[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 112 (Friday, June 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34097-34099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-14149]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLNVL00000.L51010000.ER0000.LVRWF09F3450 241A; N-78803; 11-08807;
MO4500020763; TAS: 14X5017]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement, Including a Draft Programmatic Agreement, for the Clark,
Lincoln, and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project, NV
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the National Historic Preservation Act
of 1966 (NHPA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and a Draft
Programmatic Agreement (PA), which is included as an Appendix to the
EIS, for the Southern Nevada Water Authority's (SNWA) Clark, Lincoln,
and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project (SNWA Project),
and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.
DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the SNWA Project Draft EIS and Draft PA within 90
days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes
its Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will
announce future meetings or hearings and any other public involvement
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media
releases, and/or mailings.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Draft EIS or the
Draft PA for the SNWA Project by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: (775) 861-6689.
Mail: SNWA Project, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: Penny
Woods, P.O. Box 12000, Reno Nevada 89520.
For a copy of the SNWA Project Draft EIS and Draft PA you may: send a
written request to BLM at the above address; call project manager Penny
Woods at (775) 861-6466; e-mail [email protected]; or download the
document from the BLM's Web site at http://www.blm.gov/5w5c. A list of
where review copies are available is in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Penny Woods, Project Manager,
telephone (775) 861-6466; address P.O. Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520;
e-mail [email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. You
will receive a reply during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Cooperating Agencies: Federal--Fish and
Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
National Park Service, Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Nellis
Air Force Base; State--Nevada Department of Wildlife, State of Utah;
Counties and County Organizations--Central Nevada Regional Water
Authority, White Pine, Lincoln, and Clark counties (NV); and Juab,
Millard, and Tooele counties (UT).
Review copies are also available in the following locations:
BLM Offices in Nevada
Nevada State Office, 1340 Financial Blvd., Reno
Ely District Office, 702 N. Industrial Way, Ely
Caliente Field Office, U.S. Hwy. 93, Building 1, Caliente
Southern Nevada District Office, 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas.
Libraries in Nevada
Nevada State Library, 100 N. Stewart St., Carson City
White Pine County Library, 950 Campton St., Ely
Lincoln County Library, 100 Depot Ave., Caliente
Lincoln County Library, 100 N. First St. E., Alamo
Mesquite Library, 121 W. First N. St., Mesquite
Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas.
BLM Offices in Utah
Utah State Office, 440 W. 200 S., Salt Lake City
West Desert District Office, 2370 S. 2300 W., Salt Lake City
Color Country District Office, 1760 East DL Sargent Drive, Cedar City
Fillmore Field Office, 35 E. 500 N., Fillmore
St George Field Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive, St. George.
Libraries in Utah
Utah State Library, 250 N. 1950 W., Salt Lake City
Delta City Library, 76 N. 200 W., Delta
Cedar City Library, 303 N. 100 E., Cedar City
Washington County Library, 88 W. 100 S., St George
Tooele City Library, 128 W. Vine St., Tooele
Nephi Library, 21 E. 100 N., Nephi
Beaver Library, 55 W. Center St., Beaver.
The Draft EIS describes and analyzes SNWA's rights-of-way (ROW)
request over public land for the SNWA Project, which would develop and
convey groundwater rights that may be granted by the Nevada State
Engineer (NSE) to SNWA in Spring, Snake, Delamar, Dry Lake, and Cave
valleys based on applications that are currently pending before the
NSE. The Draft EIS addresses the ROW request as submitted by SNWA;
alternative alignments of pipelines, power lines and other ancillary
facilities; alternative pumping
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locations/scenarios; and a no action alternative.
A programmatic agreement is a program alternative allowed under the
regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) for
complying with the historic properties review process required of every
Federal undertaking pursuant to section 106 of NHPA and its
implementing regulations (36 CFR 800.14). When executed by the BLM, the
Nevada State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, ACHP, and SNWA, the terms of the executed PA will set
forth the conditions for satisfying the SNWA Project's obligations
under section 106 of the NHPA.
Under the proposed action, SNWA could be granted a ROW that would
permit the development and operation of a system of regional water
facilities that could be used to convey up to 217,655 acre-feet-per-
year (afy) of groundwater rights, including 184,655 afy of SNWA
groundwater rights (if permitted by the NSE) with the remaining
capacity reserved for future use by Lincoln County. The exact amount of
groundwater available to the proposed project is dependent upon the
future action by the NSE. The EIS and ROW application do not authorize
or address permitting of water rights. The NSE is solely responsible
for those issues.
The proposed ROW project would include approximately 306 miles of a
buried water pipeline between 16 and 84 inches in diameter;
approximately 323 miles of 230 kilovolt (kV), 69 kV and 25 kV overhead
power lines; 2 primary electrical substations, 5 secondary substations,
3 pressure-reducing facilities; 5 pumping stations; 6 regulating tanks;
a 40-million-gallon-per-day buried storage reservoir; a 165 million-
gallon-per-day water treatment facility; and associated access roads.
This is the initial EIS in a tiered NEPA evaluation process. As
described in Council on Environmental Quality Regulations, a tiered
NEPA process can be used for Proposed Actions such as the SNWA Project
when specific locations have not been defined for all phases. Under
NEPA, tiering involves a two-fold approach wherein general analyses are
first covered in a broad EIS and more detailed issues are tiered
(referenced) to that broader EIS. Once the broader EIS is completed,
subsequent narrower statements or environmental assessments incorporate
the general discussions from the broader EIS by reference, allowing the
subsequent document to concentrate on the issues specific to the
project or project phase. The NEPA regulations encourage Federal
agencies to tier environmental documents for multi-stage projects to
eliminate repetitive discussions of the same issues and to focus on the
issues that are ready for decision at each level of environmental
review.
