[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68409-68411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-22406]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Reclamation


Upper Columbia Alternative Flood Control and Fish Operations, 
Libby and Hungry Horse Dams, MT

AGENCIES: Corps of Engineers, DoD, and Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability Of Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
and Notice of Public Hearings.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), 
Seattle District, and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Pacific 
Northwest Region, have prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) to evaluate the effects of alternative flood control at Libby 
Dam on the Kootenai River and at Hungry Horse Dam on the South Fork 
Flathead River in western Montana. USACE and Reclamation are making the 
document available to the public for review and comment through a 
Notice of Availability published in the Federal Register. The overall 
goal of the DEIS is to evaluate effects of alternative dam operations 
that are intended to provide reservoir and flow conditions at and below 
Libby and Hungry Horse Dams for anadromous and resident fish listed as 
threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 
consistent with authorized project purposes, including maintaining the 
current level of flood control benefits.

DATES: To ensure consideration in final EIS development, we must 
receive comments on or before December 27,

[[Page 68410]]

2005 (45 days from the November 10, 2005, Federal Register publication 
date of the EPA weekly notice of EIS availability). See the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for meeting dates.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments concerning this proposed 
project to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, Attn: Mr. 
Evan Lewis, PM-PL-ER, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA 98124-3755 or Bureau 
of Reclamation, Attn: Mr. Dan Lechefsky, 1150 N. Curtis Rd., Suite 100, 
Boise, ID 83706-1234. Please submit electronic comments to 
[email protected]. For electronic comments, include your name and 
address in your message and place your comments in the body of your 
message; please do not send attached files. Reclamation's 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 organization or business, available for public disclosure 
in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Evan Lewis, Environmental 
Coordinator, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, 
Environmental Resources Section, (206) 764-6922, 
[email protected]; or Mr. Dan Lechefsky, NEPA Coordinator, 
Pacific Northwest Region, Bureau of Reclamation, (208) 378-5039, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Multiple-purpose project operations 
(including flood control, hydropower, fish and wildlife, recreation, 
navigation, irrigation, water supply, and water quality) at Libby, 
Hungry Horse, and other dams have altered the natural river hydrology 
of the Columbia River and some of its major tributaries. These dams 
store the spring snowmelt runoff to control floods and release water 
for multiple uses. Populations of threatened and endangered fish in the 
Columbia River Basin (Kootenai River white sturgeon, Columbia Basin 
bull trout, and several Columbia River salmon and steelhead stocks) 
benefit from certain high-flow periods, which historically were 
determined by natural runoff patterns driven by snowmelt and rainfall. 
While the status of bull trout populations in the Kootenai and Flathead 
rivers is generally better than some others in the Columbia Basin, 
Kootenai River white sturgeon numbers are estimated at fewer than 500 
(down from numbers of 5,000-6,000 in the 1980's) and are declining at 
approximately 9% per year. Several salmon and steelhead populations in 
the Columbia Basin are listed as threatened or endangered. Pursuant to 
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, the 2000 U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service Biological Opinion on the operation of the Federal 
Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) included a recommendation to 
implement variable discharge flood control (VARQ), with Q representing 
engineering shorthand for discharge, at Libby and Hungry Horse dams. 
NOAA Fisheries considered the Updated Proposed Action (UPA) and issued 
the 2004 NOAA Fisheries FCRPS Biological Opinion on November 30, 2004. 
The 2004 UPA generally reflects, with certain modifications, the 
hydropower, habitat, hatchery, and harvest measures implemented under 
the 2000 biological opinion Reasonable and Prudent Alternative 
including implementation of VARQ flood control at Libby Dam and Hungry 
Horse Dam.
    Implementation of VARQ flood control and various flow augmentation 
operations would modify dam operations and riverflows to avoid 
jeopardizing the continued existence of endangered Kootenai River white 
sturgeon, threatened Columbia Basin bull trout, and several populations 
of threatened and endangered Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. This 
DEIS focuses on those environmental conditions that would be modified 
by implementation of the proposed Federal Action or several 
alternatives.
    The proposed Federal action consists of:
    (1) Implementation of alternative flood control at Libby Dam on the 
Kootenai River and Hungry Horse Dam on the South Fork Flathead River. 
Called variable discharge flood control, this alternative action is 
known as ``VARQ'' flood control, with Q representing engineering 
shorthand for discharge.
    (2) Flow augmentation that such alternative flood control would 
facilitate in the Kootenai River, the Flathead River, and main stem 
Columbia River for fish populations listed as threatened or endangered 
under the ESA. Flow augmentation (i.e., fish flows) includes release of 
water for bull trout, salmon, and, at Libby Dam, white sturgeon.
    We are making the DEIS available to the public for a 45-day review 
and comment period.
    Seven public meetings are planned for the DEIS in order to provide 
an opportunity for the public to present oral and/or written comments. 
USACE will host the meetings at Eureka, MT; Bonners Ferry, ID; and 
Nelson, BC. Reclamation will host the meetings at Kalispell, MT; Kettle 
Falls, WA; and Grand Coulee, WA. Both agencies will co-host the meeting 
in Newport, WA. All meetings will begin at 6 pm, local time. For the 
first hour, resource specialists will be available to answer questions. 
At 7 p.m., there will be an opportunity to provide verbal and written 
comments for the record.
    The meeting dates and locations follow:

November 28, 2005: Best Western Hotel, Nelson, British Columbia; West 
Coast Kalispell Center Hotel, Kalispell, MT
November 29, 2005: Elementary School Cafeteria, Newport, WA
November 30, 2005: High School Auditorium, Eureka, MT; KC Diner, Kettle 
Falls, WA
December 1, 2005: Kootenai River Inn, Bonners Ferry, ID; Grand Coulee 
City Hall, Grand Coulee, WA

    Copies of the DEIS are available for public review at libraries 
throughout the potentially affected portions of the Kootenai, Flathead, 
Clark Fork, Pend Oreille, and upper Columbia Basins in the U.S. and 
Canada. The USACE and Reclamation have distributed electronic and hard 
copies of the DEIS to appropriate members of Congress; State, local, 
and tribal government officials; Federal agencies; and other interested 
parties. You may view the DEIS and related information on our Web page 
at: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/VARQ.
    After the public comment period ends on December 27, 2005, USACE 
and Reclamation will consider all comments received. The DEIS will be 
revised as appropriate and a final EIS will be issued. The DEIS has 
been prepared in accordance with (1) The National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) 
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing 
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USACE 
regulations implementing NEPA (ER-200-2-2), and (4) Reclamation 
regulations for implementing NEPA (Reclamation Manual, Policy PO3).
    Colonel Debra M. Lewis, District Engineer, Seattle District, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, WA 98124-3755.

[[Page 68411]]

    J. William McDonald, Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region, 
Bureau of Reclamation, 1150 North Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, ID 
83706-1234.

    Dated: November 3, 2005.
Debra M. Lewis,
District Engineer.
J. William McDonald,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region, Bureau of Reclamation.
[FR Doc. 05-22406 Filed 11-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-92-P