Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc.: Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period for Public Scoping in Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement

Résumé

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency delivering the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural Development and/or the Agency, is extending the public comment period for the public scoping in preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed action by Minnkota Power Cooperative (Minnkota Power), Otter Tail Power Company, and Minnesota Power to construct a 230 kV electric transmission line from Bemidji to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Rural Development and the State of Minnesota Office of Energy Security (OES) are jointly preparing an EIS to evaluate the potential impacts of the proposed transmission line pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508), 36 CFR 800.2(a); section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 16 U.S.C. 470f and its implementing regulations, "Protection of Historic Properties" (36 CFR Part 800); the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), Minnesota Statute, Chapter 116D.04; the Minnesota