[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 170 (Friday, August 31, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53231-53233]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21572]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

[INT-FES 12-40]


Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Odessa Subarea 
Special Study--Columbia Basin Project Adams, Franklin, Grant, and 
Lincoln Counties, WA

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the Washington 
State Department of Ecology (Ecology), the joint lead agency, is 
notifying the public that they have prepared a final environmental 
impact statement and has made it available to the public for review.

DATES: The Bureau of Reclamation will not make a decision on the 
proposed action until at least 30 days after filing of the final 
environment impact statement with the Environmental Protection Agency. 
After the 30-day waiting period, the Bureau of Reclamation may complete 
a Record of Decision that identifies a selected action for 
implementation and discusses the rationale upon which the decision was 
made.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the final environmental impact 
statement and comments should be addressed to Candace McKinley, 
Environmental Program Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades 
Area Office, 1917 Marsh Road, Yakima, Washington 98901; or by email at 
[email protected].

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Candace McKinley, 
Environmental Program Manager, Telephone (509) 575-5848 x603. 
Information on this project can also be found at: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ucao_misc/odessa/index.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The final environmental impact statement 
(FEIS) was completed pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4332, 
and also will comply with requirements of the Washington State 
Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), Chapter 43.21C, Revised Code of 
Washington (RCW). Reclamation published a Notice of Availability for 
the Draft EIS in the Federal Register on October 25, 2010 (75 FR 65503) 
with an extended public comment period ending on January 31, 2011. 
Reclamation and Ecology have clarified the FEIS is the initial 
environmental analysis within a tiered process under NEPA and SEPA. 
Reclamation and Ecology expect that some projects or actions advanced 
out of this first tier EIS may be subject to subsequent second tier, 
project-level, environmental analysis under NEPA and SEPA before being 
approved for implementation. Tiering refers to the process of 
addressing a broad, general program, policy or proposal in an initial 
analysis followed by analyses of a more precisely defined site-specific 
proposal related to the initial program, policy, or proposal when that 
proposal is ready to be carried forward. Any subsequent NEPA project-
level analysis could include a combination of EIS(s), supplemental 
EIS(s), environmental assessments(s), and/or categorical exclusion(s) 
along with corresponding SEPA reviews, as appropriate, depending on the 
proposed action, phasing of implementation, and potential for adverse 
impacts. Actions described in this FEIS that are analyzed in full, such 
as canal expansion will not undergo a second tier NEPA/SEPA review. 
Decisions relative to the general scope of the action alternative which 
include acreage, water supply, and general site locations would also 
not be subject to additional review. The FEIS includes written 
responses to public comments received on the Draft EIS.

