RUS Comments are DUE!
Here’s the official poop from Stephanie Strength, USDA’s RUS:
When the deadline falls on a weekend, comments will be accepted postmarked the following business day or emailed through midnight of that day. In this case that would be Monday July 27, 2009. That said, it generally takes at least a month to prepare the scoping report and comments coming in past the close of the comment period will be incorporated as much as is practicable. Comments not considered in the scoping report will be carried forward into the public comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
That means your comments will be accepted if you:
- email 11:59 p.m. Saturday, July 25th (why a Saturday deadline?)
email by 11:59 p.m. Saturday to: stephanie.strength@usda.gov
- Mail and have POSTMARKED sometime on Monday
Mail, postmarked no later than Monday, to:
Stephanie Strength Environmental Protection Specialist USDA, Rural Utilities Service Engineering and Environmental Staff 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 1571
Washington, DC 20250-1571
It seems that comments after the deadline may also be incorporated, but it’s not certain. Sooooo… get them in.
That said, I’ve been nosing around on the internet again, and am finding some interesting tidbits, like this one going way back, showing the intent of CapX as an integrated unit:
Legislative Electric Energy Task Force – Utility Perspective – Sept. 14, 2004
And then there’s the Cerificate of Need Scoping Decision for the “Environmental Report” that side-stepped joint environmental review with the RUS by flat out lying about the potential for RUS EIS: