[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 171 (Friday, September 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53938-53940]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-20036]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[AK-931-1310-DB-CPAI]
Notice of Availability of the Alpine Satellite Development Plan
Final Environmental Impact Statement; National Petroleum Reserve--
Alaska, and Colville River Delta
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Alpine Satellite Development Plan Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS). The FEIS provides National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) analysis and examines potential impacts of ConocoPhillips
Alaska, Inc.'s (CPAI) proposed action to develop five satellite oil
accumulations in the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska and
the adjacent Colville River Delta.
DATES: Written comments on the FEIS will be accepted for 30 days
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes
the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. Following this
period of availability for public review, the BLM will issue a Record
of Decision regarding the Preferred Alternative within its authority.
Comments on EPA's NPDES GP coverage will also be accepted for the same
30 days.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the FEIS should be sent to James H.
Ducker, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office (931), 222 West
7th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99513-7599. Individual respondents may
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street
address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of
your written comment. Such request will be honored to the extent
allowed by law. All submissions from organizations and businesses and
from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials
of organizations or businesses will be available for public inspection
in their entirety. The FEIS will be available in either hard copy or on
compact disk at the Alaska State Office, Public Information Center at
222 West 7th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska, 99513-7599. Copies of the FEIS
will also be available for public review at the following locations:
City of Anaktuvuk Pass, Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska; Loussac Library and
Alaska Resources Library and Information Service, Anchorage, Alaska;
City of Atqasuk, Atqasuk, Alaska; Tuzzy Public Library, Barrow, Alaska;
City of Nuiqsut, Nuiqsut, Alaska; and Noel Wein Library Fairbanks,
Alaska. The entire document can be reviewed at the project Web site at
http://www.alpine-satellites-eis.com or through BLM--Alaska's Web site
at http://www.ak.blm.us.
Written comments on EPA's NPDES GP should be sent to Cindi Godsey,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 222 W. 7th Avenue, Box 19,
Anchorage, Alaska 99513.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Ducker, BLM Alaska State Office,
907-
[[Page 53939]]
271-3130 or Gary Foreman, BLM Northern Field Office, 907-474-2339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CPAI proposes to develop five drilling pads
and associated access roads, bridges, pipelines, power lines, and an
airstrip. The pads are termed CD-3, CD-4, CD-5, CD-6, and CD-7. In the
Colville River Delta, CD-3 is on State of Alaska land and CD-4 is on
land owned by Kuukpik Corporation, a Native-owned corporation created
under the authority of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for the
village of Nuiqsut. CD-5 is on land conveyed to Kuukpik within the
National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska; CD-6 and CD-7 are on lands
administered by the BLM in the National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska. The
company proposes to place 20 to 30 wells on each pad and to transport
the unprocessed, three-phase (oil, gas, and water) drilling product to
the Alpine Central Processing Facility for processing. Processed oil
would be placed in the existing pipeline system for transport to the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
The FEIS evaluates a range of alternatives, consistent with
applicable law, by which to accomplish the proposed action while
mitigating adverse impacts. Five action alternatives that fulfill the
purpose and need of the proposed action are presented and analyzed,
including a Preferred Alternative. The Preferred Alternative is a
modification of the applicant's proposal, includes components from each
of the action alternatives analyzed in the DEIS and reflects
consideration of public and agency comments, regulatory needs, and
further mitigation of environmental concerns. The Preferred Alternative
would authorize development of the five pads at the locations requested
by CPAI. Gravel roads would connect CD-4 through CD-7 to the Alpine
Central Processing Facility; CD-3 would be accessed by use of an
airstrip or by ice road. Substantial portions of the road and pipeline
on BLM-managed lands would be moved outside of a setback from Fish
Creek, bridges across the Nigliq Channel and the Ublutuoch River would
be from bank to bank, all pipelines would be elevated a minimum of 7
feet above the ground as measured at the vertical support members, and
all power lines would be placed in cable trays mounted on the vertical
support members. The other alternatives include the applicant's
proposal (Alternative A) and variations that included such features
alternative road, bridge, pipeline, and pad locations; access only by
airplane or helicopter; a mix of road and air access; a 5-feet high
pipeline; and power transmission on power poles or buried in the
ground. The No Action Alternative is presented as a benchmark, enabling
the public and decision makers to compare the magnitude of
environmental affects of the action alternatives. The alternatives
cover the full range of reasonable development scenarios.
