[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 171 (Thursday, September 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52613-52614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-22510]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
[DES 03-50]
Transfer of Title to Facilities, Works, and Lands of the Gila
Project, Wellton-Mohawk Division to the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and
Drainage District, Yuma County, AR (Wellton-Mohawk Title Transfer)
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability, Draft Environmental Impact Statement,
Wellton-Mohawk title transfer.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969, as amended, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared
a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to evaluate the potential
effects of the proposed Wellton-Mohawk Title Transfer. The title
transfer will transfer ownership and divest Reclamation of the
responsibility for the operation, maintenance, management, regulation
of, and liability for the project facilities and appurtenant lands to
the entity that has demonstrated its ability to manage the project, the
Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (District). This title
transfer will consolidate management responsibility with the District,
thereby allowing the District to have greater authority in the
management of growth and land based issues in the Wellton-Mohawk
Valley, protect against encroachment on agriculture, and consolidate
ownership of lands, facilities, and the Gila River Flood Channel.
DATES: The public review period shall close on October 29, 2003.
Written comments on the DEIS must be received at the address listed
under the ADDRESSES section.
Public hearings will also be held to accept oral and written
comments on the DEIS at:
[sbull] Wellton, Arizona, on Wednesday, October 1, 2003, from 7 to 9
p.m.
[sbull] Yuma, Arizona, on Thursday, October 2, 2003, from 7 to 9 p.m.
The public hearing facilities are accessible to those who are
physically-challenged. Please contact Ms. Nancy Blake by telephone at
(602) 258-0234 or by facsimile at (602) 258-2352 for accessibility
accommodations, including sign language interpreters or other auxiliary
aids. Requests should be made by September 17, 2003, to allow
sufficient time to arrange for accommodation.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the DEIS should be submitted to Ms.
Margot Selig, Lower Colorado Regional Office, Bureau of Reclamation, PO
Box 61470, BCOO-4451, Boulder City, NV 89006-1470, or via facsimile to
(702) 293-8042.
The public hearings will be held at:
[sbull] Antelope Union High School, 9168 South Avenue 36E, Wellton,
Arizona
[sbull] Ramada Inn Chilton and Conference Center--Inca Room, 300 East
32nd Street, Yuma, Arizona
See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for locations where
copies of the DEIS are available for public review and inspection.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Margot Selig, Lower Colorado
Regional Title Transfer Coordinator, Bureau of Reclamation, (702) 293-
8192. Those wishing to obtain a copy of the DEIS in the form of a
printed document or on compact disk (CD-ROM with Adobe Acrobat Reader
included), or a summary of the DEIS may contact Ms. Selig.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Disclosure
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
may be other 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.
Hearing Process Information
Requests to make oral comments at the public hearings may be made
at each hearing. Comments will be recorded by a court reporter.
Speakers will be called in the order of their requests. In the interest
of available time, each speaker will be asked to limit oral comments to
5 minutes. Longer comments should be summarized at the public hearing
and submitted in writing either at the public hearing or identified as
hearing comments and mailed to be received by Ms. Selig no later than
September 29, 2003.
Background
The DEIS will be used in the decision-making process pursuant to
the Wellton-Mohawk Transfer Act of June 2000 (Pub. L. 106-221), whereby
the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to transfer title to the
Wellton-Mohawk Division of the Gila Project works, facilities and
certain federally-owned lands from the United States to the District.
The District is a political subdivision of the State of Arizona
constituted to own lands and facilities and to contract with
Reclamation for diversion of Colorado River water for delivery to its
landowners. Reclamation and the District signed a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) in July 1998,
[[Page 52614]]
amended May 11, 2001, which defines the methods and principles of this
title transfer process.
Two alternatives are evaluated in the DEIS: (1) the No Action
Alternative, under which facilities of the Wellton-Mohawk Division of
the Gila Project and lands within or adjacent to the Gila Project would
remain in Federal ownership, and (2) the Proposed Action/Preferred
Alternative under which Reclamation would transfer title to the
facilities of the Wellton-Mohawk Division of the Gila Project and lands
within or adjacent to the Gila Project to the District.
Review and Inspection of the DEIS
Copies of the DEIS are available for public review at the following
locations:
[sbull] Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, 30570 Wellton-
Mohawk Drive, Wellton, AZ, telephone: (928) 785-3351
[sbull] Dateland School Branch Library, Avenue 64 East, Dateland, AZ,
telephone: (928) 454-2243
[sbull] Foothills Branch Library, 11279 South Glenwood Avenue, Yuma,
AZ, telephone: (928) 342-1640
[sbull] Roll Branch Library, 5151 South Avenue 39 East, Roll, AZ,
telephone: (928) 785-3701
[sbull] Wellton Branch Library, 10425 Williams Street, Wellton, AZ,
telephone: (928) 785-9575
[sbull] Yuma County Main Library, 350 South 3rd Avenue, Yuma, AZ,
telephone: (928) 782-1871
Internet
The DEIS is also available on the Internet at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/yuma/ and http://www.bookmanedmonston.com.
Dated: August 12, 2003.
Lorri Gray,
Assistant Regional Director, Lower Colorado Region.
[FR Doc. 03-22510 Filed 9-3-03; 8:45 am]
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