Notice of Availability of the Ambler Road Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Alaska Publication: Federal Register Agency: Bureau of Land Management Byline: Steven M. Cohn Date: 26 April 2024 Subject: American Government

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 82 (Friday, April 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32458-32459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08965]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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: https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS. 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 https://www.blm.gov/AmblerRoadEIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacie McIntosh, Ambler Road 
Supplemental EIS Project Manager, telephone: 907-474-2398; email 
address: s05mcint@blm.gov.

[[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