[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 133 (Friday, July 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41403-41404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-17564]


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INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION, UNITED STATES AND MEXICO


United States Section; Notice of Availability of Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement for Alternative Vegetation Maintenance 
Practices for the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project in Cameron, 
Hidalgo, and Willacy Counties, TX

AGENCY: United States Section, International Boundary and Water 
Commission, United States and Mexico.

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the United States Section, 
International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC), in cooperation 
with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Texas 
Parks and Wildlife Department, has prepared a Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (DEIS) on Alternative Vegetation Maintenance Practices 
for the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project in Cameron, Hidalgo, and 
Willacy Counties, Texas. The DEIS analyzes the Continued Maintenance 
Alternative (No-Action), comprising the current USIBWC vegetation 
maintenance program, and the impacts of three vegetation maintenance 
alternatives which vary from the current USIBWC vegetation maintenance 
practices along the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

DATES: Written comments are requested by August 29, 2003. A public 
meeting will be conducted from 5 to 7 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, July 30, 
2003, in Weslaco, Texas. See Addresses below for location and time.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to: Carolyn Murphy, Chief, 
Environmental Section, CESWG-PE-PR, Department of the Army, Galveston 
District, Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 1229, Galveston, Texas 77553-
1229 (courier deliveries: 2000 Fort Point Rd. Galveston, Texas 77550). 
A public meeting will be conducted from 5 to 7 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, 
July 30, 2003, at the Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension 
Center, Hoblitzelle Auditorium, 2415 East Highway 83, Weslaco, Texas, 
to present your verbal or written comments.
    Copies of the DEIS are available for inspection and review at the 
following locations: Brownsville Public Library, 2600 Central 
Boulevard, Brownsville, Texas; Harlingen Public Library, 410 '76 Drive, 
Harlingen, Texas; McAllen Public Library, 601 North Main Street, 
McAllen, Texas; USIBWC Mercedes Field Office, 325 Golf Course Rd, 
Mercedes, Texas; Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, FM 307, 7 miles 
south of Alamo, TX and 1/4-mile east of U.S. 281; and USIBWC HQ, 4171 
N. Mesa Street, Ste C-315, El Paso, Texas. The DEIS is also available 
on the USIBWC Home Page at http://www.ibwc.state.gov under ``What's 
New,'' and at the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston 
District, Home Page at: http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Douglas Echlin, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Environmental Management Division, USIBWC, 4171 
North Mesa Street, C-100, El Paso, Texas 79902 or call (915) 832-4741, 
e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USIBWC vegetation maintenance program is 
performed along the United States portion of the Lower Rio Grande Flood 
Control Project (LRGFCP). The vegetation maintenance program was 
established to fulfill the United States Government's obligations under 
International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) Minute No. 212 and 
No. 238 and to protect life and properties in the United States and 
Mexico from Rio Grande flooding events.
    Under Minute No. 212, the United States and Mexico agreed to annual 
concurrent channel bank mowing to reduce heavy brush growth in the 
river reach and to ensure a river channel capacity of 20,000 cfs at the 
Brownsville-Matamoros area. This maintenance mowing was considered 
necessary to prevent flooding in Brownsville and Matamoros for the 
design flood and to ensure that brush did not deflect river flood flows 
toward either country, thus altering the international boundary 
alignment by erosion. Minute No. 238 called for equally dividing flood 
flows into interior floodways in each country, thereby ensuring the 
20,000 cfs maximum flow at Brownsville and Matamoros.
    On November 1, 1989, the Sierra Club, Frontera Audubon Society, and 
National Audubon Society filed a civil action suit against the USIBWC 
alleging vegetation maintenance program violations of the Endangered 
Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 
plaintiffs alleged that the USIBWC had not prepared an Environmental 
Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) relative to the 
operation and maintenance activities for the

[[Page 41404]]

United States portion of the LRGFCP as required by NEPA. The plaintiffs 
also alleged that the USIBWC had not entered into formal consultation 
with the USFWS pursuant to section 7 of the ESA with respect to the 
impacts of the United States portion of the LRGFCP on federally-listed 
threatened or endangered species.
    In a 1990 Consent Decree administered by the United States District 
Court of the District of Columbia, the USIBWC agreed to enter into 
formal consultation with the USFWS regarding the impacts of all 
vegetation clearing activities of the LRGFCP on federally listed 
species. The consultation process resulted in an issuance by the USFWS 
of a Biological Opinion (BO) on May 6, 1993. The USFWS has recently 
reissued a new BO. In addition to formal consultation with USFWS, 
USIBWC agreed to the preparation of this EIS, which specifically 
addresses alternative vegetation maintenance practices.
    This DEIS presents and analyzes the impacts of current and 
alternative USIBWC vegetation maintenance practices to fulfill 
commitments under the IBWC Minutes, the Consent Decree, and the new BO. 
The pertinent elements of the LRGFCP vegetation maintenance program are 
based on the need to:
    [sbull] Maintain channel banks to provide adequate flood 
conveyance.
    [sbull] Equitably divert flood flows into interior floodways.
    [sbull] Remove brush and other obstructions within floodways.
    [sbull] Maintain a wildlife corridor per the USFWS BO and the 1994 
LRGFCP Off-River Wildlife Travel Corridor Plan.
    Four potential vegetation maintenance alternatives, including the 
current USIBWC maintenance program, are considered and analyzed in the 
DEIS. The Preferred Alternative is the Continued Maintenance 
Alternative (No-Action), representing the continuation of the current 
USIBWC vegetation maintenance program.
    A copy of the DEIS has been filed with the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) in accordance with 40 CFR parts 1500-1508 and USIBWC 
procedures. Written comments concerning the DEIS will be accepted at 
the address provided above until August 29, 2003.

    Dated: July 2, 2003.
Mario Lewis,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 03-17564 Filed 7-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-03-P