[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 98 (Friday, May 21, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27819-27820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-12836]
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INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION, UNITED STATES AND MEXICO
United States Section; Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement for the Lower Colorado River Boundary and Capacity
Preservation Project, Yuma County, AZ
AGENCY:United States Section, International Boundary and Water
Commission, United States and Mexico.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that, pursuant to section
102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended,
the United States Section, International Boundary and Water Commission
(USIBWC) proposes to gather information necessary for the preparation
of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS will address the
impacts of preservation of the boundary and channel and carrying
capacity, and maintenance activities by the USIBWC in the boundary
section of the Colorado River. The project is located in Yuma County,
Arizona. A public scoping meeting regarding this proposal will also be
held. This notice is being provided as required by the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations (40 CFR 1501.7) and the
USIBWC's Operational Procedures for Implementing Section 102 of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, published in the Federal
Register September 2, 1981 (46 FR 44083-44094) to obtain suggestions
and information from other agencies and the public on the scope of
issues to be addressed in the EIS.
DATES: The USIBWC will conduct a public scoping meeting at the Yuma
Civic and Convention Center, 1440 West Desert Hills Drive, Yuma,
Arizona, on June 9, 1999, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Full public
participation by interested federal, state, and local agencies as well
as other interested organizations and the general public is encouraged
during the scoping process which will end 45 days from the date of this
notice. Public comments on the scope of the EIS, reasonable
alternatives that should be considered, anticipated environmental
problems, and actions that might be taken to address them are
requested.
ADDRESSES: Comments will be accepted for 45-days following the date of
this notice by Mr. Yusuf Farran, Division Engineer, Environmental
Management Division, USIBWC, 4171 North Mesa Street, C-310, El Paso,
Texas 79902. Telephone: 915/832-4148, Facsimile 915/832-4167, E-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USIBWC proposes to gather information
necessary for the preparation of an EIS to be used to determine
specific options for the preservation of the boundary and channel and
carrying capacity, and maintenance activities by the Lower Colorado
River Boundary and Capacity Preservation Project (LCRBCPP) that could
be implemented. Implementation would be conducted in a manner to
minimize, consistent with the law and international agreements, the
impact of the activities of the project on ecological and environmental
resources in the project area. The project area is the 23.7 mile (38.2
kilometer (km)) boundary segment of the Lower Colorado River from the
Northerly International Boundary (NIB) to the Southerly
[[Page 27820]]
International Boundary (SIB) river reach bounded by the levees in
Arizona and Baja California Norte, Mexico.
The EIS will discuss separately, among other laws and regulations,
the requirements of international agreements with Mexico regarding the
preservation of the boundary and channel and carrying capacity, and
maintenance activities considered for the project, the Endangered
Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation
Act and others, as appropriate. Studies will include an analysis of
impacts of alternatives for preservation of the boundary and channel
and carrying capacity, and maintenance activities in relation to
baseline flood flow design capacity, floodplain and channel
maintenance, changes in the international boundary channel since 1972,
and effects from upstream sediment input. Alternatives could include
channel excavation/dredging, channel realignment, and levee
improvements, or a combination of these alternatives.
The alternatives are influenced to varying degrees by obligations
and rights reserved by the governments of the United States and Mexico
in the Treaty for ``Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana
Rivers and of the Rio Grande'' signed on February 3, 1944 (1944 Water
Treaty), the ``Treaty to Resolve Pending Boundary Differences and
Maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers as the International
Boundary Between the United States of America and Mexico'' dated
November 23, 1970, and international agreements concluded thereunder as
International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico
(IBWC) Minutes.
The EIS will address impacts in the United States of activities in
the United States related to alternatives for a long term boundary
preservation and carrying capacity improvement project, the LCRBCPP,
which is under consideration by the United States and Mexico for the
project reach. None of these conditions can be dealt with effectively
as a single issue or proposed project. The land and works located
between the international boundary and the inside toe of the United
States levee are owned, controlled and managed through several
arrangements of a domestic, Federal and international nature. A range
of options for the domestic and international activities encompassed in
the study area of the Colorado River channel and floodway in the United
States that could be implemented by the USIBWC will be considered.
Operations and maintenance, in part, of the LCRBCPP fall within the
realm of the international agreements governing the project and are
therefore not a subject of the EIS. The USIBWC does not have unilateral
control of all of the LCRBCPP and thus cannot make commitments which
are international and controlled by the IBWC. The international and
domestic activities are noted as follows.
Morelos Dam, located 1.1 miles (1.8 km) downstream of NIB, is an
international gated structure and weir spanning from levee to levee in
the channel and floodplain used for a variety of requirements and
agreements. The Colorado River clearing program is an international
program and involves bank clearing to facilitate passage of the design
flow of 140,000 cubic feet per second (3,960 cubic meters per second).
Carrying capacity improvements is an emergency international program to
assure deliveries of water to Mexico and consists of sediment removal.
The hydrography program is an international program consisting of
operations and maintenance of gaging stations. The boundary
preservation program is an international floodplain management program
designed to preserve and maintain the channel as the international
boundary.
United States floodplain features include incidental water systems
consisting of a levee, bypass channel, and adjacent lands. Other
features include the river floodplain consisting of access roads, water
conveyance system components, farmlands, and vegetation in various
stages of disturbance. The main channel is a United States floodplain
feature which, upstream of Morelos Dam, carries flows which are
allocated to Mexico by the 1944 Water Treaty, along with occasional
high flows. Downstream of Morelos Dam, the channel carries only surface
water from leakage from Morelos Dam and occasional high flows. There is
more stream vegetation in the first 5.5 miles (8.9 km) below Morelos
Dam than in the downstream portion to the SIB.
The EIS will identify, describe, and evaluate the existing
environmental, cultural, hydrological, socioeconomic and recreational
resources; describe products for boundary mandates; explain channel
carrying capacity, levee improvements and floodplain maintenance; and
evaluate impacts associated with the alternatives under consideration.
Significant issues which have been identified to be addressed in the
EIS include, but are not limited to, affects on: (a) fish and wildlife;
(b) endangered species; (c) terrestrial and aquatic habitats; (d)
cultural resources; (e) river channel capacity; (f) international
boundary alignment; and (g) water quality.
External coordination will be conducted to include the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service to insure compliance with section 7 of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, and the Fish and
Wildlife Coordination Act. Cultural resources reconnaissance of the
project area will be coordinated with the Arizona State Historic
Preservation Officer. Coordination for the Clean Water Act will also be
conducted, with the appropriate authorities.
The environmental review of this project will be conducted in
accordance with the requirements of NEPA, CEQ Regulations (40 CFR Parts
1500-1508), other appropriate federal regulations, and the USIBWC
procedures for compliance with those regulations. Copies of the EIS
will be transmitted to federal and state agencies and other interested
parties for comments and will be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency in accordance with 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 and USIBWC
procedures.
The USIBWC anticipates the Draft EIS will be made available to the
public by approximately January, 2001.
Dated: May 14, 1999.
William A. Wilcox, Jr.,
Legal Advisor.
[FR Doc. 99-12836 Filed 5-20-99; 8:45 am]
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