The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has received requests for an extension to the comment period and additional public meetings for the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). After consideration of the requests, the BLM has determined that an extension to the comment period and additional public meetings for the DEIS will not be granted.The DEIS was made available for public review and comment on May 25, 2012. The BLM held ten public meetings and scheduled a 90-day public comment period that will end on Aug. 22, 2012. In total, the public scoping for the SunZia project has included a total of 22 public meetings and 255 days of public comment.A 45-day public comment period is generally the time provided for a DEIS. The BLM's planning regulations and guidance require a minimum 90-day public comment period for land use plan amendments. The SunZia project may involve several BLM land use plan amendments thus the 90-day comment period was provided. The current SunZia DEIS comment period meets BLM requirements and affords interested parties opportunity and time to review the document and submit substantive comments. In addition, the BLM regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act regulations require that all substantive comments received before reaching a decision must be considered to the extent feasible. This means that any substantive comments received after the current 90 day comment period and before BLM issues a Final EIS will be considered as much as possible.The ten open-house meetings recently hosted by the BLM in New Mexico and Arizona allowed the public to learn about the proposed project, participate in the BLM's decision-making process, and develop substantive written comments.The BLM encourages all concerned parties to submit written comments by Aug. 22, 2012 via the following format by one of the following methods:E-mail to: NMSunZiaProject@blm.govMail to:Bureau of Land ManagementNew Mexico State OfficeSunZia Southwest Transmission ProjectP.O. Box 27115 Santa Fe, NM 87508-1560Delivery:Bureau of Land ManagementNew Mexico State Office301 Dinosaur TrailSanta Fe, NM 87505-1560Questions concerning the project should be directed to the BLM Project Manager Adrian Garcia at (505) 954-2199.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
