[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 213 (Thursday, November 2, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65892-65893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-28183]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Tellico Reservoir Land Management Plan, Blount, Loudon, and 
Monroe Counties, TN

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

ACTION: Issuance of record of decision.

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SUMMARY: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 to 1508) and 
TVA's procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act. On 
August 29, 2000, the TVA Board of Directors decided to adopt the 
preferred alternative (Allocation Alternative) identified in its Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Tellico Reservoir Land Management 
Plan.
    The Final EIS was made available to the public in July, 2000. A 
Notice of Availability of the Final EIS was published in the Federal 
Register on July 7, 2000. Under the Allocation Alternative, TVA seeks 
to provide a clear statement on how it will manage its lands, based on 
scientific, cultural, and economic principles. The plan and EIS cover 
12,643 acres of TVA lands on Tellico Reservoir. About half (6,103 
acres) of the land is currently committed to specific uses, which would 
be continued. The remaining 6,540 acres have no outstanding commitments 
and their use is determined in the plan. The total 12,643 acres is 
allocated as follows: 9,321 acres for natural resource conservation and 
management; 635 acres for TVA project operations and public works; 331 
acres for industrial and commercial development uses; 1,804 acres for 
recreation developments; and 552 acres for shoreline residential 
access.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles P. Nicholson, NEPA Specialist, 
Environmental Policy and Planning, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West 
Summit Hill Drive, WT 8C, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499; telephone 
(865) 632-3592 or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During the development of the Tellico 
Project, TVA purchased about 37,737 acres of land. About 13,943 acres 
are normally covered by water during the summer, resulting in a 
reservoir pool with 360.8 miles of shoreline. About 11,150 acres of the 
remaining project lands were sold to the Tellico Reservoir Development 
Agency (TRDA) in November 1982. TVA has since entered into agreements 
for the use of about half the remaining lands. The management of the 
lands retained under TVA's control, as well as the lands sold to TRDA, 
is prescribed by the land plan included in a 1982 joint agreement 
(Contract No. TV-60000A) between TVA and TRDA.
    In its 1999 Record of Decision on its Shoreline Management 
Initiative (SMI) Final EIS, TVA committed to developing comprehensive 
land management plans for all its reservoirs. These plans are intended 
to integrate land and water benefits, provide for the optimum public 
benefit, and balance competing, and sometimes, conflicting resource 
uses. In doing so, these plans will provide a clear statement of how 
TVA manages reservoir lands and identify the specific uses of 
individual land parcels.
    TVA began public scoping and preparation of this plan in 1997. In 
late 1998, TVA determined that an EIS would be the appropriate level of 
environmental review. TVA then issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an 
EIS on January 14, 1999, and held a public scoping meeting two weeks 
later. The Notice of Availability for the Draft EIS was published on 
March 17, 2000. TVA subsequently held a public meeting in Lenoir City, 
Tennessee on March 28, 2000, to solicit comments on the Draft plan and 
EIS. Written and oral comments on the EIS were received from 36 
parties. The Notice of Availability for the Final EIS was published on 
July 7, 2000.

Alternatives Considered

    TVA considered two alternatives for planning the uses of 12,643 
acres of Tellico Reservoir lands. A third alternative, which included 
the use of 850 acres of TVA land for a commercial development proposed 
by Tellico Landing, Inc., was dropped after the TVA Board announced on 
March 15, 1999, that it would not consider this proposal.
    Under both alternatives, TVA would implement the categorization of 
residential and flowage easement shoreline, as defined in the SMI. The 
results of this categorization are as follows: Shoreline Protection, 1 
mile; Residential Mitigation, 38 miles; and Managed Residential, 23 
miles. TVA would also continue existing land uses on lands transferred 
to TRDA and other parties, and continue existing land uses on 6,103 
acres of TVA lands under easement or other committed long-term use. 
About 6,540 acres have no committed uses and are considered plannable 
lands.
    Under Alternative A, the No Action Alternative, TVA would continue 
to use the 1982 land use plan established by Contract No. TV-60000A 
with TRDA. The largest land use category is Cultural/Public Use/Open 
Space (61 percent of the area). Other categories include TVA Dam 
Reservation (5 percent), Natural/Wildlife (15 percent), Industrial 
Development (3 percent), Private Residential (3 percent), Recreation 
(11 percent), and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Memorial (1 
percent).
    Under Alternative B, the Allocation Alternative, TVA would adopt a 
new Reservoir Land Management Plan for 139 tracts of TVA land. The TVA 
lands would be allocated as follows: 5 percent

[[Page 65893]]

for TVA project operations and public works; 17 percent for management 
of sensitive resources such as rare species, wetlands, and cultural 
resources; 56 percent for natural resource conservation, with emphasis 
on public use; 3 percent for industrial and commercial development; 14 
percent for recreational uses, and 4 percent for residential shoreline 
access. In response to comments on the Draft EIS, the Allocation 
Alternative was slightly modified in the Final EIS by changing the 
proposed use of a 140-acre recreation tract to natural resource 
conservation. TVA identified the Allocation Alternative as the 
preferred alternative in both the Draft EIS and the Final EIS.
    During the preparation of the Plan and EIS, TVA consulted with the 
Tennessee State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), The Eastern Band 
of Cherokee Indians (EB), the United Keetoowah Band, the Cherokee 
Nation of Oklahoma, The Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs, the 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, and the Poarch Band of Creek 
Indians on the identification and evaluation of historic properties 
within the Area of Potential Effect for the land plan. TVA, TDEC, SHPO, 
and EB executed a Memorandum of Agreement, dated June 23, 2000, 
stipulating measures that will be carried out by TVA prior to the 
commencement of ground-disturbing activities or transfer of property 
rights. This agreement allows phased identification, evaluation, and 
treatment of historic properties, and ensures that the effects on 
historic properties of future activities undertaken in implementing the 
Tellico Reservoir Land Management Plan will be taken into account.

Response to Comments on Final EIS

    Appendix A-2 of the Final EIS contains summaries of and responses 
to the comments TVA received on the Draft EIS. TVA received comments 
from 36 individuals and organizations.
    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commented on the Final 
EIS. EPA noted that TVA neglected to include the EPA rating of the 
Draft EIS. This rating was EC-2: Environmental Concerns with some 
modification of the Plan requested. EPA also asked for more information 
on prospective forest management activities on TVA lands. Forest 
management activities could be carried out on lands allocated for 
natural resource conservation to achieve TVA's objective of maintaining 
or enhancing ecological diversity. The Plan and Final EIS do not 
propose specific forest management activities. Such activities would, 
instead, be determined by tract-specific management plans developed 
with public and peer agency input and consideration of potential 
environmental impacts. Potential forest management activities could 
include timber harvesting by both clearcutting and selection methods, 
thinning, prescribed burns, and reforestation. Based on past 
experience, clearcutting of large areas is not expected. Forest 
management activities would likely occur on less than 100 acres of 
natural resource conservation lands each year and would include 
measures to protect the reservoir shoreline and prevent water quality 
degradation.
    EPA asked whether TVA will monitor the number of people recreating 
in the area to help control their environmental impacts. TVA does not 
have any plans to formally monitor the number of people recreating in 
the area. However, TVA will continue to monitor the environmental 
conditions of the reservoir through its standard operations.
    EPA also asked whether any residential development on reservoir 
lands will be consistent with the Shoreline Management Initiative Final 
EIS/Record of Decision. The implementation of the shoreline 
categorization component of the SMI is described above. Applicants for 
residential shoreline alterations would have to comply with the 
standards adopted in the SMI Record of Decision. In an initiative, 
unique to Tellico Reservoir, guidelines that are more restrictive than 
those in the SMI would be applied to the River Corridor area in view of 
the need to protect the sensitive resources in this area.

Decision

    The TVA Board adopted the Tellico Reservoir Land Management Plan as 
described in Alternative B on August 29, 2000. Alternative B optimally 
balances recreation use, resource conservation needs, and residential 
shoreline access needs in a way that maintains the quality of life and 
other important values provided by Tellico Reservoir. Alternative B 
sets aside parcels containing sensitive resources and habitats in the 
Sensitive Resource Protection and Natural Resource Conservation 
categories. TVA is adopting commitments under Alternative B to further 
minimize the potential for adverse impacts to the environment. These 
commitments are listed below, under Environmental Commitments. With 
these mitigation measures, all practicable means to avoid or minimize 
environmental harm would have been adopted.

Environmentally Preferred Alternative

    TVA has concluded that Alternative B is the environmentally 
preferable alternative. It allocates the majority of TVA lands to long-
term resource conservation and management uses, provides for compatible 
recreation developments, and enhances the protection of the riverine 
portions of the reservoir.

Environmental Commitments

    TVA is adopting the following measures to minimize environmental 
impacts:
     TVA will follow the procedures specified in the memorandum 
of agreement with the State Historic Preservation Officer for the 
identification, evaluation, and treatment of historic properties that 
are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
     U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines will be used to 
establish and maintain buffer zones around bald eagle nests.
     The current practice of prohibiting the construction of 
water-use facilities and shoreline alterations within the marked limits 
of safety landings will be continued to avoid interference with 
commercial navigation.
     Noise covenants consistent with the guidelines described 
in Section 3.12.2. of the Final EIS will be included in land transfer 
instruments pertaining to parcels in Zone 5.
     Amenities provided in Coytee Springs Recreation Area 
(Parcel 10) (e.g. picnic areas, walking trails, and greenway entry/exit 
points) will be limited to day-time use.
     Guidelines proposed in Appendix B-1 of the Final EIS will 
be consulted in reviewing applications for water-use facilities on the 
River Corridor.

    Dated: October 23, 2000.
Kathryn J. Jackson,
Executive Vice President, River System Operations & Environment.
[FR Doc. 00-28183 Filed 11-1-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-08-U