[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53023-53024]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26496]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers


Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Water Allocation for the 
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin, Alabama, Florida 
and Georgia

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice of availability announces the public release of 
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Water Allocation for 
the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin, Alabama, 
Florida and Georgia. The ACF River Basin Compact Commission is 
developing a water allocation formula for the ACF River basin to 
provide an equitable sharing of water within the basin within the 
States of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. A change in allocation of water 
resources by the States may impact other resources within the basin for 
which there is a Federal interest or responsibility. This Draft EIS has 
been developed by the Corps of Engineers (lead agency) and ten other 
cooperating Federal agencies. The Draft EIS uses a programmatic 
framework for evaluating a range of flow and reservoir conditions 
selected to bracket the flow conditions that may result from the 
allocation formula. The objectives of the EIS are to address the range 
of potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts across the entire 
basin, serve as a baseline document for future implementing actions, 
and meet the schedule for completion of agency and public review prior 
to a decision by the Federal Commissioner to the Compact Commission in 
late summer 1999. Follow-on National Environmental Policy Act 
documentation (environmental assessments or EISs) may be necessary to 
document specific impacts of future implementing action.

DATES: The public comment period for the Draft EIS will extend through 
December 18, 1998.

ADDRESSES: To receive a copy of the Draft EIS, or to submit comments, 
contact: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Inland 
Environment Section, Post Office Box 2288, Mobile, AL 36628-0001. 
Copies are available in hard copy or CD-ROM format. A copy of the full 
document may also be viewed at 60 libraries in the major cities and 
universities within the States of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, or the 
Main Report can be viewed on the Mobile District Web Page (http://
www.sam.usace.army.mil/sam/pd/actacfeis).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joanne U. Brandt, ACF Basin EIS Project Manager, (334) 690-3260 or 1-
800-421-7637, facsimile number (334) 694-3815 or e-mail address 
([email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ACF River Basin Compact Commission 
includes the Governors of Alabama, Florida and Georgia and a Federal 
Commissioner appointed by the President of the United States, a non-
voting member. Under the terms of the Compact, the three State 
Commissioners must negotiate and agree on a proposed allocation formula 
and present the formula to the Federal Commissioner for concurrence 
before the allocation formula can be implemented. The Federal 
Commissioner will have up to 255 days to reach a decision on the 
allocation formula proposed by the States. Because water allocation 
formulas have not yet been identified by the States and may not be 
until late 1998, a programmatic approach is being used for this EIS. 
Such an approach is appropriate when examining broad actions or 
management programs when the actual implementation plans are not yet 
known. The programmatic evaluation framework used in this EIS predicts 
a range of flow or reservoir conditions at representative locations 
within the river basin. Impacts of alternative flow conditions in the 
high, moderate, and low range are compared to the impacts of flow 
conditions for the no action alternative (existing operating conditions 
within the basin). The final water allocation formula developed by the 
States is expected to fall somewhere within the predicted range of flow 
conditions. Flow conditions were modeled by using a historic flow data 
record that represents 55 years of recorded stream flows. Hydrologic 
modeling was used to project water use demands and associated impacts 
over time for the years 1995, 2020, and 2050.

[[Page 53024]]

Public comments can be submitted through a variety of methods. Written 
comments may be submitted to the Corps by mail, facsimile, or 
electronic methods, or comments (written or oral) may be presented at 
one of five public meetings scheduled for November 1998. The open house 
format meetings will be conducted between the hours of 5:00-8:00 p.m., 
at the following locations and dates:
    Anniston City Meeting Center, 17th and Noble Street, Anniston, AL, 
November 9th; Montgomery Civic Center, 300 Bibb Street, Montgomery, AL, 
November 10th; Tallahassee Civic Center (Rooms A2&A3), 505 West 
Pensacola Street, Tallahassee, FL, November 17th; Kennesaw State 
University Gymnasium, 1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA, November 18th; 
and Columbus Convention and Trade Center, 801 Front Avenue, Columbus, 
GA, November 19th.
    These public meetings will also provide information and receive 
comments on the concurrently developed Draft EIS for Water Allocation 
in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT) River Basin. The format for all 
five meetings will be identical. Additional information on these 
meetings will be mailed in a newsletter to the agencies and public, 
announced in news releases, and made available on the Mobile District 
Web Page.

    Dated: September 25, 1998.
Curtis M. Flakes,
Chief, Planning and Environmental Division.
[FR Doc. 98-26496 Filed 10-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-CR-M