[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 250 (Friday, December 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78463-78464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22386]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study; Benton, 
Yakima, and Kittitas Counties, Washington

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a combined Planning Report and 
Environmental Impact Statement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) 
proposes to prepare a combined Planning Report and Environmental Impact 
Statement (PR/EIS) on the Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility 
Study. The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is a joint lead 
with Reclamation in the preparation of this Environmental Impact 
Statement which will also be used to comply with requirements of the 
Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
    The purpose of Reclamation's Yakima River Basin Water Storage 
Feasibility Study is to evaluate alternatives that would create 
additional water storage for the Yakima River basin and assess their 
potential to supply the water needed for ecosystem aquatic habitat, 
basin-wide agriculture, and municipal demands. The need for the study 
is based on the existing finite water supply and limited storage 
capability of the Yakima River basin in low water years. This finite 
supply and limited storage capacity do not meet the water supply 
demands in all years and result in significant adverse impact to the 
Yakima River basin's economy, which is agriculture-based, and to the 
basin's aquatic habitat, specifically, anadromous fisheries. The study 
seeks to identify means of increasing water storage available, 
including storage of Columbia River water, for purposes of improving 
anadromous fish habitat and meeting irrigation and municipal water 
supply needs.

DATES: Two scoping meetings, preceded by open houses, will be held on 
January 23, 2007, at the following times:
     Open Houses: 1 to 2 p.m.; and 6 to 7 p.m.
     Scoping Meetings: 2 to 4 p.m.; and 7 to 9 p.m.
    Written comments will be accepted through January 31, 2007, for 
inclusion in the scoping summary document. Requests for sign language 
interpretation for the hearing impaired should be submitted to David 
Kaumheimer as indicated under the For Further Information section by 
January 8, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Meetings will be held at the Yakima Convention Center, 10 
North 8th Street, Yakima, WA 98901-2058. The meeting facilities are 
physically accessible to people with disabilities.
    Comments and requests to be added to the mailing list may be 
submitted to Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Columbia Area Office, 
Attention: David Kaumheimer, Environmental Programs Manager, 1917 Marsh 
Road, Yakima, Washington 98901-2058. Comments may also be submitted 
electronically to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact David Kaumheimer, 
Environmental Programs Manager, Telephone: (509) 575-5848, extension 
232. TTY users may dial 711 to obtain a toll free TTY relay. 
Information on this project can also be found at http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/storage_study/index.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Reclamation has undertaken this study as a 
potential means to augment water supplies in the Yakima River Basin for 
the benefit of anadromous fish, irrigated agriculture, and municipal 
water supply under the authority of Public Law 108-7, Section 214 which 
was passed by Congress on February 20, 2003. Public Law 108-7 states:

    The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of 
Reclamation, shall conduct a feasibility study of options for 
additional water storage in the Yakima River Basin, Washington, with 
emphasis on the feasibility of storage of Columbia River water in 
the potential Black Rock Reservoir and the benefit of additional 
storage to endangered and threatened fish, irrigated agriculture, 
and municipal water supply. There are authorized to be appropriated 
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.


[[Page 78464]]


    Ecology will be a joint lead with Reclamation in the preparation of 
this Environmental Impact Statement. Ecology has indicated that under 
SEPA they will evaluate a range of alternatives that include both 
storage, the subject of the Yakima River Basin Water Storage 
Feasibility Study, and non-storage components. As a result the jointly 
prepared EIS will provide NEPA coverage for storage alternatives that 
Reclamation may consider as part of the Yakima River Basin Water 
Storage Feasibility Study as well as SEPA coverage for a broader range 
of alternatives that Ecology may consider.
    The alternatives being investigated by Reclamation include 
additional storage of Yakima River water, as well as water exchanges 
with the Columbia River. The in-basin alternatives would entail 
diverting excess water flows from the Yakima River after all water 
rights and fish target flows are met. Previous Yakima River Basin 
investigations, such as the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement 
Program and the Watershed Management Plan for the Yakima River Basin, 
are being used to develop in-basin water storage alternatives.
    The water exchange alternatives would involve new storage and the 
pumping of water from the Columbia River. The Black Rock Dam and 
Reservoir alternative would pump 3,500 or 6,000 cfs from above Priest 
Rapids to a reservoir east of the city of Yakima which would then be 
delivered to irrigation districts downstream of the city. Deliveries 
from Black Rock Reservoir would offset existing diversions from the 
Yakima River. Those foregone diversions would be used to improve flows 
for anadromous fish and provide additional supplies in drought years to 
existing irrigators beyond what would otherwise have been available. 
Water stored as part of the project would not be used to expand 
irrigation in the Yakima Basin. An alternative which would pump water 
from the mouth of the Yakima River would involve a storage reservoir in 
the Yakima Basin to re-regulate irrigation flow releases for the 
benefit of instream flows and a water exchange to reduce some Yakima 
River diversions.
    Other combinations of storage and pumping of water from the 
Columbia River for delivery by exchange to the Yakima River Basin may 
be identified during the public scoping process.
    Reclamation plans to conduct public scoping meetings to solicit 
input on the alternatives to augment water supplies in the Yakima River 
and impacts associated with those alternatives. Reclamation will 
summarize comments received during the scoping meetings and letters 
received during the scoping period, identified under the Dates section, 
into a scoping summary document which will be provided to those who 
submitted comments. The scoping summary will also be available to 
others upon request.
    If you wish to comment, you may mail us your comments as indicated 
under the Addresses section. Our practice is to make comments, 
including names, home addresses, home phone numbers, and e-mail 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual 
respondents may request that we withhold their names and/or home 
addresses, etc., but if you wish us to consider withholding this 
information you must state this prominently at the beginning of your 
comments. In addition, you must present a rationale for withholding 
this information. This rationale must demonstrate that disclosure would 
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy. Unsupported 
assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of exceptional, 
document-able circumstances, this information will be released. We will 
always make submissions from organizations or businesses, and from 
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of 
organizations or businesses, available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

Kathyrn A. Marshall,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
 [FR Doc. E6-22386 Filed 12-28-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P