Background Information

    The Grand Coulee Dam Project was authorized for construction by the 
Rivers and Harbors Act of August 30, 1935, and reauthorized and renamed 
in the Columbia Basin Project Act of March 10, 1943. The Columbia Basin 
Project (CBP) is a multipurpose water development project in the 
central part of the State of Washington. Congress authorized the CBP to 
irrigate a total of 1,029,000 acres; about 671,000 acres are currently 
irrigated.
    Section 9(a) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 gave authority 
to the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to approve a finding of 
feasibility and thereby authorize construction of a project upon 
submitting a report to the President and the Congress. The Secretary 
approved a plan of development for the CBP, known as House Document No. 
172 in 1945. House Document No. 172 anticipated that development of the 
CBP would occur in phases over a 70-year period. The Odessa Subarea 
Special Study is conducted under the authority of the CBP Act of 1943, 
as amended, and the Reclamation Project Act of 1939.
    In response to the public's concern about declining groundwater 
supplies in the Odessa aquifer and associated economic and other 
effects, Congress has funded Reclamation to investigate this problem. 
Ecology has partnered with Reclamation by providing funding and 
collaborating on various technical studies. In February 2006, the 
Washington State Legislature passed the Columbia River Water Resource 
Management Act (Chapter 90.90 RCW) that directs Ecology to aggressively 
pursue development of water benefiting both instream and out-of-stream 
uses through storage, conservation, and voluntary regional water 
management agreements. The Odessa Subarea Special Study is one of 
several activities identified in the legislation and was initiated by 
Reclamation and Ecology in 2008.
    Reclamation and Ecology are studying the potential to replace the 
current and increasingly unreliable groundwater supplies used for 
irrigation in the Odessa Subarea Special Study Area (Study Area) within 
the CBP authorized boundary with a surface water supply as part of 
continued phased development of the CBP.
    The alternatives being considered include the No Action Alternative 
as required by NEPA and SEPA, and six action alternatives that address 
the Purpose and Need. The six action alternatives rely on several 
different water supply and delivery options, and fall within the 
following three categories:
    Partial Replacement: This group of delivery alternatives focuses on 
enlarging the existing East Low Canal and providing CBP surface water 
to approximately 57,000 acres in the Study Area that currently are 
irrigated with groundwater. Nearly all of the acreage served would be 
south of Interstate 90 (I-90). A small portion of the remaining 
groundwater-irrigated acres in the Study Area north of I-90, nearest 
the East Low Canal, may also be served.
    Full Replacement: This group of delivery alternatives would provide 
CBP surface water to most groundwater-irrigated acreage in the Study 
Area (approximately 102,600 acres), both north and south of I-90. Lands 
south of I-90 would be served by enlarging the East Low Canal. Lands 
north of I-90 would be served by constructing a new East High Canal 
system.
    Modified Partial Replacement: This group of delivery alternatives 
would provide replacement water for approximately 70,000 acres of 
existing groundwater-irrigated lands both north and south of I-90. 
Approximately 25,000 acres of 70,000 acres would be located north of I-
90, while the remaining 45,000 acres would be south of I-90.
    The two modified partial replacement alternatives were developed in 
response to comments received on the draft EIS. These two alternatives 
include lands, facilities, and quantities of water that are within the 
range of alternatives and alternative impacts considered in the Draft 
EIS.
    Two water supply options are being considered that would use 
storage from Banks Lake reservoir and Lake Roosevelt either 
individually or in combination, as follows: Option A--Banks Lake 
reservoir, would use storage through additional drawdowns from Banks 
Lake reservoir, exclusively; and Option B--Banks Lake and Lake 
Roosevelt, would use existing storage in Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt, 
resulting in additional drawdowns from both reservoirs. Reclamation and 
Ecology have identified the Modified Partial Replacement Alternative 
with water supply option A (Banks Only) as their preferred alternative.
    The FEIS is available for public inspection at the following 
locations:

 Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area Office, 1917 
Marsh Road, Yakima, Washington; telephone: (509) 575-5848
 Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Regional Office, 1150 
North Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, Idaho; telephone: (208) 378-5012
 Bureau of Reclamation, Ephrata Field Office, 32 C Street 
Northwest, Ephrata, Washington; telephone (509) 754-0214
 Washington State Department of Ecology, 15 W. Yakima Avenue, 
Suite 200, Yakima, Washington; telephone (509) 575-2490

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 Washington State Department of Ecology, 4601 North Monroe, 
Spokane, Washington; telephone (509) 329-3400

Libraries

 Basin City Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, Basin City, 
Washington
 Benton-Franklin County Regional Law Library, Columbia Basin 
College, L Building, 2600 North 10th Avenue, Pasco, Washington
 Big Bend Community College Library, Building 1800, 7611 
Bolling Street NE., Moses Lake, Washington
 Columbia Basin College Library, 2600 North 20th Avenue, Pasco, 
Washington
 Connell Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, 118 North Columbia 
Avenue, Connell, Washington
 Coulee City Public Library, 405 West Main Street, Coulee City, 
Washington
 Ephrata City Library, 45 Alder Street Northwest, Ephrata, 
Washington
 Grant County Law Library, 35 C Street NW., Ephrata, Washington
 Kahlotus Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, East 225 Weston, 
Kahlotus, Washington
 Moses Lake Community Library, 418 East 5th Avenue, Moses Lake, 
Washington
 Odessa Public Library, 21 East 1st Avenue, Odessa, Washington
 Othello Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, 101 East Main, Othello, 
Washington
 Pasco Branch, Mid-Colombia Library, 1320 West Hopkins, Pasco, 
Washington
 Quincy Public Library, 108 B Street Southwest, Quincy, 
Washington
 Ritzville Public Library, 302 West Main, Ritzville, Washington
 North Central Regional Library, Royal City Library, 136 
Camelia Street, Royal City, Washington
 Seattle Public Library, Central Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, 
Seattle, Washington
 Sprague Public Library, 119 West Second Street, Sprague, 
Washington
 North Central Regional Library, Warden Library, 305 South Main 
Street, Warden Washington
 Washington State Library, 6880 Capitol Boulevard South, 
Olympia, Washington

Public Disclosure Statement

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made 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: August 27, 2012.
Lorri J. Lee,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2012-21572 Filed 8-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P