[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 210 (Friday, October 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66926-66927]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27683]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-FAC-2015-N163]; [FRFR48370810680-XXX-FF08F00000]


Delta Research Station, Sacramento, CA; Draft Environmental 
Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement, and Announcement of 
Public Meetings

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of the Delta Research 
Station Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIR/EIS) for public review and comment. The Draft EIR/EIS 
evaluates impacts regarding construction and operation of the Delta 
Research Station (DRS) in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin 
Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta), California. The planned DRS would consist of 
two facilities, a proposed Estuarine Research Station (ERS) and Fish 
Technology Center (FTC). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is 
the lead Federal agency responsible for coordinating the environmental 
analysis for the proposed action under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA). The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) 
is the lead State agency responsible for coordinating the environmental 
analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

DATES: Comments on the Draft EIR/EIS must be received or postmarked by 
5 p.m. Pacific Time on December 14, 2015. Two public meetings will be 
held to receive comments on the Draft EIR/EIS. See the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section for meeting dates and times. The public meetings 
are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for 
reasonable accommodations (e.g., auxiliary aids or sign language 
interpretation) should be directed to Michael Stevenson of Horizon 
Water & Environment at (510) 986-1852, at least 5 working days prior to 
the applicable meeting date.

ADDRESSES: To view or download the Draft EIR/EIS, or for a list of 
locations to view hard-bound copies, go to 
www.deltaresearchstation.com.
    You may submit written comments by one of the following methods:
    1. By email: Submit comments to [email protected].
    2. By hard-copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail or by hand-delivery, 
to USFWS, Attn: Barbara Beggs, 650 Capitol Mall Suite 8-300, 
Sacramento, CA 95814.
    For how to view comments on the EIS from the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA), or for information on EPA's role in the EIS 
process, see EPA's Role in the EIS Process under SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Beggs, USFWS, at 916-930-5603.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    With this notice, we continue the process for developing a DRS, 
which we began by publishing a notice of intent for scoping in the 
Federal Register on December 10, 2014 (79 FR 73332). In addition to 
this notice of the draft EIR/EIS, EPA is publishing a notice announcing 
the draft EIS, as required under section 309 of the Clean Air Act (42 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.). The publication of EPA's notice is the official 
start of the minimum requirement for a 45-day public comment period for 
an EIS (see EPA's Role in the EIS Process under SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION).

Background

    The proposed DRS would consolidate ongoing Interagency Ecological 
Program (IEP) research and monitoring activities throughout the Bay-
Delta and provide facilities for study and production of endangered 
Delta fishes. Currently, the IEP has approximately 145 State and 
Federal employees who conduct research throughout the Bay-Delta. The 
IEP collaboratively monitors, researches, models, and synthesizes 
critical information for adaptive management water project operations, 
planning, and regulatory purposes relative to the aquatic ecosystem in 
the Bay-Delta. USFWS and DWR plan to construct the DRS in a centrally 
located area within the Bay-Delta, and the facilities are expected to 
enhance interagency coordination and collaboration.

Purpose

    The purpose of the DRS is to enhance interagency coordination and 
collaboration by developing a shared research facility. Currently, 
Federal and State agency staff working on similar Bay-Delta issues are 
distributed among different locations that are often remote from the 
Bay-Delta. Construction and operation of the DRS would reduce travel 
times and costs and improve research and monitoring activity 
efficiency. The ERS would consolidate existing IEP programs currently 
located throughout the Delta, and the FTC would house a new program to 
develop and apply captive fish propagation technologies in support of 
population restoration.
    The specific objectives of each component of the DRS are as 
follows:

    [ssquf] ERS--
--Establish a research station in a central location within the Bay-
Delta to facilitate conducting monitoring and research; and
--Co-locate the research station with a facility capable of studying 
fish in captivity (i.e., the FTC); and
--Provide facilities to conduct monitoring and research on the Bay-
Delta's aquatic resources.
    [ssquf] FTC--
--Develop captive propagation technologies for the Bay-Delta's rare 
fish species;
--Test and refine the captive propagation techniques;
--Locate the facility where suitable water quality and quantity are 
available, and ability to discharge waste water is available, given the 
facility's various functions and operations; and
--Co-locate the FTC with a facility conducting conservation research on

[[Page 66927]]

Bay-Delta rare fish species (i.e., the ERS).

Project Area

    Two alternative locations are evaluated in the Draft EIR/EIS: The 
Rio Vista Army Reserve Center (RVARC) site in the City of Rio Vista and 
a site located at 845 Ryde Avenue in the City of Stockton (Ryde Avenue 
site).

