[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 217 (Monday, November 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66702-66704]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26639]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Notice of Availability--Final Environmental Impact Statement for 
Revised Water Control Manuals for the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River 
Basin

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Mobile District (USACE), has released a Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) for the update of the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River 
Basin (ACT) Water Control Master Manual (Master Manual). USACE will 
accept comments during a public comment period that began with the 
Notice of Availability published by the Environmental Protection Agency 
on November 7, 2014 and will end 30 days after that date.

DATES: Comments on the FEIS are due by December 8, 2014 and should be 
submitted as indicated in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Lewis Sumner at telephone (251) 
694-3857.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Master Manual includes appendices 
prepared for individual projects in the ACT Basin and is the guide used 
by USACE to operate a system of five federal reservoir projects in the 
basin--Allatoona Dam and Lake, Carters Dam and Lake and Carters 
Reregulation Dam, Robert F. Henry Lock and Dam and R.E. ``Bob'' 
Woodruff Lake, Millers Ferry Lock and Dam and William ``Bill'' Dannelly 
Lake, and Claiborne Lock and Dam and Lake. Alabama Power Company (APC) 
regulates four non-federal projects--Weiss Dam and Lake, Logan Martin 
Dam and Lake, Neely Henry Dam and Lake, and R.L. Harris Dam and Lake--
in compliance with the projects' Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(FERC) licenses and in accordance with USACE water control plans for 
flood risk management regulation and navigation support. The updated 
ACT Master Manual includes appendices prepared for two of the four APC 
projects for which USACE has authority for flood risk management and 
navigation support--Neely Henry and R.L. Harris. Water Control Manuals 
for the remaining two APC projects--Weiss and Logan Martin--will be 
addressed later.
    USACE has updated the water control plans and manuals for the ACT 
Basin in order to improve operations for authorized purposes to reflect 
changed conditions since the manuals were last developed. The purpose 
and need for the updated Master Manual is to determine how operations 
in the federal projects in the ACT Basin should be adjusted to meet 
their authorized purposes, in light of current conditions and 
applicable law and to implement those operations through updated water 
control plans and manuals. The updated plans and manuals comply with 
existing USACE regulations and reflect operations under existing 
congressional authorizations, taking into account changes in basin 
hydrology and demands from years of growth and development, new/
rehabilitated structural features, legal developments, and 
environmental issues.
    USACE regulations also provide specific policy and guidance for 
inclusion of drought contingency plans

[[Page 66703]]

