FEIS Summary - Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority

Knik Arm Crossing Final EIS
Summary
The public availability and review process
for the Knik Arm Crossing Draft EIS
and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation helped
to ensure that agencies, tribes, and the
public had an opportunity to comment
on the proposed action and environmental
impact assessment. The process
included the following key elements:
• Notifications were prepared to announce
the release of the Draft EIS
and Draft 4(f) Evaluation, establish a
comment/review period, advertise
public hearing and open house
events, announce the limited English
proficiency program, and invite
comment.
• Copies of the Draft EIS and Draft
Section 4(f) Evaluation and all supporting
technical reports were available
free of charge on a compact disk
(CD) for electronic viewing. The
document was also made available
for viewing on the project Web site,
.
• Paper copies of the Draft EIS and
Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation were
made available for viewing at the
following public libraries:
Mat‐Su – Big Lake Library, Palmer
Public Library, Wasilla Public
Library, and Willow Public Library
Anchorage – Alaska Resources
Library and Public Information
Services (ARLIS), Muldoon Public
Library, Samson-Dimond Public
Library, University of Alaska
Anchorage Consortium Library,
and Z.J. Loussac Public Library
Paper copies were also available for a
fee of $200 (KABATA paid one-half of
the $400 printing cost). A paper copy
was able to be provided within
10 days of processing the request.
• Two public hearing and open house
events, one each in Anchorage (October
16, 2006) and the Mat-Su (October
18, 2006) were held.
• One-on-one agency meetings were
held with FHWA and KABATA.
• Written and oral comments and oral
testimony provided by agencies,
tribes, and the public were collected
and reviewed, and responses to those
comments were prepared.
The 45‐day Draft EIS and Draft
Section 4(f) Evaluation comment
period required by CEQ began on
September 15, 2006, and was extended
from October 30, 2006, to November 17,
2006—a total comment period of 63
days. The extension was based on
requests from agencies and the public.
FHWA and KABATA received comments
as noted below from federal and state
agencies, local governments, tribes, and
the public, including nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs).
The following federal agencies provided
written comments: the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA); USACE; the U.S. Department
of the Interior (USDOI) National Park
Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS), Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), and Geologic Service (USGS);
NOAA Fisheries; and the Marine
Mammal Commission.
• Five out of the ten Cooperating
Agencies provided written comments,
including USACE, NOAA Fisheries,
BLM, the Mat-Su Borough, and the
Municipality of Anchorage.
• State of Alaska comments were
received from the Alaska Railroad
Corporation and the Alaska Department
of Natural Resources (ADNR),
which provided consolidated comments
for State of Alaska resource
agencies, including the Office of
Project Management and Permitting
(OPMP), the Office of Habitat Management
and Permitting (OHMP), the
Department of Fish and Game
(ADF&G), the Division of Mining,
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