[Federal Register: June 22, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 121)]
[Notices]
[Page 33553-33554]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22jn01-82]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[AZ-917-5101-ER-A173; AZA31074]
Notice of Availability for an Environmental Assessment for the El
Paso Global Networks Telecommunications System
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment for the
El Paso Global Networks Right-of-Way Applications and Plan Amendment.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as federal lead agency has
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for two rights-of-way (R/W)
proposed by El Paso Global Networks (EPGN) for buried fiber optic
telecommunications lines and associated facilities, including the
construction, maintenance, operation and termination activities. One R/
W runs from El Paso, Texas to Phoenix, Arizona; the second from
Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles, California. The R/Ws cross the states
of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico extending approximately
972 miles.
The proposed action includes an amendment to the California Desert
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan which,
[[Page 33554]]
if approved as an exception, will allow the system to be constructed as
planned along existing highways or disturbed R/Ws in Riverside and San
Bernadino Counties instead of within CDCA designated utility corridors.
Both R/Ws would include a 25-foot wide temporary construction and a 10-
foot wide permanent R/W.
Copies of the EA are available for public review at BLM offices in:
Las Cruces, New Mexico; Safford, Tucson, Phoenix, Yuma and Lake Havasu,
Arizona; and Palm Springs, Riverside, Needles and Barstow, California.
Reading copies may be downloaded from the Arizona BLM website http://
www.az.blm.gov.
DATES: Written comments on the EA and proposed plan amendment must be
submitted or postmarked no later than July 23, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Shela McFarlin,
Project Manager, BLM Arizona State Office (AZ917), 222 North Central
Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shela McFarlin, at the above address,
or by phone at (602) 417-9568, by fax at (602) 417-9400, or at e-mail
Shela_McFarlin@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Both R/W applications include measures to
avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts on the environment as specified
through a plan of development which includes monitoring, reclamation
and other construction designs and stipulations. The EA analyzes a no-
action (no R/W and no plan amendment) along with the R/Ws proposed by
EPGN. For the CDCA, an additional alternative (Modified Proposed
Project Corridors K and S) and the associated plan amendment is
analyzed utilizing existing information for comparison with the
proposed action.
The fiber optic telecommunication project entails the construction
and reclamation activities for an eight-duct conduit system and
associated facilities and access including regeneration or optical
amplification stations approximately every 50 miles, buried splice
boxes placed at 20,000 foot intervals, manhole/handhold accesses placed
every 3,000 to 5,000 feet, cable marker poles every 500 feet, and one
3.5 mile power line. The project, as designated for construction,
operation, maintenance and termination activities, should contribute
minimal to no additional impacts to the environment and would operate
mainly within previously disturbed and routinely maintained road rights
of way. Additional environmental monitoring, pre-work surveys, and data
recovery for cultural resource sites would be stipulated in the R/W
grants.
The CDCA portion of this project proposed as an exception to the
CDCA Plan--as a plan amendment for this single use only--begins at the
Point of Presence (POP) in Blythe, California, then follow the Midland
Road to the Rice POP, then follow highway 60 to the POP at Twenty-Nine
Palms, then to the POP at Victorville.
Dated: May 31, 2001.
William Ruddick,
Acting Field Director, Native American Minerals/Land Exchange Teams.
[FR Doc. 01-15701 Filed 6-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-32-M