[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17542-17545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08285]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Melvin R. Sampson Hatchery, Yakima Basin Coho Project

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

ACTION: Record of Decision (ROD).

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SUMMARY: The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has decided to 
implement the Proposed Action as described in the Melvin R. Sampson 
Hatchery, Yakima Basin Coho Project Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) (DOE/EIS-0522, November 27, 2017). Under the Proposed 
Action, BPA will fund the construction and operation of the Melvin R. 
Sampson Hatchery (MRS Hatchery) in the Yakima Basin in central 
Washington. Operation of the MRS Hatchery will involve production of up 
to 700,000 coho salmon for release in the Yakima River and its 
subbasin, the Naches River. The hatchery will be owned and operated by 
the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (Yakama Nation) 
and will be constructed on land owned by the Yakama Nation northwest of 
Ellensburg in Kittitas County, Washington.

ADDRESSES: This ROD will be available to all interested parties and 
affected persons and agencies. It is being sent to all stakeholders who 
requested a copy. Copies of the Melvin R. Sampson Hatchery, Yakima 
Basin Coho Project Draft and Final EISs and additional copies of this 
ROD are available from BPA's Public Information Center, P.O. Box 3621, 
Portland, Oregon 97208. Copies of these documents may also be obtained 
by using BPA's nationwide toll-free document request line: 1-800-622-
4520, or by accessing the project website at www.bpa.gov/goto/MelvinSampsonHatchery.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Goodman, Bonneville Power 
Administration--ECF-4, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; 
toll-free telephone number 1-800-622-4519; fax number 503-230-5699; or 
email [email protected].

[[Page 17543]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    BPA is a federal agency that markets power generated from the 
federal hydroelectric facilities on the Columbia River and its 
tributaries. BPA's operations are governed by several statutes, 
including the Northwest Power Act. The Northwest Power Act directs BPA 
to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the 
development and operation of those federal hydroelectric facilities. To 
assist in accomplishing this, the Northwest Power and Conservation 
Council (Council) makes recommendations to BPA concerning which fish 
and wildlife projects to fund. The Council gives deference to project 
proposals developed by state and tribal fishery managers and has a 
three-step process for reviewing artificial propagation project (i.e., 
hatcheries). The Yakama Nation's MRS Hatchery proposal is one of the 
projects recommended to BPA by the Council (Fritsch 2013) through their 
three-step review process, which included reviews from the Council's 
Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP).\1\
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    \1\ The Council and the ISRP reviewed the Yakima Subbasin Summer 
and Fall Run Chinook and Coho Salmon Hatchery Master Plan (Yakama 
Nation 2012a), providing feedback and recommendations to the Yakama 
Nation on scientific goals and methods related to the coho program. 
On October 1, 2013, the Council and the ISRP determined the proposed 
Master Plan, as related to activities for the MRS Hatchery component 
of the coho program, sufficiently met scientific review criteria to 
recommend that BPA and the Yakama Nation move to Step 2 of the 
Council's process.
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    In addition, BPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Bureau of 
Reclamation signed an agreement in 2008 with the Yakama Nation and 
other Tribes to work as partners to provide tangible survival benefits 
for salmon recovery. The 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords Memorandum of 
Agreement includes an agreement to fund the MRS Hatchery contingent on 
the favorable recommendation from the Council, completion of site-
specific environmental review under the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA), and compliance with other environmental laws.
    To meet obligations under NEPA, BPA prepared an EIS in which the 
Washington Department of Ecology was a cooperating agency. Public 
scoping for the MRS Hatchery EIS was initiated with the publication of 
the Notice of Intent in the Federal Register (80 Federal Register [FR] 
70770) on November 16, 2015. Concurrent with the publication of the 
Notice of Intent, BPA mailed a letter and map describing the proposal 
to neighboring landowners, affected tribes, local, state, and federal 
government officials, and known interested parties. BPA also held a 
public scoping meeting in Ellensburg, Washington (19 members of the 
public attended) and established a website (www.bpa.gov/goto/MelvinSampsonHatchery) with information about the project and the EIS 
process. The public scoping period ran from November 16, 2015 through 
January 4, 2016. BPA received comments from ten entities.
    In March 2017, BPA issued the draft EIS for public review and 
comment. Notice of Availability for the draft EIS was published in the 
Federal Register (Volume 82, Number 51) on March 17, 2017. In addition, 
the EIS or an announcement of its availability was emailed or mailed to 
over 100 entities--individuals, organizations, tribes, and agencies who 
had previously requested it--and the EIS was posted on the project 
website. The comment period ran from March 10, 2017 through May 1, 2017 
and an open-house public meeting was held in Ellensburg, Washington.
    BPA received comments from nine entities on the draft EIS. After 
consideration of the comments, BPA issued the final EIS in November 
2017. The final EIS responded to comments received on the draft EIS and 
made necessary corrections and revisions to the EIS text. As with the 
draft EIS, BPA distributed the final EIS to individuals, organizations, 
tribes, and agencies who had previously requested it, posted it on the 
BPA project website, and sent out letters announcing its availability 
to potentially interested parties. A Notice of Availability of the 
final EIS was published in the Federal Register (82 FR 55831) on 
November 24, 2017.

