Notice2024-08965
Notice of Availability of the Ambler Road Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 26, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Ambler Road project.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 82 (Friday, April 26, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 82 (Friday, April 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32458-32459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08965]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_AK_FRN_MO4500174927]
Notice of Availability of the Ambler Road Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the
availability of a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) for the proposed Ambler Road project.
DATES: The BLM will issue a Record of Decision (ROD) for the project no
earlier than 30 days from the date the EPA publishes its notice of
availability of the Final Supplemental EIS in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: To access the Final Supplemental EIS please visit: <a href="https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS">https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS</a>. To request an electronic or paper copy of
the Final Supplemental EIS, please reach out to the BLM Alaska State
Office, BLM Alaska Public Information Center, 222 West 7th Avenue
(First Floor), Anchorage, Alaska 99513; or the Fairbanks District
Office, 222 University Avenue, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online on the
BLM ePlanning website at <a href="https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS">https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacie McIntosh, Ambler Road
Supplemental EIS Project Manager, telephone: 907-474-2398; email
address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#502360653d33393e2410323c3d7e373f26"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="067536336b656f687246646a6b28616970">[email protected]</span></a>.
[[Page 32459]]
Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting
Ms. McIntosh. Individuals outside the United States should use the
relay services offered within their country to make international calls
to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM has prepared the Ambler Road
Supplemental EIS in response to an application for an industrial road
right-of-way (ROW) in north-central Alaska across Federal public lands
and other lands. The area involved lies south of the Brooks Range,
north of the Yukon River, west of the Dalton Highway, and east of the
Purcell Mountains. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export
Authority, a public corporation of the State of Alaska, is the
applicant.
The road was initially analyzed in an EIS published in March 2020,
and a BLM ROW was approved in a Joint Record of Decision (JROD) issued
in July 2020. In May 2022, in two lawsuits challenging the JROD and
associated environmental analyses, the U.S. District Court for the
District of Alaska (District Court) granted a voluntary remand at the
request of the Department of the Interior (DOI) due to, among other
things, deficiencies in the BLM's analysis of subsistence impacts under
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) section
810, and in the consultation with Tribes conducted pursuant to section
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). In the motion for
voluntary remand, the DOI committed to address these issues, including
the identified legal deficiencies, consider new information about
declines in salmon and caribou populations, reconsider the appropriate
scope of the area of potential effects for purposes of the NHPA, and
supplement the EIS, as appropriate, to more thoroughly assess the
impacts and resources identified as areas of concern in the two
lawsuits challenging the remanded JROD.
The Final Supplemental EIS analyzes: the No Action Alternative;
Alternative A, the applicant's 211 mile-long proposed road alignment
beginning at Mile 161 of the Dalton Highway, extending west, and ending
at the Ambler River; Alternative B, which starts and ends in the same
location as Alternative A but follows a shorter route through Gates of
the Arctic National Preserve; and Alternative C, which starts at Mile
59.5 of the Dalton Highway and extends 332 miles northwest, ending at
the Ambler River. The BLM has identified the No Action Alternative as
its preferred alternative.
Section 810 of ANILCA requires the BLM to evaluate the effects of
the alternatives presented in the Supplemental EIS on subsistence uses
and needs and to hold public hearings if it finds that any alternative
may significantly restrict subsistence uses. The BLM found in the
evaluation of subsistence impacts that Alternatives A, B, and C and the
cumulative case as analyzed in the Draft Supplemental EIS may
significantly restrict subsistence uses in multiple communities.
Therefore, the BLM held public hearings on subsistence resources and
activities in conjunction with the public meetings on the Draft
Supplemental EIS in the vicinity of potentially affected communities.
In consideration of public comments received on the Draft Supplemental
EIS and at the public hearings, BLM revised the ANILCA Section 810
evaluation, published as Appendix M of the Final Supplemental EIS, but
did not change its ``may significantly restrict subsistence uses''
findings for the identified communities.
The input of Alaska Native Tribes and Corporations was of critical
importance to this Supplemental EIS. Therefore, during the NEPA
process, the BLM consulted with potentially affected federally
recognized Tribes on a government-to-government basis and with affected
Alaska Native Corporations in accordance with Executive Order 13175, as
well as Pub. L. 108-199, Div. H, sec. 161, 118 Stat. 452, as amended by
Pub. L. 108-447, Div. H, sec. 518, 118 Stat. 3267, and other Department
and Bureau policies.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6(b).
Steven M. Cohn,
State Director, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 2024-08965 Filed 4-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-10-P
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