Also included in the FEIS is an analysis of full-field development
(FFD) for an 890,000-acre area that includes the Colville River Delta
west of its eastern-most channel and extends west to the vicinity of
the mouth of the Kogru River on the west side of Harrison Bay and south
from the Kogru River mouth for approximately 45 miles. In addition to
development proposed by CPAI, the EIS analyzes development options for
pads, pipelines, and other facilities throughout the Plan Area in order
to identify potential mitigation measures for future development in the
area. FFD is provided for analysis purposes only, and neither the
Preferred Alternative nor the Record of Decision will include FFD as
part of the action proposal. Decisions on future proposals for
developments in the area would be addressed through additional NEPA
analysis.
Section 810 of the Alaska National Lands Conservation Act requires
the BLM to evaluate the effects of plans presented in this FEIS on
subsistence activities in the area of the proposed action and
alternatives, and to hold public hearings if it finds that any
alternative may significantly restrict subsistence activities. The
Draft EIS found that the proposal and some alternatives may
significantly restrict subsistence activities. As a consequence, BLM
held public hearings on subsistence in conjunction with the public
meetings to accept comments on the Draft EIS in the northern Alaskan
communities of Nuiqsut, Barrow, Atqasuk, and Anaktuvuk Pass. Appendix B
of the FEIS describes how the Preferred Alternative and the other
action alternatives may significantly restrict subsistence activities.
In addition, all alternatives may significantly restrict subsistence in
the cumulative case. The Appendix makes determinations required by
Section 810 prior to authorizing an action.
The EPA has made a tentative determination to issue coverage under
the North Slope General Permit AKG-33-0000 (NSGP) to ConocoPhillips
Alaska, Incorporated, for discharges of domestic wastewater from the
Alpine Satellite Development Plan. Persons wishing to comment on EPA's
tentative determinations of General Permit (GP) coverage may do so in
writing within the public notice period. Comments must be received by
EPA no later than 30 days following the date the EPA publishes the
Notice of Availability for the FEIS in the Federal Register, to be
considered in the EPA's final determinations regarding NPDES GP
coverage.
All comments regarding NPDES GP coverage should include: (1) The
name, address, and telephone number of the commenter; (2) a concise
statement of the exact basis for any comment; and (3) the relevant
facts upon which the comment is based. For additional information
regarding the NPDES GP, please refer to Appendix M: Public Notice of
Coverage Under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
General Permit to Discharge to Waters of the United States for
Facilities Related to the Extraction of Oil and Gas on the North Slope
of the Brooks Range, Alaska (AKG-33-0000) in the FEIS. Public
participation has occurred throughout the period since the BLM
published a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register on February
18, 2003, announcing the intent to begin preparation of the Alpine
Satellite Development Plan EIS. Public scoping meetings were held in
Anchorage, Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Fairbanks between March 6 and March 20,
2003. Public comments were received on the DEIS from January 16 through
March 8, 2004, and during that period public comment meetings were held
in Anaktuvuk Pass, Anchorage, Atqasuk, Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Fairbanks.
The BLM and four cooperating agencies--EPA, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE), U.S. Coast Guard, and the State of Alaska have also
conducted government-to-government consultation with three Native
Alaskan governments: The Native Village of Barrow, the Inupiaq
Community of the Arctic Slope, and the Native Village of Nuiqsut, and
have worked closely with the North Slope Borough, the local government
of Nuiqsut, and other Federal agencies on the environmental impact
statement.
The development on Federal lands within the National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska is subject to the management direction provided by the
BLM's Record of Decision for the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-
Alaska Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/
EIS). The Record of Decision (ROD) for this development environmental
impact statement may amend the IAP/EIS. Any amendment, including
exceptions to requirements to the IAP/EIS, would be limited to those
changes necessary for the development
[[Page 53940]]
authorized by BLM in the ROD and will not constitute a general
amendment of the IAP/EIS.
EPA is a cooperating agency because it potentially has a permitting
decision to make on the disposal of wastewater from camps under an
NPDES permit. The alternatives presented in the FEIS discuss the use of
a general permit or an individual permit. The USACE as a cooperating
agency will review the proposed project pursuant to relevant Federal
jurisdiction.
Henri R. Bisson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-20036 Filed 9-2-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JA-P