[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 217 (Monday, November 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66702-66704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26639]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
Notice of Availability--Final Environmental Impact Statement for
Revised Water Control Manuals for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River
Basin
AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Mobile District (USACE), has released a Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) for the update of the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River
Basin (ACT) Water Control Master Manual (Master Manual). USACE will
accept comments during a public comment period that began with the
Notice of Availability published by the Environmental Protection Agency
on November 7, 2014 and will end 30 days after that date.
DATES: Comments on the FEIS are due by December 8, 2014 and should be
submitted as indicated in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Lewis Sumner at telephone (251)
694-3857.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Master Manual includes appendices
prepared for individual projects in the ACT Basin and is the guide used
by USACE to operate a system of five federal reservoir projects in the
basin--Allatoona Dam and Lake, Carters Dam and Lake and Carters
Reregulation Dam, Robert F. Henry Lock and Dam and R.E. ``Bob''
Woodruff Lake, Millers Ferry Lock and Dam and William ``Bill'' Dannelly
Lake, and Claiborne Lock and Dam and Lake. Alabama Power Company (APC)
regulates four non-federal projects--Weiss Dam and Lake, Logan Martin
Dam and Lake, Neely Henry Dam and Lake, and R.L. Harris Dam and Lake--
in compliance with the projects' Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) licenses and in accordance with USACE water control plans for
flood risk management regulation and navigation support. The updated
ACT Master Manual includes appendices prepared for two of the four APC
projects for which USACE has authority for flood risk management and
navigation support--Neely Henry and R.L. Harris. Water Control Manuals
for the remaining two APC projects--Weiss and Logan Martin--will be
addressed later.
USACE has updated the water control plans and manuals for the ACT
Basin in order to improve operations for authorized purposes to reflect
changed conditions since the manuals were last developed. The purpose
and need for the updated Master Manual is to determine how operations
in the federal projects in the ACT Basin should be adjusted to meet
their authorized purposes, in light of current conditions and
applicable law and to implement those operations through updated water
control plans and manuals. The updated plans and manuals comply with
existing USACE regulations and reflect operations under existing
congressional authorizations, taking into account changes in basin
hydrology and demands from years of growth and development, new/
rehabilitated structural features, legal developments, and
environmental issues.
USACE regulations also provide specific policy and guidance for
inclusion of drought contingency plans
[[Page 66703]]
as part of USACE's overall water control management activities in the
basin. To assure effectiveness, the drought plan incorporates a
comprehensive, basin-wide approach that considers the interrelationship
of USACE projects and APC projects and the proposed drought plan was
developed in collaboration with APC.
USACE's objectives for the Master Manual update were to develop a
water control plan that meets the existing water resources needs of the
basin, fulfills its responsibilities in operating for the authorized
project purposes, and complies with all pertinent laws. The FEIS
presents the results of USACE's analysis of the environmental effects
of the Proposed Action Alternative (PAA) that the USACE believes would
most effectively accomplish these objectives.
USACE evaluated an array of potential water management alternatives
during the Master Manual update process, resulting in the selection of
the PAA. One alternative available to USACE would be to continue with
current operations. This approach is termed the No Action Alternative
(NAA). Neither the PAA nor the NAA would alter existing water supply
storage allocations or operations for flood risk management, fish
spawning, or fish passage.
The proposed action does not include the building, installing, or
upgrading of any facilities. USACE will not modify any authorized
project purpose via this action, although the extent to which some can
be achieved may be affected. This action is limited to the way
reservoir levels are managed and water is released from them.
The Final EIS responds to, and incorporates agency and public
comments received on the Draft EIS, which was available for public
review from February 2013 through April 2013. Four public meetings were
held on March 25th through 28th, 2013, and a cumulative total of 129
persons attended these workshops, either representing various agencies
and organizations or as interested individual citizens. Seventy (70)
comments on the draft EIS were submitted by agencies (Federal, state,
and local), private organizations, and individuals. The USACE responses
to substantive agency and public comments are provided in Appendix B of
the FEIS.
USACE incorporated pertinent revisions and updates to the EIS WCM
based on input received during the public review process. The key
revisions and updates to the draft documents included in the final EIS
for the WCM update include:
The baseline condition for analysis of alternatives was
revised to reflect actual withdrawals by Cobb County-Marietta Water
Authority (CCMWA) and city of Cartersville from Allatoona Lake as well
as the City of Chatsworth from Carters Lake. As presented in the draft
EIS, withdrawals from the reservoirs by these entities had been limited
to the volume of water in the current water supply storage agreements.
