See the following attachments concerning the status of the EA for Chaco Road (CR 7950):

1. Project summary prepared by San Juan Citizens Alliance

2. Letter from Hopi Tribe to Federal Highway Administration September 15, 2008

3. Letter from New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office to Federal Highway Administration September 18, 2008

4. Farmington Daily Times Article, September 15, 2008

At least $337,000 of the $1,000,000 appropriated for CR 7950 has been spent by the URS Corporation and Taschek Environmental on third-party contracts without evidence of compliance with basic procedural steps of NEPA and NHPA. It appears that URS Corporation has spent considerable amounts of money on the Transportation Needs Analysis for CR 7950 which can be considered distinct from NEPA – thus more significant expenditures are expected to be incurred in the NEPA process. Additionally, this Transportation Needs Analysis for CR 7950 is now the subject of dispute as to its conclusions (see attached letter from New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office, September 18, 2008 and above mentioned letter from Hopi Tribe) and may need refinement. FHWA, NMDOT, and SJ County have not made significant progress in preparation of the EA and have not solicited proper input from cooperating agencies.

No further money should be spent or appropriated on the CR 7950 NEPA process until an audit result of money spent to date occurs and the responsible agencies (including FHWA, NMDOT and SJ County) account for compliance with federal laws and statutes for the project. The public is the real loser when lack of adequate oversight is allowed to continue on a complex project such as CR 7950.