[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 178 (Friday, September 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52580-52581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-18140]


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INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION, UNITED STATES AND MEXICO


United States Section; Notice of Availability of a Final 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for 
Improvements to the Donna-Brownsville Levee System, in the Lower Rio 
Grande Flood Control Project, Hidalgo and Cameron Counties, TX

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

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Assessment (EA) 
and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Council on Environmental Quality Final 
Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508), and the United States 
Section, International Boundary and Water Commission's (USIBWC) 
Operational Procedures for Implementing Section 102 of NEPA, published 
in the Federal Register September 2, 1981, (46 FR 44083); the USIBWC 
hereby gives notice

[[Page 52581]]

of availability of the Final EA and FONSI for Improvements to the 
Donna-Brownsville Levee System, in the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control 
Project, located in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties, Texas. The Final EA 
addresses comments and recommendations provided by the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (USFWS), Natural Resources Conservation Service, Texas 
Historical Commission, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 
during the Draft EA review period ending July 31, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Borunda, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Environmental Management Division, United States 
Section, International Boundary and Water Commission; 4171 N. Mesa, C-
100; El Paso, Texas 79902. Telephone: (915) 832-4767; e-mail: 
[email protected]. Copies of the document have been provided 
to potentially affected parties, as identified during the Draft EA 
review process. Single hard copies of the Final EA may be obtained by 
request at the above address. Electronic copies may also be obtained 
from the USIBWC Home Page at http://www.ibwc.state.gov.

DATES: The Final EA and Final FONSI will be available September 14, 
2007.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USIBWC is authorized to construct, 
operate, and maintain any project or works by the United States of 
America on the Lower Rio Grande Flood Control Project (LRGFCP), as 
authorized by the Act of the 74th Congress, Sess. I Ch. 561 (H.R. 
6453), approved August 19, 1935 (49 Stat. 660), and codified at 22 
U.S.C. 277, 277a, 277b, 277c, and Acts amendatory thereof and 
supplementary thereto. The LRGFCP was constructed to protect urban, 
suburban, and highly developed irrigated farmland along the Rio Grande 
delta in the United States and Mexico.
    The USIBWC, in cooperation with the USFWS, prepared this Final EA 
for the proposed action of raising the Donna-Brownsville Levee System 
located in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties, Texas to improve flood 
control. This levee system is part of the LRGFCP that extends 
approximately 180 miles from the Town of Pe[ntilde]itas in south Texas 
to the Gulf of Mexico. The Donna-Brownsville Levee extends 65 miles 
along the Rio Grande, downstream from the Donna Pump Station in Hidalgo 
County to an area east of Brownsville, approximately 28 miles upstream 
of the Gulf of Mexico, in Cameron County.
    The Proposed Action would increase the flood containment capacity 
of the Donna-Brownsville Levee System by raising elevation of a number 
of levee segments to meet a 3-foot freeboard design criterion for flood 
protection. Height increases up to 2 feet are typically needed to reach 
the design freeboard value. The increase in levee height will result in 
an expansion to the levee footprint by lateral extension of the 
structure. Structural improvements may be required for some levee 
segments where seepage is a potential problem.

    Dated: September 10, 2007.
Susan Daniel,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E7-18140 Filed 9-13-07; 8:45 am]
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