Department of the Interior March 30, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the availability of the Recirculated Draft Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan/ Natural Community Conservation Plan (MSHCP), Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Recirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR), and Implementing Agreement for public review and comment. The Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG), Coachella Valley Conservation Commission, County of Riverside, Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Riverside County Parks and Open Space District, Riverside County Waste Management District, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, California Department of Transportation, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, and the cities of Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and Rancho Mirage (Applicants) applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an incidental take permit pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The Applicants also seek a Section 2835 permit under the California Natural Community Conservation Planning Act of 2002. The Applicants are requesting a permit to incidentally take 22 animal species and seeking assurances for 5 plant species, including 17 unlisted species should any of them become listed under the Act during the proposed 75-year term of the permit. The permit is needed to authorize incidental take of listed animal species (including harm, injury, and harassment) during development in the approximately 1.10 million-acre (1,719-square mile) Plan Area in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, California. The MSHCP also incorporates a Public Use and Trails Plan which includes proposals that address non-motorized recreation activities on Federal and non-Federal lands in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a Cooperating Agency in this planning process and will use this EIS/EIR to make decisions on BLM-administered public lands pertaining to trail use in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. The proposals constitute activity (implementation) level actions in furtherance of the California Desert Conservation Area Plan (1980), as amended, and the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Management Plan (2004). The BLM will issue a separate Record of Decision regarding non-motorized recreation activities on public lands. A Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which is the Federal portion of the EIS/EIR, has been prepared jointly by the Service and CVAG, along with the biological consultant, to analyze the impacts of the MSHCP and is also available for public review. The analyses provided in the EIS/EIR are intended to inform the public of the proposed action, alternatives, and associated impacts; disclose the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of the proposed action and each of the alternatives; and indicate any irreversible commitment of resources that would result from implementation of the proposed action. All of the alternatives in the EIS/EIR are the same as the alternatives identified in the Final MSHCP and Final EIS/EIS, dated February 6, 2006, with one exception: the Preferred Alternative without the City of Palm Springs is no longer included. The Service and the cooperating agency issued a notice of intent to prepare an EIS/EIR for the proposed MSHCP, on June 28, 2000 (65 FR 39920); a notice of availability of the Draft EIS/EIR for the proposed MSHCP on November 5, 2004 (69 FR 64581); and a notice of availability of the Final EIS/EIR for the proposed MSHCP on April 21, 2006 (71 FR 20719). The Service is issuing this notice to advise the public of revisions to the MSHCP and associated EIS/EIR which includes the following primary changes: (1) Removing the City of Desert Hot Springs as an Applicant; (2) including a Riverside County Flood Control/Water Conservation District flood control project as a Covered Activity within the Morongo Wash area, if the project meets the MSHCP's biological goals and objectives for the Covered Species and the biological goals and objectives for maintaining fluvial sand transport and providing an adequate corridor for habitat connectivity; (3) identifying the revised Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains Trails Plan as the chosen trails management alternative in the EIS/EIR. The Plan is structured to be consistent with larger recovery efforts for the bighorn sheep and takes an adaptive management approach to balancing its goals of: (a) Minimizing the risk of potential adverse impacts to Peninsular bighorn sheep from recreational activities, and (b) providing recreational opportunities for hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers; and (4) identifying changes to conservation area boundaries to reflect ``like exchanges'' approved by the applicants since the publication of the Final MSHCP, dated February 6, 2006. The ``like exchanges'' include Citrus Ranch, Lumkes Family Trust, Nott, Indio Water Authority Reservoirs, and the City of Cathedral City.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) intend to prepare an EIS/EIR for the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC) Recirculation Project. Reclamation is the Federal lead agency for NEPA and DWR is the State lead agency for CEQA. The purpose of the project is to prepare a feasibility study of the DMC Recirculation Project that will evaluate the costs, benefits, feasibility, and impacts of possibly recirculating water from the DMC Canal for release to the San Joaquin River. Recirculation may provide additional flows for fishery objectives and may help to meet San Joaquin River water quality objectives, while reducing the reliance on the New Melones Reservoir for water releases. As part of the feasibility study process, a Draft EIS/EIR is expected to be available in 2008.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will file the plat of survey of the lands described below in the BLM-Eastern States, Springfield, Virginia, 30 calender days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

The Forest Service has filed an application with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that proposes to extend the duration of Public Land Order (PLO) No. 6652 for an additional 20-year term. PLO No. 6652 withdrew 30 acres of National Forest System land from the mining laws, but not from other forms of disposition as may by law be authorized on National Forest System land or the mineral leasing laws to protect the Petersburg Administrative Site in Siskiyou County. This notice also gives an opportunity to comment on the proposed action and to request a public meeting.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (as amended) and the general authority to conduct water resources planning under the Reclamation Act of 1902 and all acts amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared a Planning Report and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (PR/DEIS). This document was undertaken to provide a discussion for the (1) various ways to provide a municipal and industrial (M&I) water supply to the Navajo Nation; City of Gallup, New Mexico; and Jicarilla Apache Nation; (2) identification of a preferred alternative; and (3) associated environmental impacts and costs of such an endeavor, should it be undertaken. The PR/DEIS presents alternatives for providing an anticipated year 2040 M&I water supply for the project area. Alternatives considered include diverting and distributing water from the San Juan River using various configurations, water conservation using existing groundwater supplies, and no action.

On December 8, 2004, the shipping vessel M/V Selendang Ayu ran aground and broke apart between Skan Bay and Spray Cape on Unalaska Island, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The vessel was carrying approximately 446,280 gallons of Intermediate Fuel Oil 380 (IFO) and 21,058 gallons of Marine Diesel Oil (MDO). Although a portion of the oils were eventually removed from the vessel, 339,538 gallons of the IFO 380 and 14,680 gallons of marine diesel were discharged into the environment over time. This Notice of Intent to Conduct Restoration Planning (Notice), issued pursuant to 15 CFR 990.44, pertains to the discharge of oil from the M/V Selendang Ayu described above (the Incident). The Unified Command for the Incident undertook response activities to clean up the discharged oil. Under section 1006(b) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2706(b), the President has designated the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), represented by the Regional Director of the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), Alaska Region, and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), represented by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, as Federal trustees of natural resources for this Incident. The Governor of the State of Alaska has designated the Commissioners of the Alaska Departments of Fish & Game, Environmental Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Alaska Attorney General as State trustees of natural resources. The Federal and State trustees for the Incident will be referred to herein collectively as the Trustees. The Trustees have determined that they have jurisdiction to enter into the restoration planning phase of a Natural Resource Damage Assessment under OPA and its implementing regulations and that it is appropriate to do so. The purpose of this phase is to prepare a plan for the restoration, rehabilitation, replacement or acquisition of the equivalent of the natural resources and services injured, destroyed or lost as a result of the Incident.

In accordance with section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 43 CFR part 3809, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely Field Office, Nevada intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed consolidation and expansion of the existing Plans of Operation for Barrick Gold Corporation's Bald Mountain Mine and Mooney Basin Mine located in White Pine County, Nevada. The two existing mines would be combined into one new expanded operation which would be called the North Operations Area. The EIS will analyze anticipated impacts of the expansion under this new consolidated Plan of Operation, and will incorporate analysis from a previous EIS and environmental assessments associate with the existing disturbance.

Under provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 CFR part 1320, Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements, the National Park Service (NPS) invites public comments on an extension of a currently approved collection of information (OMB 1024-0233).