Notice of Availability of the Ambler Road Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska, 72532-72533 [2023-22870]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 202 (Friday, October 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72532-72533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22870]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_AK_FRN_MO4500174129]


Notice of Availability of the Ambler Road Draft Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the 
availability of a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for the proposed Ambler Road project.

DATES: To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the 
Final Supplemental EIS, please ensure that the BLM receives your 
comments within 60 days following the date the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft 
Supplemental EIS in the Federal Register. The EPA usually publishes its 
NOAs on Fridays. The BLM will hold public meetings and subsistence 
hearings in the vicinity of potentially affected communities. The 
dates, times, and locations of the meetings will be announced in 
advance through public notices, media releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: The Draft Supplemental EIS is available for review on the 
BLM ePlanning project website at https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS. You 
may submit written comments related to the Ambler Road Draft 
Supplemental EIS by any of the following methods:
     Website: https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS.
     Mail: Ambler Road Draft Supplemental EIS Comments, BLM 
Fairbanks District Office, 222 University Avenue, Fairbanks AK 99709.
     Hand Deliver comments to: BLM, 222 University Avenue, 
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined: online at 
https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS; at the BLM Alaska State Office, BLM 
Alaska Public Information Center, 222 West 7th Avenue (First Floor), 
Anchorage, Alaska; or at the Fairbanks District Office, 222 University 
Avenue, Fairbanks, Alaska.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacie McIntosh, Ambler Road 
Supplemental EIS Project Manager, telephone: 907-474-2398; email 
address: [email protected]. You may also request to be added to the 
mailing list for the Supplemental EIS.
    Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of 
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting 
Ms. McIntosh. Individuals outside the United States should use the 
relay services offered within their country to make international calls 
to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM has prepared the Ambler Road Draft 
Supplemental EIS. The Draft Supplemental EIS is in response to an 
application for an industrial road right-of-way (ROW) in north-central 
Alaska across federal public lands and other lands that was initially 
approved through a Joint Record of Decision (JROD) issued in July 2020, 
by the BLM and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after publication of 
the original Ambler Road EIS in March 2020. The road would run from the 
existing Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District. The area 
involved lies south of the Brooks Range, north of the Yukon River, west 
of the Dalton Highway and east of the Purcell Mountains. The Alaska 
Industrial Development and Export Authority, a public corporation of 
the State of Alaska, is the applicant.
    In May 2022, in two lawsuits challenging the JROD and associated 
environmental analyses, the U.S. District Court for the District of 
Alaska (District Court) granted voluntary remand at the request of the 
Department of the Interior (DOI) due to deficiencies in the BLM's 
analysis of subsistence impacts under Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act (ANILCA) Section 810 and consultation with Tribes 
pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(NHPA). In the motion for remand, the DOI committed to address the 
identified legal deficiencies, consider new information about declines 
in salmon and caribou populations, reconsider the appropriate scope of 
the area of potential effects for purposes of the NHPA, and supplement 
the EIS, as appropriate, to more thoroughly assess the impacts and 
resources identified as areas of concern in the two lawsuits 
challenging the now-remanded JROD.
    The Draft Supplemental EIS analyzes: the No Action Alternative; 
Alternative A, the applicant's 211 mile-long proposed road alignment 
beginning at Mile 161 of the Dalton Highway and extending west, ending 
at the Ambler River; Alternative B, which starts and ends in the same 
location as Alternative A but contains a shorter route through Gates of 
the Arctic National Preserve; and Alternative C, an alternate route 
that starts at Mile 59.5 of the Dalton Highway and extends 332 miles 
northwest, ending at the Ambler River. The Army Corps of Engineers is a 
cooperating agency on the Supplemental EIS.
    Section 810 of ANILCA requires BLM to evaluate the effects of the 
alternatives presented in the Draft Supplemental EIS on subsistence 
uses and needs, and to hold public hearings if it finds that any 
alternative may significantly restrict subsistence uses. The BLM has 
found in the evaluation of subsistence impacts that Alternatives A, B, 
and C and the cumulative case analyzed in the Draft Supplemental EIS 
may significantly restrict subsistence uses in multiple communities. 
Therefore, the BLM will hold public hearings on subsistence resources 
and activities in conjunction with the public meetings on the Draft 
Supplemental EIS in the vicinity of potentially affected communities. 
Information about subsistence hearings will be available on the project 
website listed in the ADDRESSES section, and will be announced through 
additional public notices, news releases, and mailings.
    The input of Alaska Native Tribes and Corporations is of critical 
importance to this Supplemental EIS. Therefore, during the NEPA 
process, the BLM will continue to consult with potentially affected 
federally recognized Tribes on a government-to-government basis, and 
with affected Alaska Native Corporations in accordance with Executive 
Order 13175, as well as Public Law 108-199, Div. H, sec. 161, 118 Stat. 
452, as amended by Public Law 108-447, Div. H, sec. 518, 118 Stat. 
3267, and other Department and Bureau policies. We respectfully request 
participation in consultation by Alaska Native Tribes and Alaska Native 
Corporations to provide their views and recommendations on the 
analysis, including effects from the proposed activities. The BLM will 
hold individual consultation meetings upon request.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner as are useful to the agency's preparation of the 
Final Supplemental EIS. Therefore, comments should be provided prior to 
the close of the comment period and should clearly articulate the 
reviewer's concerns and contentions. 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.

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Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered.
    Before including your address, phone number, email 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: 40 CFR 1506.6(b)

Steven M. Cohn,
State Director, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 2023-22870 Filed 10-19-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-10-P