[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 141 (Friday, July 21, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45362-45363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-18537]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement [DEIS] 
for the Boeuf-Tensas Basin, Southeast Arkansas, Feasibility Report

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, DOD.

ACTION:  Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The feasibility study for the Boeuf-Tensas Basin, Southeast 
Arkansas will be conducted to fully evaluate a range of alternatives to 
provide a plan for flood control, environmental protection/restoration, 
and agricultural water supply in Chicot, Desha, Ashley, Drew, Lincoln, 
and Jefferson Counties, Arkansas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Larry Marcy (telephone (601) 631-
5965), CEMVK-PP-PQ, 4155 Clay Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39183-
3435.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This study is authorized by a resolution of 
the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works adopted 23 June 
1988.
    1. Proposed Action: Feasibility studies for the Boeuf-Tensas Basin, 
Southeast Arkansas study will be conducted to fully evaluate a range of 
alternatives to provide a multipurpose plan for flood control, 
agricultural water supply, and environmental protection and/or 
enhancement. Various alternatives will be analyzed, and assuming a 
feasible plan is identified, design studies will be completed to 
develop a baseline cost estimate and schedule for implementation.
    2. Alternatives: One feasible implementable plan was identified 
during the Reconnaissance Study and documented in the Final 
Reconnaissance Report, February 1991. This plan would use water from 
seven different sources and/or methods, including rainfall, existing 
streamflows at the safe and legal rate of withdrawal, ground water at 
the safe yield, existing on-farm storage reservoirs, new on-farm 
storage reservoirs, import water from the Arkansas River, and water 
conservation. The primary delivery system to import water from the 
Arkansas River would consist of approximately 136 miles of channel 
excavation; one 75-cubic-foot-per-second pump station at Harding Drain 
in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; four gravity structures through the Arkansas 
River south bank levees at Linwood, Douglas Lake, Silver Lake, and 
Belcoe Lake; a dam across the south end of Morgan Point Cutoff; a 680-
cubic-foot-

[[Page 45363]]

per-second pump station near Tillar, Arkansas; and 28 weirs in the main 
water supply channels. The secondary delivery system would consist of 
75 lateral and 8 sublaterals to divert irrigation water from the main 
water supply channels to the beginning of an on-farm irrigation system; 
4,830 relifts to supply water to the laterals and on-farm delivery 
systems; approximately 1,361,000 linear feet of permanent underground 
pipelines; and 670 on-farm reservoirs.
    3. Additional alternatives that may be included are:
    a. Water supply plans to meet three different design drought 
conditions.
    b, Additional import points along the Arkansas River similar to the 
plan selected for detailed analysis in the Reconnaissance Study.
    c. One import point on the Mississippi River to supply a portion of 
the unmet water needs of the Basin.
    d. Utilization of on-farm storage and water conservation measures 
to meet all or a portion of the water needs in the Basin.
    e. Upland reservoirs west of Bayou Bartholomew to supply a portion 
of the unmet water needs of the Basin.
    f. Various levels of flood control and the impacts of the water 
supply alternatives on the existing level of flood protection.
    g. Features to restore, protect, and/or enhance the environment. 
Opportunities exist to improve the productivity of streams and oxbow 
lake fisheries; restore, protect, and/or enhance the remaining tracts 
of bottom-land hardwoods and forested wetlands to benefit Neotropical 
migratory birds; and migratory waterfowl.
    h. Other alternatives may be developed through the scoping process 
described below.
    4. The National Environmental Policy Act (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) 
requires all Federal agencies involved in water resources planning to 
conduct a process termed ``scoping.'' This scoping process determines 
the issues to be addressed and identifies the significant issues 
related to a proposed action. To accomplish this, two public scoping 
meetings will be held. One meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held 
at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and one meeting at McGehee, Arkansas. These 
meetings are scheduled to be held in August 2000. Significant issues 
identified in the scoping meetings will be analyzed in depth in the 
DEIS. Significant issues currently identified include, but are not 
limited to, excessive sedimentation, excessive nutrients, trash 
dumping, log jams, reduced instream flow, habitat alteration, lack of 
diverse use, lack of public access, contaminants, and rock weirs. The 
Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Natural Resources Conservation Service, Arkansas Department of 
Environmental Quality, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the 
Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission will be invited to 
become cooperating agencies. These agencies will be asked to review 
data, the feasibility report, and appendixes. A public meeting will be 
held once the DEIS is completed. All interested agencies, groups, 
tribes, and individuals will be sent copies of the DEIS and final EIS.
    5. The DEIS is estimated to be completed in March 2005.

Robert Crear,
Colonel, Corps of Engineers, District Engineer.
[FR Doc. 00-18537 Filed 7-20-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-PU-M