[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 248 (Tuesday, December 28, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81642-81643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-32583]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Long-Term North to South Water Transfer Program, Sacramento 
County, CA

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) and notice of scoping meetings.

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

SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation) and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority propose 
to prepare a joint EIS/EIR to analyze the effects of water transfers 
from water agencies in northern California to water agencies south of 
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) and in the San Francisco Bay 
Area. The EIS/EIR will address transfers of Central Valley Project 
(CVP) and non-CVP water supplies that require use of CVP or State Water 
Project (SWP) facilities to convey the transferred water. Water 
transfers would occur through various methods, including, but not 
limited to, groundwater substitution and cropland idling, and would 
include individual and multiyear transfers from 2012 through 2022.

DATES: Submit written comments on the scope of the Long-Term Water 
Transfer Program by February 28, 2011.
    Three public scoping meetings have been scheduled:
     Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 6-8 p.m., Chico, CA.
     Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 2-4 p.m., Sacramento, CA.
     Thursday, January 13, 2011, 6-8 p.m., Los Banos, CA.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on the scope of the Long-Term Water 
Transfer Program or issues to be addressed in the EIS/EIR to Mr. Brad 
Hubbard, Bureau of Reclamation, 2800 Cottage Way, MP-410, Sacramento, 
CA 95825.
    Scoping meetings will be held at:
     Chico at the Chico Masonic Family Center, 1110 W. East 
Avenue.
     Sacramento at the Best Western Expo Inn & Suites, 1413 
Howe Avenue.
     Los Banos at the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, 
842 Sixth Street.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Brad Hubbard, Project Manager, 
Bureau of Reclamation, via e-mail at [email protected] or at 916-978-
5204, or Ms. Frances Mizuno, Assistant Executive Director, San Luis & 
Delta-Mendota Water Authority, via e-mail at [email protected] 
at 209-832-6200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Due to dry hydrological conditions, priority 
of rights, competing needs, and low reservoir storage levels, water 
agencies south of the Delta have been using water transfers to 
supplement local and imported water supplies. Transfers of CVP supplies 
and transfers that require use of CVP or SWP facilities are subject to 
review by Reclamation and/or DWR in accordance with the Central Valley 
Project Improvement Act of 1992, Reclamation's water transfer 
guidelines, and California State law. Pursuant to Federal and State law 
and subject to separate written agreement, Reclamation and DWR would 
facilitate water transfers involving CVP contract water supplies and 
CVP and SWP facilities. Buyers and sellers would be responsible for 
negotiating the terms of the transfers, including amount of water for 
transfer, method to make water available, and price.
    The EIS/EIR will identify potential selling parties in northern 
California, methods by which water could be made available for 
transfer, and maximum amounts of water available through each method. 
The EIS/EIR will also identify potential purchasing agencies south of 
the Delta and the proposed use of transfer water.
    The EIS/EIR will investigate alternative transfer methods to make 
water available. Groundwater substitution and cropland idling have been 
frequent transfer mechanisms in the past and will be analyzed in the 
EIS/EIR. Groundwater substitution transfers occur when sellers forego 
diversion of their surface water supplies and pump an equivalent amount 
of groundwater as an alternative supply. The purchasing agency would 
receive the foregone surface water supply. The quantity of water 
available for transfer would account for potential stream flow losses 
as a result of groundwater-surface water interaction. Cropland idling 
would make water available for transfer that would have been used for 
agricultural irrigation without the transfer. Typically, the proceeds 
from the water transfer would pay farmers to idle land that they would 
have placed in production. Rice has been the crop idled most frequently 
in previous transfer programs.
    Water transfers under the Proposed Action involving conveyance 
through the Delta would be implemented within the operational 
parameters of the Biological Opinions on the Continued Long-term 
Operations of the CVP/SWP and any other regulatory restrictions in 
place at the time of implementation of the water transfers. Current 
operational parameters applicable to the transfer water include:
     Conveyance of a maximum of 600,000 acre feet per year; and
     Use of the SWP's Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant and CVP's 
C.W. ``Bill'' Jones Pumping Plant during July through September only.
    The EIS/EIR is expected to analyze the adverse and beneficial 
effects of implementing water transfers on the following environmental 
resources: Surface water, water quality, groundwater, fisheries, 
vegetation and wildlife, special status species, geology and soils, 
land use, air quality, climate change, cultural resources, noise, 
recreation, energy, visual resources, socioeconomics, and Indian trust 
assets. The EIS/EIR will also evaluate environmental justice and 
cumulative impacts associated with the Long-Term Water Transfer 
Program.

[[Page 81643]]

Special Assistance for Public Meetings

    If special assistance is required to participate in the scoping 
meeting, please contact Mr. Louis Moore at 916-978-5106 or via e-mail 
at [email protected]. Please contact Mr. Moore at least ten working days 
prior to the meeting. A telephone device for the hearing impaired (TDD) 
is available at 916-978-5608.

Public Disclosure

    Before including your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, 
or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should 
be aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be publicly available at any time. While you can ask 
us, in your comment, to withhold your personal identifying information 
from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

    Dated: October 12, 2010.
Anastasia T. Leigh,
Acting Regional Environmental Officer, Mid-Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. 2010-32583 Filed 12-27-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P