Alternatives Considered

    The final EIS considered in detail the Proposed Action and the No 
Action Alternative. The final EIS also discussed other alternatives 
that were considered but eliminated from detailed study. The following 
summarizes the alternatives that were considered in detail in the EIS.

Proposed Action

    Under the Proposed Action, BPA will fund the Yakama Nation for the 
construction and operation of the MRS Hatchery. The Proposed Action 
will help transition the Yakama Nation's existing coho restoration 
program in which broodstock are collected out-of-basin and juveniles 
are reared out-of-basin, to a program that will use in-basin rearing 
(at the MRS Hatchery) and the use of out-of-basin broodstock will be 
phased out as natural-origin broodstock become available.
    The Proposed Action will involve construction of a coho hatchery 
facility on eight acres at the former Holmes Ranch property. Facilities 
will include a hatchery building; adult holding and spawning ponds; a 
shop building; three employee houses; intake screens and a surface 
water pump station to provide Yakima River water via the existing New 
Cascade Canal diversion; stoplog supports to allow surface water to be 
diverted; one existing groundwater well and up to eight new wells; 
centralized degassing headbox for groundwater treatment and supply; 
site utilities, including pipes for water intake and discharge 
(outfall); a waste treatment pond; acclimation ponds and tanks; and 
site access roads.
    Under the Proposed Action, the MRS Hatchery will produce and 
release up to 500,000 coho parr and up to 200,000 coho smolts as part 
of the overall coho reintroduction program. Per NMFS consultation (NWR-
2011-06509; NMFS 2016a), the production of up to 200,000 smolts and 
500,000 parr is authorized. Conversion to an all-smolt release (i.e., 
700,000 smolts) is proposed if the parr/smolt release strategy does not 
meet adult return objectives, or if drought conditions preclude summer 
parr releases. The goal of the Proposed Action is for in-basin rearing 
of integrated coho juveniles at the MRS Hatchery using localized 
broodstock, with a goal to phase out all out-of-basin production. The 
transition to locally-adapted broodstock will occur at ever-increasing 
rates as natural-origin broodstock become available.
    Up to 1,000 coho adults, including natural- and hatchery-origin, 
will be collected at Roza Dam for broodstock for the proposed MRS 
Hatchery. Adults may also be collected at Prosser Dam as a backup 
source, and possibly in the future at the Cowiche or Wapatox Dams. The 
broodstock goal is to collect 1,000 fish that will be processed over a 
four month period.
    Prior to release, smolts will be acclimated in ponds adjacent to 
tributaries in which they will be released to help encourage their 
return as adults to these locations. A number of existing ponds, 
including Jack Creek, Hundley, Boone, and Easton will be used to 
acclimate coho smolts from the MRS Hatchery. Mobile acclimation units 
will also be used for a small number of coho smolts in the basin. 
Juvenile coho propagated at the MRS Hatchery will be released into 
tributaries that are not currently subject to coho releases, with a 
goal of seeding more habitats throughout the basin.

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    Monitoring, research, and evaluation of the overall Yakima-
Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) coho reintroduction program is 
ongoing and would continue under the Proposed Action. Such activities 
would include coho spawning surveys, snorkel surveys, juvenile 
collection, and juvenile abundance surveys.
    Construction under the Proposed Action will comply with applicable 
regulatory requirements, permits, and guidance for protection of the 
environment and human well-being and safety, and will incorporate Best 
Management Practices such as erosion and dust control, waste 
management, weed management, fire prevention, and work-hour and noise 
restrictions. The Proposed Action incorporates special measures such as 
retaining as much native vegetation as possible, landscaping with 
native plants, erecting buildings reflective of local character, 
shielding of facility lighting, and installing water reuse and 
treatment systems. Instream structures will meet applicable NOAA 
Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish passage design 
requirements, and construction will be managed to accommodate and 
reduce impacts on existing fish production and fish use of the affected 
waters.
    Instream work will occur behind temporary cofferdams or other 
appropriate water diversions and comply with applicable regulations and 
permits. Solid waste management and hatchery effluent treatment and 
filtering systems will ensure that discharge will comply with 
applicable regulations and permit standards.

