[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 54 (Monday, March 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14998-14999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-6794]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Assessment for 
the Diamond Fork System Proposed Action Modifications

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary--Water and Science, 
Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft Environmental Assessment 
for the Diamond Fork System Proposed Action Modifications.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the 
Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD), Utah Reclamation 
Mitigation and Conservation Commission (Mitigation Commission), and the 
Department of the Interior (Interior) announces the availability of the 
draft Environmental Assessment for the Diamond Fork System Proposed 
Action Modifications (EA). The draft EA is now available to the public 
for review and comment.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before April 27, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the draft EA should be addressed to: Harold 
Sersland, Environmental Program Manager, Central Utah Water Conservancy 
District, 355 West University Parkway, Orem, Utah 84058-7303, (801) 
226-7110.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Draft Environmental Assessment--The draft EA addresses 
modifications to the Proposed Action as a result of value engineering 
studies on the Proposed Action of the Diamond Fork System 1999 Final 
Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FSFEIS) that 
was filed with the Environmental Protection Agency July 1, 1999. A 
Record of Decision (1999 ROD) documenting the selection of the Proposed 
Action Alternative as presented in the FSFEIS was signed by the 
Assistant Secretary--Water and Science on September 29, 1999. The 1999 
ROD required value engineering studies, pursuant to public law 104-106, 
to be conducted on the Proposed Action to determine whether the design 
could be improved to further reduce environmental impacts or project 
construction costs. Based on value engineering studies the following 
modifications to the Proposed Action are addressed in the draft EA: (1) 
replacing a series of tunnels and pipelines with one tunnel and one 
pipeline; (2) relocating flow control facilities; and (3) adjusting the 
alignment of the Diamond Fork System. The proposed modifications would 
reduce environmental impacts and reduce project construction costs 
while not changing the Proposed Action's purposes or needs as described 
in the FSFEIS and 1999 ROD.

Background

    The Diamond Fork System is one of six systems of the Bonneville 
Unit of the Central Utah Project that would develop central Utah's 
water resources for irrigation, municipal and industrial supply, fish 
and wildlife, and recreation. It was first identified in the Bonneville 
Unit Final EIS in 1973 and described in detail in the: Diamond Fork 
Power System Final EIS in 1984; Diamond Fork System Final Supplement to 
the Final EIS in 1990, and the Diamond Fork System Final Supplement to 
the Final EIS in 1999. The Diamond Fork System has been modified over 
the years and has been partially constructed.

Proposed Action Modifications

    The Proposed Action Modifications would: (1) Maintain the 
statutorily mandated minimum flows in Diamond Fork Creek and Sixth 
Water Creek; (2) implement Interior's environmental commitments from 
the 1995 and 1999 Records of Decision; (3) meet the CUWCD's Municipal 
and Industrial water contractual commitments to Salt Lake, Utah and 
Wasatch Counties; and (4) provide the Mitigation Commission the 
opportunity and flexibility for future restoration of aquatic and 
riparian habitat in Sixth Water and Diamond Fork creeks to protect 
water quality and threatened species in Diamond Fork Creek.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Copies of the draft EA or information on 
matters related to this notice can be obtained on request from: Ms. 
Nancy Hardman, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, 355 West 
University Parkway,

[[Page 14999]]

Orem, Utah 84058, Telephone: (801) 226-7187, Fax: (801) 226-7150.
    Copies are also available for inspection at:

Central Utah Water Conservancy District, 355 West University Parkway, 
Orem, Utah 84058
Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, 102 West 500 
South, Suite 315, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
Department of the Interior, Natural Resource Library, Serials Branch, 
18th and C Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20240
Department of the Interior, Central Utah Project Completion Act Office, 
302 East 1860 South, Provo, Utah 84606

    Dated: March 14, 2000.
Ronald Johnston,
CUP Program Director, Department of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 00-6794 Filed 3-17-00; 8:45 am]
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