Kristine Johnson
Director, Natural Heritage New Mexico
Research Associate Professor
Biology Department, UNM
167 Castetter Hall
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-3822, X223

[Federal Register: September 10, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 175)]
[Notices]
[Page 54798-54799]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10se04-69]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO-350-1430-PN]

Notice of Availability of Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (DPEIS) on Wind Energy Development on BLM-Administered Lands
in the Western United States, Announcement of Public Review Period

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Notice of availability of DPEIS, announcement of public review
period.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DPEIS) on
Wind Energy Development on BLM-Administered Lands in the Western United
States. The BLM has prepared this DPEIS to (1) assess the
environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with wind energy
development on public lands in 11 western states (excluding Alaska) and
(2) evaluate a number of alternatives to determine the best management
approach to mitigating potential impacts and facilitating wind energy
development.

DPEIS AVAILABILITY: The DPEIS will be available on the Internet in a
searchable and downloadable format (http://www.windeis.anl.gov/). The

DPEIS also will be available for review during normal business hours at
BLM State Offices located in Arizona, 222 N. Central Ave., Phoenix;
California, 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-1834, Sacramento; Colorado, 2850
Youngfield St., Lakewood; Idaho, 1387 S. Vinnell Way, Boise; Montana,
5001 Southgate Dr., Billings; Nevada, 1340 Financial Blvd., Reno; New
Mexico, 1474 Rodeo Rd., Santa Fe; Oregon, 333 SW 1st Ave., Portland;
Utah, 324 South State St., Salt Lake City; and Wyoming, 5353
Yellowstone Rd., Cheyenne.
    In addition, the DPEIS will be available for review at Argonne
National Laboratory, 1200 Internationale Parkway, Woodridge, IL 60517,
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., except holidays. To ensure
easy access to the document at Argonne's offices, we ask that you
contact the Document Retrieval Center at (630) 252-4587 prior to your
visit. Visitors to Argonne will be escorted at all times and will be
issued a temporary badge; specific arrangements must be made for
visitors who are not U.S. citizens.

DATES: The public will have 90 days to review and comment on the DPEIS

[[Page 54799]]

following publication of the required EPA Notice of Availability.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments in writing by the following methods:
Via an electronic comment form on the project Web site: http://www.windeis.anl.gov/.
By mail to: BLM Wind Energy Programmatic EIS,

Argonne National Laboratory EAD/900, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL
60439
    Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish BLM
to withhold your name or street address, except for the city or town,
from public view or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written
comment. We will honor requests to the extent allowed by law. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, will be available for public inspection in their
entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, including
information on how to comment, you may contact Lee Otteni, Bureau of
Land Management, Farmington Field Office, 1235 La Plata Highway, Suite
A, Farmington, NM 87401, (505) 599-8911 or visit the Wind Energy
Development Programmatic EIS Web site at http://www.windeis.anl.gov/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Wind energy development on BLM-administered
lands currently is managed in accordance with the terms and conditions
of the Interim Wind Energy Development Policy (Instruction Memorandum
2003-020), issued October 16, 2002. To further support wind energy
development on public lands and minimize potential environmental and
sociocultural impacts, the BLM is seeking to build upon the existing
interim policy to establish a Wind Energy Development Program. Three
alternatives were considered in the DPEIS: (1) The proposed action,
which would implement a Wind Energy Development Program, establish Best
Management Practices for wind energy authorizations, and amend a number
of BLM land use plans; (2) the no action alternative, which would allow
wind energy development under the existing terms and conditions of the
interim policy; and (3) a limited wind energy development alternative,
which would allow wind energy development only in selected locations.
The DPEIS was prepared in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701), as amended; the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321), as amended;
and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40 CFR
parts 1500-1508).
    The BLM published a Notice of Intent to Prepare a Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to Evaluate Wind Energy
Development on Western Public Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land
Management, on October 17, 2003 (Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 201).
This initiated a 60-day public scoping period that ended on December
19, 2003. Public scoping meetings were conducted in five locations
(Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Las Vegas, and Boise) in
November 2003. Written scoping comments were accepted by comment card,
mail, fax, and the project Web site (http://www.windeis.anl.gov/). The

BLM published a scoping summary report and made copies of the
individual letters, facsimiles, and electronic comments received during
scoping available on the project Web site.
    The BLM seeks information and comments on the analysis of potential
impacts of wind energy development on public lands discussed in the
DPEIS and on the assessment of the management alternatives, in terms of
their effectiveness at mitigating potential impacts and facilitating
wind energy development. In particular, the BLM seeks comments on the
conclusion that the proposed action appears to provide the best
approach for managing wind energy development on BLM-administered
lands. The BLM also seeks additional data or information that would
improve the analysis in the DPEIS.

Ray Brady,
Group Manager, Lands and Realty.
[FR Doc. 04-20520 Filed 9-9-04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-84-P