[Federal Register: November 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 217)]
[Notices]
[Page 68409-68411]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10no05-49]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
Upper Columbia Alternative Flood Control and Fish Operations,
Libby and Hungry Horse Dams, MT
AGENCIES: Corps of Engineers, DoD, and Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability Of Draft Environmental Impact Statement
and Notice of Public Hearings.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE),
Seattle District, and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Pacific
Northwest Region, have prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) to evaluate the effects of alternative flood control at Libby
Dam on the Kootenai River and at Hungry Horse Dam on the South Fork
Flathead River in western Montana. USACE and Reclamation are making the
document available to the public for review and comment through a
Notice of Availability published in the Federal Register. The overall
goal of the DEIS is to evaluate effects of alternative dam operations
that are intended to provide reservoir and flow conditions at and below
Libby and Hungry Horse Dams for anadromous and resident fish listed as
threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA),
consistent with authorized project purposes, including maintaining the
current level of flood control benefits.
DATES: To ensure consideration in final EIS development, we must
receive comments on or before December 27,
[[Page 68410]]
2005 (45 days from the November 10, 2005, Federal Register publication
date of the EPA weekly notice of EIS availability). See the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for meeting dates.
ADDRESSES: Please send written comments concerning this proposed
project to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, Attn: Mr.
Evan Lewis, PM-PL-ER, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA 98124-3755 or Bureau
of Reclamation, Attn: Mr. Dan Lechefsky, 1150 N. Curtis Rd., Suite 100,
Boise, ID 83706-1234. Please submit electronic comments to
uceis@usace.army.mil. For electronic comments, include your name and
address in your message and place your comments in the body of your
message; please do not send attached files. Reclamation's practice is
to make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents,
available for public review. Individual respondents may request that we
withhold their home address from public disclosure, which we will honor
to the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in
which we would withhold a respondent's identity from public disclosure,
as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or
address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your
comment. We will make all submissions from organizations or businesses,
and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or
officials of organization or business, available for public disclosure
in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Evan Lewis, Environmental
Coordinator, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District,
Environmental Resources Section, (206) 764-6922,
evan.r.lewis@usace.army.mil; or Mr. Dan Lechefsky, NEPA Coordinator,
Pacific Northwest Region, Bureau of Reclamation, (208) 378-5039,
dlechefsky@pn.usbr.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Multiple-purpose project operations
(including flood control, hydropower, fish and wildlife, recreation,
navigation, irrigation, water supply, and water quality) at Libby,
Hungry Horse, and other dams have altered the natural river hydrology
of the Columbia River and some of its major tributaries. These dams
store the spring snowmelt runoff to control floods and release water
for multiple uses. Populations of threatened and endangered fish in the
Columbia River Basin (Kootenai River white sturgeon, Columbia Basin
bull trout, and several Columbia River salmon and steelhead stocks)
benefit from certain high-flow periods, which historically were
determined by natural runoff patterns driven by snowmelt and rainfall.
While the status of bull trout populations in the Kootenai and Flathead
rivers is generally better than some others in the Columbia Basin,
Kootenai River white sturgeon numbers are estimated at fewer than 500
(down from numbers of 5,000-6,000 in the 1980's) and are declining at
approximately 9% per year. Several salmon and steelhead populations in
the Columbia Basin are listed as threatened or endangered. Pursuant to
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, the 2000 U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Biological Opinion on the operation of the Federal
Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) included a recommendation to
implement variable discharge flood control (VARQ), with Q representing
engineering shorthand for discharge, at Libby and Hungry Horse dams.
NOAA Fisheries considered the Updated Proposed Action (UPA) and issued
the 2004 NOAA Fisheries FCRPS Biological Opinion on November 30, 2004.
The 2004 UPA generally reflects, with certain modifications, the
hydropower, habitat, hatchery, and harvest measures implemented under
the 2000 biological opinion Reasonable and Prudent Alternative
including implementation of VARQ flood control at Libby Dam and Hungry
Horse Dam.
Implementation of VARQ flood control and various flow augmentation
operations would modify dam operations and riverflows to avoid
jeopardizing the continued existence of endangered Kootenai River white
sturgeon, threatened Columbia Basin bull trout, and several populations
of threatened and endangered Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. This
DEIS focuses on those environmental conditions that would be modified
by implementation of the proposed Federal Action or several
alternatives.
The proposed Federal action consists of:
(1) Implementation of alternative flood control at Libby Dam on the
Kootenai River and Hungry Horse Dam on the South Fork Flathead River.
Called variable discharge flood control, this alternative action is
known as ``VARQ'' flood control, with Q representing engineering
shorthand for discharge.
(2) Flow augmentation that such alternative flood control would
facilitate in the Kootenai River, the Flathead River, and main stem
Columbia River for fish populations listed as threatened or endangered
under the ESA. Flow augmentation (i.e., fish flows) includes release of
water for bull trout, salmon, and, at Libby Dam, white sturgeon.
We are making the DEIS available to the public for a 45-day review
and comment period.
Seven public meetings are planned for the DEIS in order to provide
an opportunity for the public to present oral and/or written comments.
USACE will host the meetings at Eureka, MT; Bonners Ferry, ID; and
Nelson, BC. Reclamation will host the meetings at Kalispell, MT; Kettle
Falls, WA; and Grand Coulee, WA. Both agencies will co-host the meeting
in Newport, WA. All meetings will begin at 6 pm, local time. For the
first hour, resource specialists will be available to answer questions.
At 7 p.m., there will be an opportunity to provide verbal and written
comments for the record.
The meeting dates and locations follow:
November 28, 2005: Best Western Hotel, Nelson, British Columbia; West
Coast Kalispell Center Hotel, Kalispell, MT
November 29, 2005: Elementary School Cafeteria, Newport, WA
November 30, 2005: High School Auditorium, Eureka, MT; KC Diner, Kettle
Falls, WA
December 1, 2005: Kootenai River Inn, Bonners Ferry, ID; Grand Coulee
City Hall, Grand Coulee, WA
Copies of the DEIS are available for public review at libraries
throughout the potentially affected portions of the Kootenai, Flathead,
Clark Fork, Pend Oreille, and upper Columbia Basins in the U.S. and
Canada. The USACE and Reclamation have distributed electronic and hard
copies of the DEIS to appropriate members of Congress; State, local,
and tribal government officials; Federal agencies; and other interested
parties. You may view the DEIS and related information on our Web page
at: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/VARQ.
After the public comment period ends on December 27, 2005, USACE
and Reclamation will consider all comments received. The DEIS will be
revised as appropriate and a final EIS will be issued. The DEIS has
been prepared in accordance with (1) The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2)
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USACE
regulations implementing NEPA (ER-200-2-2), and (4) Reclamation
regulations for implementing NEPA (Reclamation Manual, Policy PO3).
Colonel Debra M. Lewis, District Engineer, Seattle District, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA 98124-3755.
[[Page 68411]]
J. William McDonald, Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region,
Bureau of Reclamation, 1150 North Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, ID
83706-1234.
Dated: November 3, 2005.
Debra M. Lewis,
District Engineer.
J. William McDonald,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region, Bureau of Reclamation.
[FR Doc. 05-22406 Filed 11-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-92-P