Land Management Bureau September 28, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has signed a Record of Decision (ROD) concerning two right-of-way applications filed by Private Fuel Storage (PFS), L.L.C, for an independent spent fuel storage installation on reservation lands of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians (Band or Skull Valley Band). The installation is described in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), entitled ``Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operation of an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation on the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians and the Related Transportation Facility in Tooele County, Utah (December 2001).'' Spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the focus of the EIS, is the primary by- product from a nuclear reactor. As proposed, the fuel would be transported from an existing Union Pacific railroad site to the Reservation of the Skull Valley Band in Tooele County, Utah. The applications seek right-of-way grants under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), 43 U.S.C. 1761, to transport SNF across public lands managed by the BLM. The BLM was a cooperating agency in the preparation of this EIS, as were the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. This EIS is available online at https:// www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1714/v1 /. Additional comments were received by the BLM following its publication on February 7, 2006, of a Federal Register notice at 71 FR 6286 requesting comments on the two right-of-way applications then pending before the agency. The BLM ROD is based on review of the draft EIS; the FEIS; comments received from the public, other Federal agencies, and State and local governments; and discussion of all the alternatives with the cooperating agencies. The BLM decision is to choose the No Action alternative from the EIS. The effect of this decision is to reject applications U 76985 and U 76986 for right-of-way grants filed by PFS, L.L.C.