No Action Alternative

    Under the No Action Alternative as described in the EIS, BPA would 
have not funded the construction and operation of the proposed MRS 
Hatchery. The Yakama Nation would have still expanded juvenile release 
and acclimation locations, but would have not converted to complete in-
basin rearing. The Yakama Nation would have likely continued using a 
combination of artificial production and habitat improvements to meet 
natural production and harvest goals, including increasing coho 
spawning in tributaries, phasing out imported releases of coho in the 
Yakima Basin, and testing and monitoring new acclimation techniques.
    Under the No Action Alternative, a portion of the juvenile coho 
released into the Yakima River as part of the overall YKFP coho 
reintroduction program would have continued to be reared out-of-basin. 
The release of out-of-basin juveniles would have expected to result in 
reduced survival and adult returns and would have not met the Yakama 
Nation's goal of providing a self-sustaining coho run throughout its 
historic range.

Comments Received Since Issuance of the Final EIS

    Following the issuance of the final EIS, BPA received comments from 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 in accordance 
with EPA responsibilities to review EISs under Section 309 of the Clean 
Air Act. The comments were received in a letter dated December 21, 2017 
and in follow-up conversations with EPA staff. These comments can be 
viewed on-line at www.bpa.gov/goto/MelvinSampsonHatchery. BPA has 
reviewed and considered EPA's comments in making its decision about 
funding the Melvin R. Sampson Hatchery Yakima Basin Coho Project.
    Although NEPA does not require written responses to comments 
received on a final EIS, this section of the ROD summarizes and 
addresses the EPA comments received since issuance of the final EIS.
    EPA's letter stated that the final EIS was responsive to their 
comments submitted on the draft EIS. EPA also further expanded on 
comments sent on the draft EIS and requested that BPA conduct 
additional quantitative analysis of water quality impacts due to 
hatchery effluent discharge. More specially, EPA requested that various 
parameters (ammonia nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, and phosphorous, total 
suspended solids [TSS], turbidity, and biochemical oxygen demand BOD) 
be considered in the effluent dilution calculations; that effluent 
dilution calculations be at the point of discharge into the side 
channel (which flows into the main channel of the Yakima River); that 
consideration be taken for effluent plumes in the Yakima River if 
lateral mixing is incomplete; and that BPA provide rationale that the 
analysis is considering worst-case conditions and rationale that the 
effluent discharge will achieve water quality standards.
    In response to these comments, BPA continued to work with the 
Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), the entity 
responsible for regulating water quality in the State of Washington, 
conducted additional waste load calculations, and had further 
conversations and email exchanges with EPA.
    As described in Sections 2.2.3.3, 3.5.1.4.2, 3.5.2.2.4, and 
4.1.3.1.2 of the EIS, BPA and the Yakama Nation have worked with 
Ecology to ensure that the hatchery complies with National Pollutant 
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements. Per Washington State 
Administrative Code (WAC) 173-221A-100, all upland fin fish facilities 
require wastewater discharge permits requiring compliance with defined 
effluent standards, and must comply with the applicable Total Maximum 
Daily Loads (TMDLs). The TMDLs determine the amount of pollutants that 
a given waterbody, in this case it is the Yakima River, can receive and 
still meet or exceed water quality standards. The permit application 
submitted to Ecology described the hatchery design (size, number of 
fish, water sources and flow rates, dimensions and volumes of settling 
ponds, discharge points and receiving waters, solid waste disposal 
areas, and details about the water condition equipment) and the water 
quality characterization of the hatchery effluent. The technical memo 
supporting the permit application and the additional hatchery effluent 
discharge analysis may be viewed on BPA's project website at 
www.bpa.gov/goto/MelvinSampsonHatchery.
    The Yakima River 7Q10 flow rate (the lowest 7-day average flow 
occurring on average once every 10 years) is 1,891 cubic feet per 
second (cfs), while the volume of discharge from the hatchery will be 4 
cfs, 0.002 percent of the river flow. As described in Section 3.5.2.2.4 
of the EIS, the effluent limits for general NPDES permit treatment 
requirements include a net total suspended solids (TSS) maximum 
concentration of 5 milligrams per liter (mg/l); the calculated TSS 
concentrations in the hatchery effluent during peak fish feeding (worst 
case pollutant discharge conditions) is 0.73 mg/l-- which is well under 
the requirements. This TSS limitation requirement is for the end-of-
pipe effluent and does not require determinations of lateral mixing or 
dilution. The hatchery easily meets the TMDL load allocation that has 
been approved by EPA for the Yakima River.
    The additional waste load calculations conducted at EPA's request 
found that waste load allocations for total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), 
dissolved oxygen (DO), and total phosphorous associated with hatchery 
discharge had no-to-minimal influence on the background concentrations 
(TAN changed background river levels by 0.002mg/l; DO had no change; 
total phosphorous changed by 0.0004 mg/l over background levels). As 
described above, the TSS levels would be well under the TMDL load 
allocation requirements, and because of the correlation of TSS and 
turbidity, Ecology determined that, based on the limitations associated 
with TSS, the

