[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 113 (Friday, June 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33475-33476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14393]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 113 / Friday, June 12, 2015 /
Notices
[[Page 33475]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Commodity Credit Corporation
Farm Service Agency
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program
AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation and Farm Service Agency, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI); request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Farm Service Agency (FSA), on
behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), intends to prepare a
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) as required by the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The PEIS will assess
the potential environmental consequences associated with proposed
discretionary changes to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP).
This notice informs the public of FSA's intent to seek public comment
on potential changes being considered for BCAP and on any environmental
concerns related to the proposed changes. The input we receive as a
result of this notice will enable us to develop alternatives for
implementing the proposed changes to BCAP and begin to evaluate the
impacts of those alternatives, as required by NEPA.
DATES: We will consider comments that we receive by July 13, 2015.
Comments received after this date will be considered to the extent
possible.
ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on this NOI. In your
comments, include the volume, date, and page number of this issue of
the Federal Register. You may submit comments by any of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments;
Email: gs.com">BCAPComments@cardno-gs.com
Online: Go to http://bcappeis.com. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: (757) 594-1469.
Mail, Hand Delivery, or Courier: BCAP PEIS, c/o Cardno
TEC, Inc., 11817 Canon Blvd., Suite 300, Newport News, VA 23606.
All written comments will be available for inspection online at
www.regulations.gov and in the Office of the Director, Conservation and
Environmental Programs Division, FSA, USDA, 1400 Independence Ave SW.,
Room 4709, South Building, Washington, DC, 20250, between 8 a.m. and
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. A copy of this
notice is available through the FSA homepage at http://www.fsa.usda.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nell Fuller, National Environmental
Compliance Manager, USDA, FSA, CEPD, Stop 0513, 1400 Independence Ave,
SW., Washington, DC, 20250-0513, telephone: (202) 720-6303. Persons
with disabilities who require alternative means for communication
should contact the USDA Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and
TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As required by NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347),
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing
the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and FSA's
NEPA compliance regulations (7 CFR part 799), FSA intends to assess
potential discretionary changes to BCAP in 2015 by preparing a PEIS.
The purpose of the PEIS process is to provide FSA decision makers,
other agencies, Tribes, and the public with an analysis of the
potential beneficial, adverse, and cumulative environmental impacts
associated with proposed discretionary changes to BCAP.
BCAP was first authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act
of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill, Pub. L. 110-246). BCAP is a voluntary
program that is intended to assist agricultural and forest land owners
and operators with the establishment and production of eligible crops
in selected project areas for conversion to bioenergy. Additionally,
BCAP provides matching payments for the collection, harvest, storage
and transportation of eligible material to designated biomass
conversion facilities for use as heat, power, biobased products,
research, or advanced biofuels. BCAP is administered by FSA on behalf
of CCC with the support of other Federal and local agencies. More
detailed information on BCAP may be obtained at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/bcap.
Since BCAP was initially authorized, FSA has completed extensive
NEPA analysis relating to BCAP and to specific project areas and
feedstocks. In 2010, a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (PEIS) for BCAP was published by FSA and resulted in a Record
of Decision (ROD) that was signed on October 27, 2010. That PEIS
evaluated environmental consequences of establishing and administering
the BCAP as specified in the 2008 Farm Bill. The PEIS examined the
environmental consequences of two alternatives: Targeted BCAP
Implementation and Broad BCAP Implementation. Since 2010, Environmental
Assessments (EA) have been prepared for various project areas and for
specific feedstocks.
The Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill, Pub. L. 113-79)
amended and reauthorized BCAP through 2018. The 2014 Farm Bill included
a number of non-discretionary changes to BCAP. Those changes are
primarily administrative in nature and do not alter the general scope
of the program. The 2014 Farm Bill changes have already been
implemented through rulemaking (80 FR 10569-10575) and do not require
additional analysis under NEPA.