This EIS is broad in scope and evaluates the potential
environmental effects of granting SNWA's proposed ROW, including: (1)
Pumping up to 184,655 afy of SNWA groundwater rights (if permitted by
the NSE); and (2) Construction of the SNWA Project's proposed main
pipeline, power facilities, and water storage and treatment facilities
which are part of the current ROW request. These mainline facilities
are not all of the facilities ultimately required for construction and
operation of the SNWA Project, if fully developed. Full development of
the SNWA Project would likely require between 108 and 131 groundwater
production wells, 100-250 miles of collector pipeline and overhead
power lines, and 2 additional pumping stations and electrical
substations. The specific locations of these additional facilities are
dependent upon future rulings of the NSE (whether and where the SNWA's
groundwater right applications are granted), exploratory drilling
(which would determine where SNWA can best access its groundwater
rights), and agency agreements (SNWA may agree to change the location,
timing, and quantity of pumping to minimize or mitigate effects to
sensitive resources). When SNWA later applies for site-specific ROWs
for these additional groundwater production wells and associated
facilities, then additional NEPA compliance, tiered to this EIS, would
consider the site-specific effects of future facility construction and
operation. The sources of water for the reserved Lincoln County
capacity have not been determined at this time, and would be subject to
additional NEPA compliance, tiered to this EIS, before it could be
conveyed and delivered by the SNWA Project.
A permanent ROW of up to 100 feet in width and temporary
construction ROWs of an additional 100 feet would be required for the
main and lateral pipelines. In areas of level terrain and stable soil
conditions, the amount of disturbance of the temporary ROWs may be
reduced, however, any potential reductions would not be known until
after detailed alignment surveys and project design have been
completed.
The permanent ROW needed for power line combinations containing 230
kV and/or 69 kV conductors would be 100 feet in width. This width is
required for safety considerations to allow for displacement of the
conductors. Only a portion of the permanent ROWs would be disturbed for
installation of power poles and access roads where needed. The
permanent ROWs for the power lines carrying only 25 kV are 50 feet in
width. Temporary ROWs for the power lines are not required because the
permanent ROWs are sufficient for construction needs.
In connection with the development of the Draft PA, the BLM
identified 15 federally recognized Indian tribes with a traditional or
historic connection to the areas potentially impacted by the proposed
project. The BLM has initiated government-to-government consultation
and invited those 15 tribes to sign the PA as concurring parties. The
BLM has also granted consulting party status to certain interested
organizations, groups, and agencies that have requested such status for
the Section 106 process.
The Draft PA describes the roles and responsibilities of the
signatories, the procedures and standards for determining the areas of
potential effects from the project for direct, visual, indirect and
cumulative effects. This document also describes the roles of Indian
tribes and consulting parties in the Section 106 consultation process,
and describes the procedures that will be used to encourage
participation and take into account the comments of the public. The
Draft PA also describes procedures for identifying historic properties
that may be affected by the project, determine the eligibility of such
properties for the National Register of Historic Places, assessing
effects from the project to qualified historic properties, and seeking
ways to avoid, minimize, mitigate or otherwise resolve any identified
adverse effects to such properties. The Draft PA provides procedures
for dealing with unanticipated discoveries of cultural resources,
monitoring certain segments of construction by qualified archaeologists
and Indian tribal monitors, resolving disputes among the signatories
and concurring parties, and otherwise comply with Section 106
obligation.
The BLM notified the public of nine scoping meetings that were held
in various communities in Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine counties
(Nevada) and Tooele and Juab counties (Utah) between April 26 and May
11, 2005. The public was offered the opportunity to provide oral and
written comments at the scoping meetings. A total of 648 individuals
attended the scoping meetings, of which 210 individuals provided oral
comments. During this first scoping period a total of 954
[[Page 34099]]
substantive letters were received from agencies, organizations,
businesses, and individuals, and a total of 4,958 form letters (mainly
email) were received from non-governmental organizations.
In the summer of 2006, additional scoping was conducted to provide
opportunity for public comment on substantive SNWA Project changes: (1)
Providing additional pipeline capacity for use by Lincoln County; and
(2) Removal of the Tikaboo Lateral in Tikaboo Valley North. A total of
256 substantive letters and no form letters were received during the
second scoping period.
During both scoping periods, a total of 1,210 substantive letters
were received. Of this total, 597 were received from Nevada, 459 from
Utah, and 154 from other states or countries. Key issues identified by
individuals, groups, and governmental entities include water supply and
use, competing or conflicting land uses, and cumulative impacts and
connected actions.
The BLM has prepared the current draft version of the PA in
consultation with the Nevada SHPO, ACHP and SNWA. In 2007, the BLM
initiatiated government-to-government consultation with the interested
tribes in the project area. In 2011, the BLM convened tribal
information sessions in Ely and Las Vegas, Nevada, to discuss the Draft
PA and to receive comments and suggestions on the Draft PA and other
aspects of the project from interested Indian tribes. In March 2011,
the BLM also coordinated with the nine other consulting parties that
requested to participate in the Section 106 process.
Please note that public comments will be available for public
review and disclosure at the BLM Nevada State Office, 1340 Financial
Blvd., Reno, Nevada during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.
Amy Lueders,
Acting Nevada State Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-14149 Filed 6-9-11; 8:45 am]
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