[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 166 (Friday, August 28, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44380-44381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-20816]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Mandan, Hidatsa,
Arikara (MHA) Nation's Proposed Clean Fuels Refinery, Fort Berthold
Indian Reservation, Ward County, ND
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Department of
Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) as co-lead agencies; and the Mandan, Hidatsa
and Arikara (MHA) Nation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as
cooperating agencies, intend to file a Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) with the EPA for the proposed
[[Page 44381]]
Clean Fuels Refinery, and that the FEIS is now available for public
review. The proposed Federal actions are: (1) The taking into trust of
469 acres of fee land by the BIA in support of the MHA Nation's
proposal to construct and operate a clean fuels refinery and produce
buffalo forage; and (2) the issuance by the EPA of a Clean Water Act,
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Discharge (NPDES)
permit for the discharge of treated wastewater from the proposed
refinery.
DATES: The Record of Decision on the proposed action will be issued no
sooner than 30 days after the release of the FEIS. Thus, any comments
on the FEIS must arrive by September 28, 2009. A public meeting will be
held on September 9 at Four Bears Casino, 202 Frontage Road, New Town,
ND, at 7 p.m.
ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand carry written comments to Mike Black,
Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains Regional
Office, 115 4th Avenue, SE., Aberdeen, SD.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Black, BIA, 605-226-7343, or
Steve Wharton, EPA, 303-312-6935 or 800-227-8917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Three Affiliated Tribes (MHA Nation) has
requested that BIA accept into trust status 469 acres for the MHA
Nation to construct, own, operate, and maintain a petroleum refinery on
190 acres of the 469-acre parcel. The remaining acres would be used to
grow forage for buffalo. The land in the northeast corner of the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation is located along Highway 23, four miles
west of the town of Makoti in Ward County, North Dakota.
The MHA Nation has also applied to EPA for an NPDES permit under
the Clean Water Act for discharges from the proposed refinery.
Feedstock for the proposed refinery would include 10,000 barrels
per stream day (BPSD) of synthetic crude oil via existing pipeline from
Alberta, Canada; 3,000 BPSD of field butane from local suppliers; 6
million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas via existing
pipeline; and 300 barrels of bio-diesel or 8,500 bushels per day of
soybeans. From the feedstock, the refinery would produce about 5,750
BPSD of diesel fuel, 6,770 BPSD of gasoline, and 300 BPSD of propane.
The FEIS analyzes potential environmental effects of two Federal
agency decisions: (1) Whether BIA should accept lands into trust in
support of the MHA Nation's proposal to construct and operate a clean
fuels refinery and produce buffalo forage; and (2) whether EPA should
issue a Clean Water Act NPDES permit for the process water discharges
associated with the operation of the proposed refinery. The FEIS has
identified the Agencies' preferred alternatives. BIA and EPA will be
making their decisions in separate Records of Decision (RODs), which
will be issued after the 30-day wait period on the FEIS. The MHA Nation
will be deciding whether to build and operate the refinery.
BIA has identified its preferred alternative as Alternative 3. In
this alternative, BIA would not place the land into trust status and
the refinery could be constructed by the Tribes. If the proposed
refinery is constructed, EPA has identified Alternative A, issuance of
an NPDES permit for effluent discharges associated with the refinery as
its preferred water discharge alternative. EPA and BIA recommend that
the design of the refinery, if constructed, be modified consistent with
Alternative 4.
Public Availability of the FEIS
The FEIS is available on the Web at: http://www.epa.gov/region8/compliance/nepa.
Hard copies of the document are available for public review at the
following locations:
--Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office, 115 4th
Avenue, SE., Aberdeen, SD.
--Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fort Berthold Agency, 202 Main Street, New
Town, ND.
--EPA Region 8 Library, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver, CO.
--Three Affiliated Tribes Governmental Offices, 404 Frontage Road, New
Town, ND.
--Each of the MHA Nation's Segment Offices: Four Bears (Tribal Gov.
Center), Mandaree, Shell Creek (New Town), Lucky Mound (Parshall), Twin
Buttes, and White Shield, and
--Rensch garage in Makoti, ND.
Authority
This notice is published in accordance with section 1506.10 of the
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through
1508) implementing the procedural requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.),
and related Department of the Interior requirements in the Department
of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in exercise of authority
delegated to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs
by 209 DM 8.
Dated: August 21, 2009.
George T. Skibine,
Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. E9-20816 Filed 8-27-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-W7-P