[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10379-10380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5945]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact
Report on the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-
San Joaquin River Delta, California
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement/
environmental impact report.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 as
amended, CALFED, a consortium of federal and state agencies, proposes
to participate in a joint programmatic environmental impact statement/
environmental impact report (EIS/EIR) on the CALFED Bay-Delta Program.
The State of California Resources Agency will be the lead agency under
the California Environmental Quality Act. The CALFED Bay-Delta Program
is intended to provide long-term solutions to the problems affecting
the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Bay-Delta
system). CALFED has requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(Corps) participate in the programmatic EIS/EIR as a cooperating agency
for purposes of its regulatory program. The Corps has indicated that it
will participate in such a role.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of alternatives and impacts to be
considered should be sent to CALFED by April 29, 1996. CALFED estimates
that the draft EIS/EIR will be available for public review in the
summer of 1997.
Through a series of scoping meetings, CALFED will seek public input
on alternatives, concerns, and issues to be addressed in the EIS/EIR.
The schedule and locations of the scoping meetings are as follows:
April 9, 1996, MetroCentro Building, Eighth and Madison
Streets, Oakland, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 10 1996, Jean Harvie Senior and Community Center,
14273 River Road, Walnut Grove, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 11, 1996, Tehama County Community Center, Gardenside
Room, 1500 South Jackson Road, Red Bluff, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00
p.m.
April 15, 1996, Red Lion Inn, 2001 Point West Way,
Sacramento, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 16, 1996, Red Lion Hotel/San Diego, 7450 Hazard
Center Drive, San Diego, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 17, 1996, Long Beach Renaissance Hotel, 111 E. Ocean
Boulevard, Long Beach, California, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
April 17, 1996, Holiday Inn, 303 E. Cordova, Pasadena,
California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
April 18, 1996, Red Lion Inn, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court,
Bakersfield, California, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the project scope should be sent to Mr.
Rick Breitenbach, CALFED Bay-Delta Program, 1416 Ninth Street, Suite
1155, Sacramento, CA 95814.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick Breitenbach at the above
address; telephone: (916) 657-2666.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The State of California and the Federal
government are working together to stabilize, restore, and enhance the
Bay-Delta system. State-Federal cooperation was formalized in June 1994
with the signing of a Framework Agreement by the Bureau of Reclamation;
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine
Fisheries Service; and the State of California Resources Agency,
Department of Fish and Game, Department of Water Resources, California
Environmental Protection Agency, and State Water Resources Control
Board. These agencies, with management and regulatory responsibility in
the Bay-Delta system, are working together as CALFED and will provide
policy direction and oversight for the process. The Framework Agreement
pledged that State and Federal agencies would work together in three
areas of Bay-Delta management:
water quality standards formulation,
coordination of State Water Project and Central Valley
Project operations with regulatory requirements, and
long-term solutions to problems in the Bay-Delta estuary.
The mission of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program is to develop a long-
term comprehensive plan that will restore ecological health and improve
water management for beneficial uses of the Bay-Delta system. Four main
problem areas have been identified for the Bay-Delta system. These are
water quality, ecosystem health, water supply reliability, and system
vulnerability. Six principles guide the development of the solutions to
the problems identified for the four problem areas. The principles
dictate that the solutions must be affordable, equitable, durable, and
implementable; must reduce conflict among competing interests; and must
not redirect significant impacts.
Scoping is an early and open process designed to determine the
significant issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EIS/EIR. The
following are significant issues that have been identified by CALFED
agencies to date:
declining fish populations;
Delta water quality;
agricultural and municipal water supplies and water
quality;
health of the Delta ecosystem;
levee stability in the Delta;
flow and direction of water in the Delta and tributary
streams;
land uses in the Delta;
wetland, upland, and aquatic habitats in the Delta and
tributary streams;
upstream storage reservoirs;
recreation opportunities; and
power generation at upstream facilities.
In addition to a no-action alternative, the CALFED Bay-Delta
Program has drafted alternative solutions for problems in the Bay-Delta
system. Each draft alternative is a combination of many actions, such
as operational and policy changes, habitat restoration, and water flow
adjustments, that together form a comprehensive solution to problems in
the Bay-Delta system's four problem areas: water quality, ecosystem
health, water supply reliability, and system vulnerability. The CALFED
Bay-
[[Page 10380]]
Delta Program operates on the premise that no single operational change
or new facility will solve the myriad of interrelated problems in the
Bay-Delta system. Therefore, each alternative is designed to include a
balanced array of actions that, when combined, solve many problems
simultaneously.
Far from being final products, the draft alternatives are subject
to significant change based on further public input and technical
analyses including the possibility of combining portions of more than
one draft alternative to form a new potential alternative.
While the draft alternatives vary in emphasis and detail, they
share certain measures or ``core actions'' that already enjoy broad
acceptance among stakeholders. Currently, the draft alternatives
include core actions addressing the following areas of concern:
habitat restoration in the Delta and upstream of the
Delta,
reduction in the effects that diversions have on fish,
management of anadromous fish,
reduction in reliance on exports of water from the Delta,
increase in water supply predictability,
management of water quality, and
improvements to system reliability.
Beyond their common core actions, the draft alternatives range from
those that change the operation of the existing Bay-Delta system to
those that restructure the system itself. One draft alternative, for
example, emphasizes upgrading levees and restoring habitat in the
existing system, possibly leading to fewer regulatory restrictions on
water diverted from existing diversion points. In contrast, another
draft alternative proposes constructing new diversion points and a new
conveyance facility west of the Delta. None of the draft alternatives
exclude either reoperation or restructuring.
The draft programmatic EIS/EIR will focus on the impacts and
benefits common to all methods of implementing the long-term
comprehensive plan. It will contain a general analysis of the physical,
biological, social, and economic impacts arising from the long-term
comprehensive plan. In addition, it will address the cumulative impacts
of implementation of the long-term comprehensive plan as a whole and in
conjunction with other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable
actions. The programmatic EIS/EIR is intended to serve as an analytical
overview document that will generally precede the completion of
subsequent environmental documents on specific activities or groups of
activities. When a specific method of implementing an activity or
activities is proposed that is not fully addressed in the programmatic
EIS/EIR, a subsequent environmental document will be prepared that
addresses the specific physical, biological, social, and economic
impacts arising from that method. In addition, the programmatic EIS/EIR
is intended to provide sufficient information regarding the potential
for adverse effects on the aquatic environment and an adequate range
and description of alternatives to meet the purpose and need and to
satisfy the requirements of the Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines to
identify the least environmentally damaging alternative capable of
meeting the program purpose.
A report will be available about 2 weeks prior to the first scoping
meeting that will further elaborate on the draft alternatives. If a
copy of the report is desired, please contact Ms. Beth Chambers at the
above address. Ms. Chambers' telephone number is (916) 657-2666.
Note: If special assistance is required, contact Ms. Pauline
Nevins. Please notify Ms. Nevins as far in advance of the workshops
as possible and not later than April 1, 1996 to enable CALFED to
secure the needed services. If a request cannot be honored, the
requestor will be notified. A telephone device for the hearing
impaired (TDD) is available from TDD phones at 1-800-735-2929; from
voice phones at 1-800-735-2922.
Dated: March 6, 1996.
Franklin E. Dimick,
Assistant Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 96-5945 Filed 3-12-96; 8:45 am]
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