as part of USACE's overall water control management activities in the 
basin. To assure effectiveness, the drought plan incorporates a 
comprehensive, basin-wide approach that considers the interrelationship 
of USACE projects and APC projects and the proposed drought plan was 
developed in collaboration with APC.
    USACE's objectives for the Master Manual update were to develop a 
water control plan that meets the existing water resources needs of the 
basin, fulfills its responsibilities in operating for the authorized 
project purposes, and complies with all pertinent laws. The FEIS 
presents the results of USACE's analysis of the environmental effects 
of the Proposed Action Alternative (PAA) that the USACE believes would 
most effectively accomplish these objectives.
    USACE evaluated an array of potential water management alternatives 
during the Master Manual update process, resulting in the selection of 
the PAA. One alternative available to USACE would be to continue with 
current operations. This approach is termed the No Action Alternative 
(NAA). Neither the PAA nor the NAA would alter existing water supply 
storage allocations or operations for flood risk management, fish 
spawning, or fish passage.
    The proposed action does not include the building, installing, or 
upgrading of any facilities. USACE will not modify any authorized 
project purpose via this action, although the extent to which some can 
be achieved may be affected. This action is limited to the way 
reservoir levels are managed and water is released from them.
    The Final EIS responds to, and incorporates agency and public 
comments received on the Draft EIS, which was available for public 
review from February 2013 through April 2013. Four public meetings were 
held on March 25th through 28th, 2013, and a cumulative total of 129 
persons attended these workshops, either representing various agencies 
and organizations or as interested individual citizens. Seventy (70) 
comments on the draft EIS were submitted by agencies (Federal, state, 
and local), private organizations, and individuals. The USACE responses 
to substantive agency and public comments are provided in Appendix B of 
the FEIS.
    USACE incorporated pertinent revisions and updates to the EIS WCM 
based on input received during the public review process. The key 
revisions and updates to the draft documents included in the final EIS 
for the WCM update include:
     The baseline condition for analysis of alternatives was 
revised to reflect actual withdrawals by Cobb County-Marietta Water 
Authority (CCMWA) and city of Cartersville from Allatoona Lake as well 
as the City of Chatsworth from Carters Lake. As presented in the draft 
EIS, withdrawals from the reservoirs by these entities had been limited 
to the volume of water in the current water supply storage agreements. 
For purposes of the Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Simulation 
(HEC-ResSim) model, ``actual withdrawals'' are represented by actual 
water use reported throughout the basin in 2006, rather than the volume 
of water in the current storage agreements. The actual withdrawal 
amounts in 2006 are the highest levels of net water supply withdrawal 
reported basin-wide and represent the greatest stress placed on the 
system to date from withdrawals.
     Based on further review of available data during and 
following the comment period for the draft EIS, USACE determined that 
revisions of the navigation ``template'' would be appropriate. The 
navigation template provides the technical information upon which flow 
requirements necessary to maintain navigable channel depths in the 
Alabama River are based. The HEC-ResSim model for the ACT Basin was 
updated to incorporate these revisions.
     Provisions for operation of the recently completed Hickory 
Log Creek reservoir, as permitted in the Section 404 permit for the 
project (2004), were incorporated into the HEC-ResSim model. The 
Hickory Log Creek reservoir operation was not considered as part of the 
baseline condition but was included in the simulation of the WCM update 
alternatives. The final EIS includes an updated description of Hickory 
Log Creek reservoir and its relationship to the ACT WCM update.
     The hydrologic period of record for HEC-ResSim model 
simulation for the ACT WCM update process was extended from 70 years 
(1939-2008) to 73 years (1939-2011).
     Based on the HEC-ResSim model updates described above, 
model simulations were re-run for the water management alternatives 
considered in the draft EIS (No Action, Alternative D, Alternative F, 
and Alternative G (Proposed Action), and the Environmental Consequences 
were updated accordingly.
     In order to better understand the sensitivity of the 
Proposed Action Alternative to the potential implications of climate 
change and increased future water demands in the ACT Basin, model 
simulations were conducted to address (1) projected increases in long-
range water supply demands in the basin, (2) potential for a long term 
reduction in rainfall in the basin due to climate change, and (3) 
potential for increased air temperature due to climate change. Both 
HEC-ResSim and HEC-5Q were run to compare the Proposed Action to these 
scenarios. These scenarios, the associated sensitivity analyses, and 
potential effects are discussed in the Final EIS.
     The FERC license for Coosa River Projects was finalized 
and issued in June 2013, following the publication and review of the 
draft EIS for the ACT WCM update. The EIS document was updated 
accordingly, including discussion of the pertinent effects of the June 
2013 FERC license on the ACT WCM update process.
     The EIS was updated to include a description of the most 
recent activities by non-Federal hydropower interests and FERC related 
to potential development of non-Federal hydropower facilities at 
Carters Reregulation Dam and Claiborne Lock and Dam.
     Other minor corrections and updates were incorporated into 
the final EIS based on public comments and new information.

Document Availability

    The FEIS and appendices are available to the public for review in 
the following formats:
     Online as PDF documents at www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/PlanningEnvironmental/ACTMasterWaterControlManualUpdate/ACTDocumentLibrary.aspx.
     As a CD when requested in writing to: Commander, U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Attn: PD-EI (ACT-DEIS), P.O. Box 
2288, Mobile, AL 36628.

Public Review and Comment

    USACE recognizes that the decisions made concerning revisions to 
the water control operations at USACE projects within the ACT Basin 
will have wide-ranging effects and encourages the public to submit 
comments on the content of the DEIS. All persons and organizations that 
have a potential interest in the proposed action, including minority, 
low-income, disadvantaged, and Native American groups, are urged to 
participate in this NEPA environmental analysis process by reviewing 
the FEIS and submitting comments for consideration.
    Comments may be submitted via the following methods:
     Online at www.sam.usace.army.mil/Missions/

[[Page 66704]]

PlanningEnvironmental/ACTMasterWaterControlManualUpdate.
     By emailing [email protected].
     By letter addressed to: Commander, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, Mobile District, Attn: PD-EI (ACT-DEIS), P.O. Box 2288, 
Mobile, AL 36628.
    Further information regarding the update of the Master Manual, 
including all available documents, background and historical 
information, and updates is available online at the Web site given 
above.

Next Steps

    No sooner than 30 days after filing the final EIS with USEPA and 
publication of the EPA Notice of Availability for the FEIS in the 
Federal Register, USACE will prepare a Record of Decision (ROD) which 
documents the final decision on the proposed action in regard to the 
update of the ACT Basin Master WCM and the individual project WCMs, 
summarize alternatives that were considered and relevant factors that 
were balanced in making the decision, and identify means that have been 
adopted to mitigate for adverse effects. USACE will notify the public 
of the ROD in a newsletter distribution to the project mailing list, 
press releases to local newspapers radio and television news, and on 
the project Web site.

Landon M. Raby,
Major, Deputy District Commander, Mobile District, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers.
[FR Doc. 2014-26639 Filed 11-7-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P