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facility would not impact the Yakima River turbidity. BOD is not a 
pollutant of concern with fish hatcheries; there are no BOD limitations 
in either federal requirements or in the 2015 Upland Fin-Fish Hatchery 
and Rearing general permit requirements. Therefore, BPA believes it has 
sufficiently considered the potential impacts of the effluent 
pollutants on water quality.
    Regarding EPA's comment that the side channel dilution rates should 
be considered, the end-of-pipe effluent that would be discharged into 
the side channel would meet the water quality standards for the Yakima 
River, whether it is into the side channel or the main stem itself; 
dilution is not part of the criteria for meeting the effluent water 
quality standards. Therefore, BPA believes that further calculations of 
dilution rates are not necessary or relevant to water quality 
considerations.
    The end-of-pipe effluent water quality also pertains to EPA's 
comment on whether there would be effluent plumes due to incomplete 
lateral mixing in the Yakima River. The hatchery operation at full 
capacity has to meet end-of-pipe discharge limitations that reduce the 
existing load present in the Yakima River. The WAC sets effluent 
limitation guidelines for the pollutant of concern to meet water 
quality standards at the end-of-pipe, not at some point downstream 
after a mixing zone or dilution factor are taken into consideration. 
Therefore, because the effluent itself would meet load requirements, 
there would be no plumes within the river due to the effluent and 
further consideration of lateral mixing is not necessary or relevant.
    Ecology is poised to issue an NPDES permit for the hatchery and has 
stated that it is satisfied that the hatchery effluent would clearly 
meet all water quality criteria. As such, BPA believes it has a 
sufficient understanding of the impacts of the hatchery effluent on 
water quality, that the final EIS provides appropriate consideration 
and analyses of these impacts to meet the requirements of NEPA, and 
that the additional calculations do not alter the conclusions made in 
the final EIS about potential water quality impacts.

Rationale for Decision

    In making its decision to implement the Proposed Action, BPA has 
considered and balanced a variety of relevant factors. BPA considered 
how well the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative would fit 
with BPA's statutory missions and relevant policies and procedures. BPA 
also considered the environmental impacts described in the final EIS, 
as well as public comments received throughout the NEPA process for the 
Project.
    Another consideration was the extent to which each alternative 
under consideration would meet the following BPA purposes (i.e., 
objectives) identified in the final EIS:
     Support efforts to mitigate for effects of the development 
and operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System on fish and 
wildlife in the mainstem Columbia River and its tributaries under the 
Northwest Power Act.
     Assist in carrying out commitments related to proposed 
hatchery actions that are contained in the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish 
Accords Memorandum of Agreement with the Yakama Nation and others.
     Implement BPA's Fish and Wildlife Implementation Plan EIS 
and Record of Decision policy direction, which calls for protecting 
weak stocks, while sustaining overall populations of fish for their 
economic and cultural value.
     Minimize harm to natural and human resources, including 
species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
    After considering and balancing all of these factors, BPA has 
decided to fund the Melvin R. Sampson Hatchery, Yakima Basin Coho 
Project. The Proposed Action was recommended to BPA for funding by the 
Northwest Power and Conservation Council and is consistent with the 
Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Providing 
funding for the construction of the Proposed Action will help mitigate 
for the effects of the FCRPS on fish and wildlife by restoring natural 
coho spawning in the Yakima Basin. In addition, the Proposed Action is 
consistent with commitments contained in the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish 
Accords, as well as with BPA's Fish and Wildlife Implementation Plan 
policy direction for protecting weak stocks, while sustaining overall 
populations of fish for their economic and cultural value.
    In planning and designing the hatchery, BPA, the Yakama Nation, and 
other project designers worked to minimize environmental and social 
impacts through project design, consultation with regulatory entities, 
and development of mitigation measures. Impacts considered and fully 
disclosed in the final EIS, include disturbance of soils, vegetation 
removal, conversion of habitat, groundwater and surface water impacts 
on aquifers and floodplains, impacts of hatchery effluent discharge, 
impacts of hatchery construction and juvenile coho releases on species 
such as bull trout and steelhead, and visual changes associated with 
new structures.

Mitigation

    All mitigation measures described in the final EIS and the project 
Biological Assessment with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been 
adopted. A complete list of these measures is presented in the project 
Mitigation Action Plan, available on the project website. All 
practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm are adopted.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on April 10, 2018.

    Dated: April 10, 2018.
Elliot E. Mainzer,
Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 2018-08285 Filed 4-19-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P