For purposes of the Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Simulation
(HEC-ResSim) model, ``actual withdrawals'' are represented by actual
water use reported throughout the basin in 2006, rather than the volume
of water in the current storage agreements. The actual withdrawal
amounts in 2006 are the highest levels of net water supply withdrawal
reported basin-wide and represent the greatest stress placed on the
system to date from withdrawals.
Based on further review of available data during and
following the comment period for the draft EIS, USACE determined that
revisions of the navigation ``template'' would be appropriate. The
navigation template provides the technical information upon which flow
requirements necessary to maintain navigable channel depths in the
Alabama River are based. The HEC-ResSim model for the ACT Basin was
updated to incorporate these revisions.
Provisions for operation of the recently completed Hickory
Log Creek reservoir, as permitted in the Section 404 permit for the
project (2004), were incorporated into the HEC-ResSim model. The
Hickory Log Creek reservoir operation was not considered as part of the
baseline condition but was included in the simulation of the WCM update
alternatives. The final EIS includes an updated description of Hickory
Log Creek reservoir and its relationship to the ACT WCM update.
The hydrologic period of record for HEC-ResSim model
simulation for the ACT WCM update process was extended from 70 years
(1939-2008) to 73 years (1939-2011).
Based on the HEC-ResSim model updates described above,
model simulations were re-run for the water management alternatives
considered in the draft EIS (No Action, Alternative D, Alternative F,
and Alternative G (Proposed Action), and the Environmental Consequences
were updated accordingly.
In order to better understand the sensitivity of the
Proposed Action Alternative to the potential implications of climate
change and increased future water demands in the ACT Basin, model
simulations were conducted to address (1) projected increases in long-
range water supply demands in the basin, (2) potential for a long term
reduction in rainfall in the basin due to climate change, and (3)
potential for increased air temperature due to climate change. Both
HEC-ResSim and HEC-5Q were run to compare the Proposed Action to these
scenarios. These scenarios, the associated sensitivity analyses, and
potential effects are discussed in the Final EIS.
The FERC license for Coosa River Projects was finalized
and issued in June 2013, following the publication and review of the
draft EIS for the ACT WCM update. The EIS document was updated
accordingly, including discussion of the pertinent effects of the June
2013 FERC license on the ACT WCM update process.
The EIS was updated to include a description of the most
recent activities by non-Federal hydropower interests and FERC related
to potential development of non-Federal hydropower facilities at
Carters Reregulation Dam and Claiborne Lock and Dam.
Other minor corrections and updates were incorporated into
the final EIS based on public comments and new information.
Document Availability
The FEIS and appendices are available to the public for review in
the following formats:
Online as PDF documents at www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/PlanningEnvironmental/ACTMasterWaterControlManualUpdate/ACTDocumentLibrary.aspx.
As a CD when requested in writing to: Commander, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Attn: PD-EI (ACT-DEIS), P.O. Box
2288, Mobile, AL 36628.
Public Review and Comment
USACE recognizes that the decisions made concerning revisions to
the water control operations at USACE projects within the ACT Basin
will have wide-ranging effects and encourages the public to submit
comments on the content of the DEIS. All persons and organizations that
have a potential interest in the proposed action, including minority,
low-income, disadvantaged, and Native American groups, are urged to
participate in this NEPA environmental analysis process by reviewing
the FEIS and submitting comments for consideration.
Comments may be submitted via the following methods:
Online at www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/
[[Page 66704]]
PlanningEnvironmental/ACTMasterWaterControlManualUpdate.
By emailing [email protected].
By letter addressed to: Commander, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Mobile District, Attn: PD-EI (ACT-DEIS), P.O. Box 2288,
Mobile, AL 36628.
Further information regarding the update of the Master Manual,
including all available documents, background and historical
information, and updates is available online at the Web site given
above.
Next Steps
No sooner than 30 days after filing the final EIS with USEPA and
publication of the EPA Notice of Availability for the FEIS in the
Federal Register, USACE will prepare a Record of Decision (ROD) which
documents the final decision on the proposed action in regard to the
update of the ACT Basin Master WCM and the individual project WCMs,
summarize alternatives that were considered and relevant factors that
were balanced in making the decision, and identify means that have been
adopted to mitigate for adverse effects. USACE will notify the public
of the ROD in a newsletter distribution to the project mailing list,
press releases to local newspapers radio and television news, and on
the project Web site.
Landon M. Raby,
Major, Deputy District Commander, Mobile District, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
[FR Doc. 2014-26639 Filed 11-7-14; 8:45 am]
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