Department of Agriculture August 29, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency delivering the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural Development, is issuing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Project. The Draft EIS was prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508) and RUS regulations (7 CFR part 1794). The purpose of the EIS is to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of and alternatives to the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Basin Electric) application for a Rural Development loan guarantee to construct and operate a coal-fired electric generation facility referred to as the Dry Fork Station, consisting of a single maximum net 385 Megawatt (MW) unit, at a site near Gillette, Wyoming, along with other proposed pollution controls collectively known as Best Available Control Technology (BACT). In addition, Basin Electric also proposes to construct and operate 136 miles of 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line in Campbell and Sheridan counties, referred to as the Hughes Transmission Project. Basin Electric is not requesting a loan guarantee from Rural Development for this action. However, the Hughes Transmission Project is evaluated as a connected action for this EIS because the Dry Fork Station would interconnect with it if the Station is built.

This notice invites the following eligible States: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming, to submit an Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form 424), and to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) for the Allocation of Organic Certification Cost-Share Funds. The AMS has allocated $1.0 million for this organic certification cost-share program in Fiscal Year 2007. Funds will be available under this program to 15 designated States to assist organic crop and livestock producers certified under the National Organic Program (NOP). Eligible States interested in obtaining cost-share funds for their organic producers will have to submit an Application for Federal Assistance, and will have to enter into a cooperative agreement with AMS for the allocation for such funds.

The Forest Supervisor of the Ashley National Forest gives notice of the intent to prepare an environment impact statement (EIS) to document the analysis and disclose the impacts of an oil and gas development project on lands administered by the Ashley National Forest. The EIS analysis are includes approximately 25,900 acres on the South Unit of the Ashley National Forest in Duchesne County, Utah. The proposed project is located 11 miles south of Duchesne County, Utah in Township 6 South, Ranges 4 and 5 West. Any authorizations and actions proposed for approval in the EIS will be evaluated to determine if they are consistent with direction in the 1986 Ashley National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan).