[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81894-81895]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-32923]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

[DES 00-58]


Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR for Acquisition of Additional Water 
for Meeting the San Joaquin River Agreement Flow Objectives, 2000-2010

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (DSEIS/EIR).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Bureau of 
Reclamation (Reclamation) and the San Joaquin River Group Authority 
(SJRGA) are preparing a joint DSEIS/EIR for the acquisition of 
additional water for meeting the San Joaquin River Agreement flow 
objectives, 2001-2010. This document covers minor additions to the 
Proposed Project/Action addressed in the Final EIS/EIR (FEIS/EIR) 
prepared for Meeting Flow Objectives for the San Joaquin River 
Agreement, 1999-2010 (January 1999). The FEIS/EIR documented the 
environmental consequences of acquiring and using flows specified in

[[Page 81895]]

the San Joaquin River Agreement (SJRA).
    The purpose of the Proposed Action is to supplement, under 
Paragraph 8 of the SJRA, the water provided by the SJRA that has been 
analyzed in the FEIS/EIR. The supplemental water consists of up to 
47,000 acre-feet from the Tuolumne and Merced rivers to provide full 
Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan (VAMP) test flow conditions at 
Vernalis during ``double step years'' for water years 2001 through 
2010. This supplemental water may also assist Reclamation in meeting 
the Anadromous Fish Restoration Plan, Bay-Delta flow objectives as 
required by State Board Decision 1641, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service's 1995 Biological Opinion for Delta Smelt.
    The Proposed Project/Action area includes the Tuolumne, Merced, 
Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Rivers and related reservoirs and water 
districts in the counties of Tuolumne, Merced, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, 
Mariposa, and Calaveras counties.

DATES: Submit written comments on the DSEIS/EIR on or before February 
12, 2001. Comments may be submitted to Reclamation or SJRGA at the 
addresses provided below. The public hearing on the DSEIS/EIR will be 
held on February 1, 2001, at 1:30 p.m. in Sacramento.

ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the Federal Building at 
2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, California, in Conference Room 1003, 
adjacent to the Cottage Cafe near the south building entrance.
    Written comments on the DSEIS/EIR should be addressed to Mr. John 
Burke, Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, 2800 Cottage Way, MP-
410, Sacramento, CA 95825-1898, or Mr. Dan Fults, San Joaquin River 
Group Authority, 200 Capitol Mall, Suite 900, Sacramento, CA 95814.
    Copies of the DSEIS/EIR may be requested from Mr. Dan Meier by 
calling (916) 978-5559.
    See Supplementary Information section for locations where copies of 
the DSEIS/EIR are available for public inspection.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual 
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public 
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There 
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's 
identity from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish us to 
withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at 
the beginning of your comment. We will make all submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, available for public disclosure in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dan Meier, Reclamation, at (916) 
978-5559 (TDD 916/978-5608); or Mr. Dan Fults, SJRGA, at (916) 449-
3957.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SJRA was established to provide a level 
of protection equivalent to the San Joaquin River flow objectives 
contained in the State Water Resources Control Board's (SWRCB) 1995 
Water Quality Control Plan for the lower San Joaquin River and San 
Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary (Delta). A key part of the SJRA is the VAMP 
which is a scientifically-based adaptive fishery management plan to 
help determine the relationships between flows, exports, and other 
factors on fish survival in this region of the Delta. The SWRCB adopted 
pertinent provisions of the SJRA on December 29, 1999, and issued its 
Revised Water Right Decision 1641 (D-1641) containing these provisions 
on March 15, 2000. D-1641 approved implementation of the VAMP through 
December 31, 2011.
    SJRGA and Reclamation prepared the FEIS/EIR in January 1999 to meet 
CEQA and NEPA requirements to address environmental impacts associated 
with acquiring water to meet the flow objectives in the SJRA. This 
document addressed the need for up to 110,000 acre-feet to meet a 31-
day spring pulse flow target in the San Joaquin River at Vernalis. The 
SJRA allows for willing sellers among the SJRGA to sell Reclamation 
additional water when the spring pulse flow target exceeds 110,000 
acre-feet. The FEIS/EIR prepared for the SJRA acknowledged the need for 
this additional water from willing sellers in some water years but did 
not address the environmental impacts associated with acquiring this 
supplemental water.
    The purpose of the DSEIS/EIR is to update and supplement analyses 
presented in the 1999 FEIS/EIR to address the acquisition of up to 
47,000 acre-feet of water annually during the 2001 through 2010 water 
years.
    Copies of the DSEIS/EIR are available for public inspection and 
review at the following locations:
     San Joaquin River Group Authority, 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 
900, Sacramento, CA 95814; telephone: (916) 449-3957
     Bureau of Reclamation, Office of Policy, Room 7456, 1849 C 
Street NW, Washington DC 20240; telephone: (202) 208-4662
     Bureau of Reclamation, Reclamation Service Center Library, 
Building 67, Room 167, Denver Federal Center, 6th and Kipling, Denver, 
Colorado 80225; telephone: (303) 445-2072
     Bureau of Reclamation, Public Affairs Office, 2800 Cottage 
Way, Sacramento, California 95825-1898; telephone: (916) 978-5100
     Natural Resources Library, U.S. Department of the 
Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Main Interior Building, Washington DC 
20240-0001
    Hearing Process Information: A public hearing on the DSEIS/EIR will 
be held on February 1, 2001. The public may provide verbal testimony on 
the content of the environmental document at this hearing. Written 
comments will also be accepted.

    Dated: December 18, 2000.
Lester A. Snow,
Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 00-32923 Filed 12-26-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P