Opportunity to Object to the Draft Decision Notice for the Camp May Water Pipeline Final Environmental Assessment
The Española Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) has released the Camp May Water Pipeline Project Final Environmental Assessment (EA). The Final EA discusses the Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action, potential environmental effects of implementing the Proposed Action, and management requirements and Project Design Criteria included with the Proposed Action. Note that this notice is a resubmittal of a legal notice originally published on November 26th; 2021, which contained an incorrect email address to send objections to.
Based on the analysis presented in the Final EA, the Draft Decision Notice (DN) identifies the Forest Supervisor’s Selected Alternative as the Proposed Action. The Selected Alternative includes the following elements: burial of approximately 4.3 miles (22,795 feet) of 12-inch-diameter water pipeline, 4-inch-diameter fiber optic conduit, and 6-inch-diameter electric conduit originating on Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) lands and traveling along Camp May Road to Pajarito Mountain Ski Area. The project would also include the development of a 250,000-gallon water tank located adjacent the existing Pajarito Water Tank #4 on DOE/NNSA lands, as well as four booster pump stations at various locations along the pipeline alignment. The project would require approximately 12.9 acres of disturbance on National Forest System lands, 7.4 acres of disturbance on DOE/NNSA lands, and 0.2 acres of disturbance on private lands. All components of the Selected Alternative are described in greater detail in the Draft DN and Chapter 2 of the Final EA.
The Final EA and Draft DN are available for review online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53328. Both documents are also summarized in an interactive viewer here: https://arcg.is/0uKG4G. Additional information regarding this action can be obtained from: Bjorn Fredrickson, project leader, at bjorn.fredrickson@usda.gov or 505-438-5350.
Filing an Objection
The Draft DN for the Camp May Water Pipeline Project Final EA is subject to the objection process pursuant to 36 CFR 218 – Project-Level Pre-decisional Administrative Review Process.
Objections will only be accepted from those who have previously submitted specific written comments regarding the proposed project during the scoping or Draft EA comment periods in accordance with 36 CFR § 218.8. Issues raised in objections must be based on previously submitted, timely and specific written comments regarding the proposed project unless based on new information arising after the designated comment opportunities.
Objections, including attachments, must be filed via mail or email to: Michiko Martin, Regional Forester, 333 Broadway Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, NM, 87102;
objections-southwestern-regional-office@usda.gov. Electronically filed objections may be submitted by email in word (.doc or .docx), rich text format (.rtf), text (.txt), portable document format (.pdf), and/or hypertext markup language (.html).
Additional information on the Project-Level Pre-decisional Administrative Review Process can be found in the Draft DN and at 36 CFR 218.
Timeframes
Objections must be submitted within 45 calendar days following the publication of this corrected notice in the Albuquerque Journal, instead of the previous notice released on November 26th, 2021. The publication date in the newspaper of record is the exclusive means for calculating the time to file an objection. Those wishing to object should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source. The regulations prohibit extending the time to file an objection.
