[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18967-18968]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07248]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Walla Walla Basin Spring Chinook Hatchery Program

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) and notice of floodplain and wetlands assessment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), BPA intends to prepare an EIS on its decision whether to fund 
the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation's (CTUIR) 
proposal to construct and operate a hatchery for spring Chinook salmon 
in the Walla Walla River basin. The hatchery would expand facilities at 
the site of the CTUIR's existing Adult Holding and Spawning Facility on 
the South Fork Walla Walla River near the town of Milton-Freewater in 
Umatilla County, Oregon, to allow production of up to 500,000 yearling 
spring Chinook smolts. Project operations would include collection of 
adult spring Chinook for broodstock at Nursery Bridge Dam downstream of 
the proposed hatchery, incubation and rearing of juvenile spring 
Chinook, and release of smolts and adults in tributaries to the Walla 
Walla River in both Oregon and Washington. Spring Chinook were 
extirpated from the Walla Walla River basin in the early to mid-1900s. 
The proposal would augment fish populations available for harvest and 
aid in establishing a naturally spawning spring Chinook population.
    With this Notice of Intent, BPA is initiating the public scoping 
process for the EIS. BPA is requesting comments about potential 
environmental impacts that it should consider as it prepares the EIS.
    In accordance with DOE regulations for compliance with floodplain 
and wetlands environmental review requirements, BPA will prepare a 
floodplain and wetlands assessment to avoid or minimize potential harm 
to or within any affected floodplains and wetlands. The assessment will 
be included in the EIS.

DATES: Written scoping comments are due to the address below no later 
than April 29, 2013. Comments may also be made at the EIS scoping 
meetings to be held on Tuesday, April 16, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 
at the Milton-Freewater Community Building, 109 NE. 5th, Milton-
Freewater, Oregon 97862; and on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, from 6 p.m. 
to 8 p.m. at the Dayton Elementary School, 302 E. Park, Dayton, 
Washington 99328. At these meetings, maps and other information about 
the project will be available, and members of the project team will 
give a brief overview of the proposal, answer questions, and accept 
oral and written comments.
    Send letters with comments and suggestions on the proposed scope of 
the Draft EIS, and requests to be placed on the project mailing list, 
to Bonneville Power Administration, Public Affairs Office--DKE-7, P.O. 
Box 14428, Portland, OR, 97293-4428, or by fax to

[[Page 18968]]

503-230-4019. You also may call BPA's toll-free comment line at 1-800-
622-4519 and leave a message (please include the name of this project), 
or submit comments online at www.bpa.gov/comment. BPA will post all 
comment letters on BPA's Web site at www.bpa.gov/comment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brenda Aguirre, Environmental 
Coordinator, Bonneville Power Administration--KEC-4, P.O. Box 3621, 
Portland, Oregon 97208-3621; toll-free telephone 1-800-282-3713; direct 
telephone 503-230-5928; or email [email protected]. You may also contact 
Jay Marcotte, Project Manager, Bonneville Power Administration--KEWU-3, 
P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; toll-free telephone 1-800-
282-3713; direct telephone 503-230-3943; or email [email protected]. 
Additional information can be found at the project Web site: 
www.bpa.gov/goto/WallaWallaHatchery.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Pacific Northwest Electric Power 
Planning and Conservation Act of 1980 (Northwest Power Act), BPA has a 
duty to support efforts to mitigate for effects of the Federal Columbia 
River Power System on fish and wildlife in the mainstem Columbia River 
and its tributaries. In addition to its responsibilities under the 
Northwest Power Act, on May 2, 2008, BPA, the Bureau of Reclamation, 
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed the 2008 Columbia Basin 
Fish Accords Memorandum of Agreement with the Three Treaty Tribes. The 
three tribes are the CTUIR, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation. 
The agreement includes funding for the CTUIR's Walla Walla Basin Spring 
Chinook Hatchery Program, subject to compliance with NEPA and other 
environmental review requirements.
    Over the past several years, the CTUIR has worked with irrigation 
districts and various agencies to improve stream flow and fish habitat 
in the Walla Walla basin. The hatchery is proposed in order to begin a 
comprehensive program to reintroduce spring Chinook to this basin. The 
proposed program would develop a locally adapted broodstock of spring 
Chinook and release sufficient numbers of spring Chinook smolts in 
areas where they would be expected to return as adults to provide 
harvest and to spawn naturally. Potential additional harvest and 
natural production would also be encouraged by planting adults in 
tributaries to the Walla Walla River, such as Touchet River and Mill 
Creek.
    The proposal would include construction activities at two existing 
sites; the South Fork of the Walla Walla near the town of Milton-
Freewater, and the Nursery Bridge Dam trap, downstream from the site. 
At the South Fork Walla Walla Adult Holding and Spawning Facility, 
activities would include construction of the following: a 13,300 square 
foot hatchery building (for administrative offices, incubation and 
rearing, and water treatment); sixteen outdoor rearing raceways; a 
smolt release channel; a shop building (for vehicle, equipment, and 
feed storage); a septic system; and a new well (to improve water 
temperatures and water quality from existing water sources). In 
addition, an existing river intake would be modified, and existing sub-
standard residences would be removed and replaced by up to four new 
staff residences.
    At the Nursery Bridge Dam trap, improvements would be made to the 
fishway for trapping adult fish.
    The proposal would also include the following operational 
activities: collection of approximately 350 adult spring Chinook 
annually at the Nursery Bridge Dam fishway for broodstock while still 
allowing up to 1,100 adults annually to pass the trap and return to key 
upriver habitat to spawn naturally; release of up to 500,000 spring 
Chinook smolts annually in the Walla Walla River basin; annual 
distribution of adults in excess of broodstock and natural spawning 
needs in Walla Walla River tributaries; and a monitoring and evaluation 
program.
    In the EIS, BPA is considering two alternatives: funding CTUIR's 
proposal and a no action alternative of not funding the proposal.
    Public Participation and Identification of Environmental Issues. 
The potential environmental issues identified so far for this project 
include effects of hatchery operations on water quality; the risk of 
competition for habitat between increasing numbers of reintroduced 
spring Chinook and ESA-listed fish such as bull trout or steelhead; the 
potential for adult spring Chinook collection activities to affect 
other fish; and the social, cultural, and economic effects of project 
construction and operations, as well as harvest.
    BPA has established a 30-day scoping period during which tribes, 
affected landowners, concerned citizens, special interest groups, local 
and federal governments, and any other interested parties are invited 
to comment on the scope of the proposed EIS, including environmental 
impacts to be evaluated. Scoping will help BPA ensure that the full 
range of issues related to this proposal are addressed in the EIS. 
Scoping also will identify significant or potentially significant 
impacts that may result from the proposed project. When completed, the 
Draft EIS will be circulated for review and comment, and BPA will hold 
public meetings to answer questions and receive comments. BPA will 
consider and respond to comments received on the Draft EIS in the Final 
EIS. BPA's decision will be documented in a Record of Decision that 
will follow the Final EIS.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon on March 20, 2013.
William K. Drummond,
Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-07248 Filed 3-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P