[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 210 (Monday, November 1, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63374-63375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-24335]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report for the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive 
Use Project, San Diego County, CA

AGENCIES: Department of the Navy, DOD. Bureau of Reclamation, DOI.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section (102)(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332 (2) (c)), as implemented by 
the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (PRC 21000 
et seq.), as implemented by the California State CEQA Guidelines (14 
CCR 15000-15387), the Department of the Navy, Marine Corps Base Camp 
Pendleton (MCB Camp Pendleton); the Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation); and the Fallbrook Public Utility District (Fallbrook) 
intend to prepare an environmental impact statement/environmental 
impact report (EIS/EIR) and conduct associated public scoping meetings 
for the proposed Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project. Three 
public meetings will be held to collect scoping comments. The public 
and agencies are invited to attend and provide comments.

DATES: All written comments must be received by January 31, 2005. 
Public meeting dates are as follows:

1. January 12, 2005, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Oceanside, CA.
2. January 13, 2005, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Fallbrook, CA.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or requests for inclusion on the EIS/EIR 
mailing list may be submitted to: Bureau of Reclamation, Southern 
California Area Office, Attn: Bill Rohwer, 27708 Jefferson Ave, Suite 
202, Temecula, CA 92590.
    Public meeting locations are as follows:
1. Oceanside--Oceanside Civic Center Library and Community Rooms, 330 
North Coast Hwy, Oceanside, CA.
2. Fallbrook--Fallbrook Public Utility District, 990 East Mission Rd, 
Fallbrook, CA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bureau of Reclamation, Mr. Bill 
Rohwer, telephone 951-695-5310, fax 951-695-5319, or e-mail: 
[email protected]. Please submit requests for sign language 
interpretation for the hearing impaired or for other auxiliary aids at 
the public meetings to Mr. Rohwer by January 5, 2005.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed conjunctive use project would 
be located in the lower Santa Margarita River basin on MCB Camp 
Pendleton, San Diego County, California. The project would upgrade an 
existing groundwater recharge and recovery system currently producing 
7,000 acre-feet of water per year. Studies suggest that this yield 
could be increased to as much as 16,200 acre-feet per year. The project 
would improve existing diversion and percolation facilities and install 
new wells, an advanced potable water treatment plant, pump stations and 
a pipeline to Fallbrook. Potential options could involve in-stream 
water retention structures, reclaimed wastewater, off-stream storage, 
and recharge of other groundwater basins on MCB Camp Pendleton.
    The purpose of the proposed project is to help meet water demands 
for MCB Camp Pendleton and Fallbrook, reduce regional dependency on 
imported water, and improve water reliability by increasing the yield 
of the lower Santa Margarita River basin and perfecting water rights 
permits that were assigned to Reclamation in 1974 pursuant to State 
Water Resources Control Board Order WR 73-50.
    Reclamation currently holds three state-approved permits to divert 
and store water from the Santa Margarita River. The proposed 
conjunctive use project would enable permits 15000, 11357, and 8511 to 
be perfected, and could facilitate settlement of United States v. 
Fallbrook Public Utility District, et al. (No. 1247-SD-C), filed in 
1951.
    The permits were originally issued to Fallbrook and MCB Camp 
Pendleton. In 1968, Fallbrook, the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary 
of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Interior signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding and Agreement to negotiate a physical solution predicated 
on the construction of a two-dam project on the Santa Margarita River. 
Fallbrook and MCB Camp Pendleton subsequently assigned the permits to 
Reclamation, which had been authorized to prepare feasibility studies 
for the project (Sec. 3, Pub. L. 89-561).
    Reclamation completed a Feasibility Report in 1971 and a Final EIS 
in 1976 for a two-dam project to impound, conserve, and deliver the 
natural flows of the Santa Margarita River, as well as

[[Page 63375]]

imported waters, to MCB Camp Pendleton and Fallbrook. Reclamation 
prepared a supplemental EIS for the project in 1984. However, Congress 
did not approve the project's funding. A subsequent effort to design a 
smaller, single dam project was also unsuccessful.
    A 1994 study, with additional reports in 2001 and 2002, concluded 
that a groundwater recharge and extraction project (i.e., conjunctive 
use) may result in an annual yield comparable to that of the two-dam 
project, at a lower cost and with fewer adverse environmental effects.
    The conference report for the 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act (Pub. 
L. 108-7) directed Reclamation, under the Santa Margarita feasibility 
authorization, to perform the studies needed to address current and 
future municipal, domestic, military, environmental, and other water 
uses from the Santa Margarita River. The 2004 Energy and Water 
Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 108-137) provided funding for Reclamation 
to study the feasibility of the Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use 
Project.
    Through previous investigations, several areas of potential impact 
have been identified that apply to this proposed conjunctive use 
project. Potential impacts identified to date include, but are not be 
limited to, the following areas: Water quality/quantity (surface and 
groundwater), water rights, water reuse, fish passage, endangered 
species, estuarine habitat, riparian/wetland habitat, and sediment 
transport.
    MCB Camp Pendleton, Reclamation, and Fallbrook have scheduled 
public meetings to describe the proposed project and obtain public 
input on the range of issues that should be studied in order to 
evaluate potential impacts of the proposed project. Each meeting will 
begin with a formal presentation about the proposed project from 6 p.m. 
to 6:30 p.m. followed by an informal open house from 6:30 p.m. to 8 
p.m.
    These meetings will assist the agencies in identifying additional 
alternatives or options to meet the stated purpose of the conjunctive 
use project and to assist in determining issues that will be analyzed 
in the EIS/EIR.
    In response to issues developed during scoping, other alternative 
means of meeting the project's purpose will be explored and analyzed in 
the EIS/EIR, if found to be reasonable. Federal, state and local 
agencies, tribes, and the general public are invited to participate in 
the environmental review process.
    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be made available for public review. Individual respondents may request 
their home address be withheld from public disclosure. Circumstances 
may exist in which we would withhold a respondent's identity from 
public disclosure, as allowable by law. Please prominently state at the 
beginning of your comment if you wish your name and/or address withheld 
from public disclosure. 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. Please note, unidentified 
comments will not be considered.

    Dated: October 27, 2004.
J.H. Wagshul,
Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, Federal Register 
Liaison Officer.

    Dated: October 27, 2004.
Robert W. Johnson,
Regional Director, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Lower Colorado Region.
[FR Doc. 04-24335 Filed 10-29-04; 8:45 am]
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