[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 10066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4441]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Fish and Wildlife Implementation Plan

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of scoping meeting.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice announces BPA's scoping meeting for its Fish and 
Wildlife Implementation Plan Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) being 
prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA). BPA has established a scoping period during which all 
interested and affected persons and agencies are invited to comment on 
the scope of the proposed EIS. Scoping will help BPA ensure that a full 
range of issues related to the development and implementation of a 
regional fish and wildlife policy is addressed in the EIS, and also 
will identify significant or potentially significant impacts that may 
result from the implementation of such a policy. This notice also 
extends the close of comment for scoping from the previously published 
February 29, 2000, to March 31, 2000.

DATES: Please send written comments to the address below no later than 
Friday, March 31, 2000. Comments may also be made at an EIS scoping 
meeting to be held at the Bonneville Power Administration, Room 122, 
905 NE 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, March 14, 2000, from 
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. At the informal meeting, a brief overview of the 
EIS and presentation of background information will be followed by an 
open house during which attendees may discuss the EIS with BPA's EIS 
team. Written information will also be available, and BPA staff will 
answer questions and accept both oral and written comments.
    BPA invites comments and suggestions on the proposed scope of the 
Draft EIS. Send comment letters and requests to be placed on the 
project mailing list to Communications, Bonneville Power 
Administration--KC-7, P.O. Box 12999, Portland, Oregon, 97212. The 
phone number of the Communications office is 503-230-3478 in Portland; 
toll-free 1-800-622-4519 outside of Portland. Comments may also be sent 
to the BPA Internet address: [email protected]. Please be sure to note 
that your comments are on the Fish and Wildlife Implementation Plan 
EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles C. Alton--KEC-4, Bonneville 
Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621, 
phone number 503-230-5878, fax number 503-230-5699.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout the Pacific Northwest region 
there are several ongoing processes to develop plans and programs for 
the management, recovery, and mitigation of the Columbia River Basin's 
fish and wildlife resources. These plans and programs will help to 
shape a regional fish and wildlife policy direction that will guide 
BPA's mitigation and recovery efforts, including its funding, for the 
next decade or more. BPA expects to shift its fish and wildlife 
spending accordingly.
    BPA currently funds over 70 percent of the fish and wildlife 
mitigation and recovery efforts on behalf of the Federal Columbia River 
Power System. Consequently, BPA has a responsibility to understand the 
impacts of those efforts and to ensure it can fund them efficiently. 
Therefore, BPA is preparing an EIS that examines the impacts that may 
arise from implementing one of the fish and wildlife policy directions 
reflected in the alternatives being considered in the ongoing regional 
processes. A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS was published in the 
Federal Register on October 20, 1999 (64 FR 56488). A Notice of Scoping 
Meeting was also previously published in the Federal Register on 
January 6, 2000 (65 FR 765). That scoping meeting was held on February 
3, 2000, in Portland, Oregon, in conjunction with several other 
meetings related to fish and wildlife recovery efforts in the Pacific 
Northwest.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on February 18, 2000.
Roger E. Seifert,
Special Assistant to the Vice President.
[FR Doc. 00-4441 Filed 2-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P