates the effects of oil spill response

activities described in the ODPCP.

EIS Availability: You may obtain

single copies of the draft EIS, ‘‘OCS EIS,

MMS 2001–001’’ (three volumes), from

the MMS, Alaska OCS Region,

Attention: Mr. Fred R. King, (MS 8303),

949 E. 36th Avenue, Room 308,

Anchorage, Alaska 99508–4363, or by