[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 6 (Friday, January 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1431-1432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00153]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
[RR01113000, XXXR0680R1, RR.R0336A1R.7WRMP0032]
Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
and Notice of Public Meetings for the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping
Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance, Kittitas
and Yakima Counties, Washington
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of
Ecology have made available for public review and comment the Kachess
Drought Relief Pumping Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess
Reservoir Conveyance Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The
Draft EIS describes the potential environmental effects of the No
Action Alternative and five action alternatives. The action
alternatives examine constructing and operating a pumping plant to
access up to 200,000 acre-feet of water in Kachess Reservoir during
drought years and conveying it to the Kachess River for irrigation use
within the Yakima Project, and constructing and operating a gravity
flow tunnel from Keechelus Reservoir to Kachess Reservoir that could
convey up to 400 cubic feet of water per second to Kachess Reservoir.
The action alternatives include activities to enhance the resiliency of
bull trout populations in the Kachess and Keechelus watersheds as well
as elsewhere in the Yakima River basin.
DATES: Send written comments on the Draft EIS on or before March 10,
2015.
Two public meetings will be held on the following dates:
1. Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Ellensburg,
WA.
2. Thursday, February 5, 2015, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Cle Elum,
WA.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments or requests for copies to Ms. Candace
McKinley, Bureau of Reclamation, 1917 Marsh Road, Yakima, WA 98901; or
via email to [email protected]. The Draft EIS is also accessible on the
following Web sites: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kdrpp/index.html and http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kkc/index.html.
The public meeting locations are:
1. Ellensburg--Hal Holmes Community Center, 209 N. Ruby Street,
Ellensburg, Washington 98926;
2. Cle Elum--U.S. Forest Service, Cle Elum Ranger District, Tom
Craven Conference Room, 803 W. 2nd Street, Cle Elum, Washington 98922.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Candace McKinley, 509-575-5848,
ext. 603; or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This EIS was previously identified in the
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement as
``Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance and Kachess
Inactive Storage.'' The name was changed to better reflect the proposed
action evaluated in the EIS.
The Draft EIS documents the potential direct, indirect, and
cumulative physical, biological, and socioeconomic environmental
effects that may result from the new pumping plant at Kachess
Reservoir, water conveyance from Keechelus Reservoir to Kachess
[[Page 1432]]
Reservoir, and bull trout enhancements within the Yakima River basin.
The Draft EIS evaluates construction and operation of two
alternative designs and locations for the Kachess Drought Relief
Pumping Plant, including reservoir intakes and tunnels, pumping plants
and pump units, pipelines, surge tanks, outlet works, fish screens and
barriers, power supply substations, and electric transmission lines.
The Draft EIS also evaluates construction and operation of two
alternative designs and alignments for the Keechelus-to-Kachess
Conveyance, including the Yakima River diversion and intake, the Yakima
River-to-Keechelus portal conveyance, fish screens, bored tunnels,
discharge structures, spillways and stilling basins, and mechanical
buildings. The fifth action alternative evaluates implementation of
both the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant and the Keechelus-to-
Kachess Conveyance. All action alternatives include several proposals
to improve streamflow and habitat functions, eliminate passage
barriers, increase abundance, and improve overall resiliency of bull
trout populations in the Kachess and Keechelus watersheds.
The objectives of the proposals are to address conditions in the
Yakima River basin including: (1) Fish impacts caused by high flows in
the upper Yakima River; (2) insufficient capacity of Keechelus
Reservoir to fully capture runoff in the Keechelus watershed; (3)
currently inaccessible storage in Kachess Reservoir; (4) difficulty in
refilling Kachess Reservoir during drought years; and (5) low
resiliency of bull trout, an Endangered Species Act-listed species.
The primary study area generally encompasses Kachess Reservoir and
its tributaries, Keechelus Reservoir and its tributaries, the Kachess
River, the Yakima River between Keechelus Dam and the Easton Diversion
Dam near Lake Easton, the South Fork Tieton River, and the electric
transmission line route from near Easton to the Kachess Reservoir
pumping plant. The extended study area generally includes the Yakima
Project vicinity.
Reclamation is conducting feasibility studies for both the Kachess
Drought Relief Pumping Plant and the Keechelus-to-Kachess Conveyance.
After release of the DEIS for public review and comment, the Final EIS
will be prepared and processed with the Final Feasibility Report to
support decision making for any related future recommendation,
approvals, or authorizations that may result.
Authority
The Kachess and Keechelus reservoirs were authorized on December
12, 1905, by the Secretary of the Interior in connection with the
Tieton and Sunnyside Divisions of the Yakima Project. The Secretary was
acting under authority of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902. The
Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project was authorized on December
28, 1979 (93 Stat. 1241, Pub. L. 96-162, Feasibility Study--Yakima
River Basin Water Enhancement Project). Title XII of the Yavapai-
Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1994 (108 Stat.
4526, Pub. L. 103-434) authorized fish, wildlife, and recreation as
additional purposes of the Yakima Project.
Public Review of Draft EIS
Copies of the Draft EIS are available for public review at the
following locations:
1. Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area Office, 1917 Marsh
Road, Yakima, Washington 98901.
2. Washington State Department of Ecology, 15 W. Yakima Avenue,
Suite 200, Yakima, Washington 98902.
Libraries
1. Carpenter Memorial Library, 302 N Pennsylvania Ave., Cle Elum,
WA 98922.
2. Ellensburg Public Library, 209 N. Ruby St., Ellensburg, WA
98926.
3. Roslyn Public Library, 201 S. First St., Roslyn, WA 98941.
4. Benton City Library, 810 Horne Dr., Benton City, WA 99320.
5. Kennewick Library, 1620 S. Union St., Kennewick, WA 99338.
6. Kittitas Public Library, 200 N. Pierce St., Kittitas, WA 98934.
7. Mid-Columbia Library, 405 S. Dayton St., Kennewick, WA 99336.
8. Pasco Library, 1320 W. Hopkins St., Pasco, WA 99301.
9. Prosser Library, 902 7th St., Prosser, WA 99350.
10. Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Dr., Richland, WA 99352.
11. Sunnyside Public Library, 621 Grant Ave., Sunnyside, WA 98944.
12. Toppenish Library, 1 S. Elm St., Toppenish, WA 98948.
13. Wapato Library, 119 E. 3rd St., Wapato, WA 98951.
14. Washington State Library, Point Plaza East, 6880 Capitol Blvd.
SE., Tumwater, WA 98504.
15. West Richland Library, 3803 W. Van Giesen St., Richland, WA
99353.
16. Yakama Nation Library, 100 Spiel-Yi Loop, Toppenish, WA 98948.
17. Yakima Valley Regional Library, 102 N. 3rd St., Yakima, WA
98901.
Special Assistance for Public Meetings
If special assistance is required at the public meetings, please
contact Ms. Candace McKinley, at [email protected] or 509-575-5848, ext.
603. Please notify Ms. McKinley as far in advance of the meeting as
possible to enable Reclamation to secure the needed services. If a
request cannot be honored, the requestor will be notified. TTY users
may dial 711 to obtain a toll-free TTY relay.
Public Disclosure
Before including your address, phone number, email 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.
Dated: January 5, 2015.
Lorri J. Lee,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2015-00153 Filed 1-8-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4332-90-P