Project Overview

    The Draft EIR/EIS analyzes three action alternatives, as well as 
the No Project Alternative.
    The No Project Alternative would be a continuation of existing 
conditions.
    For the action alternatives, certain components would be the same 
for all alternatives. For the ERS, these include provision of office 
space; boat storage facilities, including a marina; a boat/equipment 
wash facility; laboratory facilities; shop space; and a storage 
building. For the FTC, common components include three buildings with 
aquaculture and research components for the study of individual fish 
species; an office and administrative building; a shop and vehicle 
storage building; a surface water intake and groundwater wells, a 
surface water treatment facility, and an effluent treatment system.
    As required by NEPA, the Draft EIR/EIS identifies direct, indirect, 
and cumulative effects, and possible mitigation for those effects, on 
biological resources, land use, air quality, water resources, 
socioeconomics, environmental justice, cultural resources, and other 
environmental resources that could occur with implementation of each 
alternative. A summary of each alternative is provided below.
    No Project Alternative: Under this alternative, no DRS facilities 
would be built and existing IEP activities would continue at their 
current locations. Some of the existing IEP activities that would 
continue to operate from various offices are fish population estimates, 
net surveys, and estuarine and marine fish abundance and distribution 
surveys. No FTC would be built.
    Alternative 2: This alternative would be located at the RVARC site 
on the southern edge of Rio Vista. Alternative 2 is the preferred 
alternative of DWR and USFWS, and would include all of the components 
described above for the action alternatives. Under Alternative 2, 
development of ERS and FTC facilities would be consolidated in the 
predominantly undeveloped portions of the site, and the marina would be 
established in the Sacramento River at the southeastern end of the 
site. The development footprint would be approximately 14 acres. 
Several existing buildings at the RVARC would be demolished.
    Alternative 3: Alternative 3 would include all of the components 
described above, and would also be located at the RVARC site. The 
development footprint under Alternative 3 would be approximately 18 
acres. Alternative 3 would demolish or repurpose some existing 
buildings situated adjacent to the Sacramento River. The marina and 
other ERS facilities would be constructed within the northern and 
northeastern portions of the site. In contrast with Alternative 2, the 
marina would be excavated in an upland portion of the site.
    Alternative 4: Alternative 4 would be located at 845 Ryde Avenue in 
Stockton. This alternative would include all of the components 
described above. No existing buildings are located at the Ryde Avenue 
site, so no buildings would be demolished or repurposed. Similar to 
Alternative 3, the marina would be excavated in an upland portion of 
the site.

NEPA Compliance

    We are conducting environmental review in accordance with the 
requirements of NEPA, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), its 
implementing regulations (40 CFR part 1500 et seq.), other applicable 
regulations, and our procedures for compliance with those regulations. 
The Draft EIR/EIS discusses the direct, indirect, and cumulative 
impacts of the alternatives on biological resources, cultural 
resources, water quality, and other environmental resources. Measures 
to minimize adverse environmental effects are identified and discussed 
in the Draft EIR/EIS.

EPA's Role in the EIS Process

    The EPA is charged under section 309 of the Clean Air Act to review 
all Federal agencies' EISs and to comment on the adequacy and the 
acceptability of the environmental impacts of proposed actions in the 
EISs.
    EPA also serves as the repository (EIS database) for EISs prepared 
by Federal agencies and provides notice of their availability in the 
Federal Register. The EIS database provides information about EISs 
prepared by Federal agencies, as well as EPA's comments concerning the 
EISs. All EISs are filed with EPA, which publishes a notice of 
availability on Fridays in the Federal Register.
    For more information, see http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/eisdata.html. You may search for EPA comments on EISs, along with EISs 
themselves, at https://cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-enepa-public/action/eis/search.

Public Meeting Information

    Two public meetings will be held to provide an overview of the 
project and allow public comment and discussion. Meeting dates, times, 
and locations will be announced in local media and at 
www.deltaresearchstation.com.

Public Comments

    This notice is provided pursuant to NEPA. Submitting timely 
comments to the email and hard-copy addresses identified in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice will also constitute effective filing 
of the CEQA comments on the EIR portion of the Draft EIR/EIS. USFWS is 
publishing this notice to allow other agencies and the public an 
opportunity to review and comment on this document. All comments 
received will become part of the public record for this action. 
Comments on the Draft EIR/EIS should be submitted to the address listed 
in the ADDRESSES section of this document. Comments submitted to the 
above address will be reviewed and considered by all of the lead 
agencies.

Public Availability of Comments

    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 may 
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.

Next Steps

    The lead agencies will compile and review all public comments on 
the Draft EIR/EIS submitted to them prior to preparation of a Final 
EIR/EIS.

Alexandra Pitts,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region, Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-27683 Filed 10-29-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P