FSA is currently considering discretionary changes to the way BCAP
is implemented. Those discretionary changes define the scope of the new
PEIS for which this NOI applies. The new PEIS that will be prepared for
the proposed discretionary changes to BCAP will tie to the other
applicable BCAP NEPA documentation as appropriate and will examine only
those aspects of the program that are not covered in previous analyses.
Copies of all FSA NEPA documents can be found at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/nepa.
Proposed Changes
FSA is proposing several discretionary changes to further improve
the functionality and flexibility of the establishment and annual
[[Page 33476]]
payments part of BCAP. No discretionary changes are being proposed for
the matching payments part of BCAP. The proposed changes include:
Consideration and review of additional crops including:
pongamia pinnata, giant miscanthus seeded and rhizome clones, giant
reed (Arundo donax), pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), energy cane
(Saccharum spp.), biomass sorghum, sweet sorghum, yellowhorned fruit
tree, eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), kenaf, jatropha,
eucalyptus (fast growing), castor beans (Ricinus communis), short
rotation pine, tropical maize, hybrid willow, sweetgum, black locust,
loblolly pine, aspen, rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) and
guayule (Parthenium argentatum).
Requirements or additional practices for conservation
plans on expiring Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) or Agricultural
Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) land acres that would be enrolled
in BCAP project areas.
Potential for enrolling annual crops in BCAP project areas
for contracts of less than five years.
Program management processes that could help offset the
lack of crop insurance for biomass crops or provide sufficient
information for the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP)
to establish coverage.
Treatment of the required FSA annual rental reductions in
the event of no bioenergy market end use (conversion to heat, power,
advance biofuel or biobased product) for the harvested or collected
biomass crops.
FSA will conduct scoping meetings to provide information on the
proposed changes to BCAP and to solicit input from program
participants, the public, and other stakeholders on the environmental
impacts of these changes and alternatives to these changes. FSA will
hold five scoping meetings. Each meeting will begin with an Open House
(6 p.m.-6:30 p.m.) followed by a presentation (6:30 p.n.-7 p.m.). At
the conclusion of the presentation FSA will accept verbal comments and
answer questions. Times and locations are provided in the table below.
Table 1--Public Meeting Dates, Times, and Locations*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date Time Location
------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 14, 2015................. 6 p.m.-8 p.m..... Hilton Garden Inn
Sacramento/South
Natomas, 2540
Venture Oaks Way,
Sacramento, CA
95833.
July 15, 2015................. 6 p.m.-8 p.m..... Pacific Beach Hotel,
2490 Kalakaua
Avenue, Honolulu, HI
96815.
August 3, 2015................ 6 p.m.-8 p.m..... Hampton Inn & Suites
Raleigh-Durham
Airport, 8021 Acro
Corporate Drive,
Raleigh, NC 27617.
August 4, 2015................ 6 p.m.-8 p.m..... Orlando Airport
Marriott Lakeside,
7499 Augusta
National Drive,
Orlando, FL 32822.
August 5, 2015................ 6 p.m.-8 p.m..... Holiday Inn Sioux
City, 701 Gordon
Drive, Sioux City,
IA 51101.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The five public meeting locations were chosen for the purposes of
allowing public input from communities where BCAP has an existing
project area or where FSA is aware that project area planning is in
underway.
Under NEPA, the PEIS process provides a means for the public to
provide input on implementation alternatives and environmental concerns
for federal actions and programs. This notice informs the public of
FSA's intent to prepare a PEIS for discretionary changes to BCAP, and
provides notice of the opportunity for public input on the proposed
discretionary changes. The PEIS will provide an analysis that evaluates
program effects in appropriate contexts, describes the intensity of
adverse as well as beneficial environmental impacts, and addresses the
cumulative environmental impacts associated with the proposed changes
to BCAP. There will be additional opportunities for public comment on
the draft PEIS when it is developed. The final PEIS and subsequent
Record of Decision will be used by FSA decision-makers in implementing
changes to BCAP.
Signed in Washington, DC, on June 9, 2015.
Val Dolcini,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation, and
Administrator, Farm Service Agency.
[FR Doc. 2015-14393 Filed 6-11-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P