[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 51 (Friday, March 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9553-9554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04295]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

[RR01113000, XXXR0680R1, RR.R0336A1R.7WRMP0032]


Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-
to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance, Kittitas and Yakima Counties, 
Washington

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of 
Ecology (Ecology) have prepared and made available the Kachess Drought 
Relief Pumping Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir 
Conveyance Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

DATES: Reclamation will not make a decision on the proposed action 
until at least 30 days after the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes a notice of availability for this FEIS in the Federal 
Register. Following this 30-day period, Reclamation may complete a 
Record of Decision (ROD). The ROD will identify all the alternatives 
considered, including the environmentally preferable alternative and 
the action selected for implementation, if they are not the same. The 
ROD will also discuss the factors and rationale used in making the 
decision; provide information on the adopted means to avoid, minimize 
and compensate for environmental impacts; describe any monitoring and 
enforcement program to ensure that adopted mitigation is accomplished; 
and address any significant comments received on the FEIS.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or requests for copies of the FEIS should 
be addressed to Ms. Candace McKinley, Bureau of Reclamation, 1917 Marsh 
Road, Yakima, WA 98901, 509-573-8193 or via email to [email protected]. The 
FEIS is also accessible on the following websites: http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kdrpp/index.html and http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kkc/index.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Candace McKinley, (509) 573-8193 
or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bureau of Reclamation published a Notice 
of Availability of a Draft EIS (DEIS) for the ``Kachess Drought Relief 
Pumping Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance'' 
in the Federal Register on January 9, 2015 (80 FR 1431). This was 
previously identified in the Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS as the 
``Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance and Kachess 
Inactive Storage.'' The name was changed to better reflect the proposed 
action and alternatives evaluated. The public comment period concluded 
on June 15, 2015. A Supplemental DEIS was released for public comment 
on April 13, 2018. The public comment period ended July 12, 2018. The 
FEIS, entitled, ``Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant and Keechelus 
Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance Final Environmental Impact 
Statement,'' addresses the impacts associated with the Kachess Drought 
Relief Pumping Plant (KDRPP) and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess 
Reservoir Conveyance (KKC) by expanding on the analysis conducted in 
the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan 
(Integrated Plan) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (March 
2012).
    The FEIS evaluates construction and operation of three alternative 
designs and locations for KDRPP, including reservoir intakes and 
tunnels, pumping plants and pump units, pipelines, surge tanks, outlet 
works, fish screens and barriers, power supply substations, and 
electric transmission lines. The FEIS also evaluates construction and 
operation of the KKC as a component of KDRPP, including the Yakima 
River diversion and intake, fish screen, bored tunnel, and spillway and 
stilling basin.
    The primary study area generally encompasses Kachess Reservoir and 
its

[[Page 9554]]

tributaries, Keechelus Reservoir and its tributaries, the Kachess 
River, the Yakima River between Keechelus Dam and the Easton Diversion 
Dam near Lake Easton, and the electric transmission line route from 
near Easton to the Kachess Reservoir pumping plant. The extended study 
area generally includes the Yakima Project vicinity.

Authority

    The Kachess and Keechelus Reservoirs were authorized on December 
12, 1905, by the Secretary of the Interior in connection with the 
Tieton and Sunnyside Divisions of the Yakima Project. The Secretary was 
acting under authority of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902. The 
Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project was authorized on December 
28, 1979 (93 Stat. 1241, Pub. L. 96-162, Feasibility Study--Yakima 
River Basin Water Enhancement Project). Title XII of the Yavapai-
Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1994 (108 Stat. 
4526 Pub. L. 103-434) authorized fish, wildlife, and recreation as 
additional purposes of the Yakima Project.

Public Review of FEIS

    Copies of the FEIS are available for public review at the following 
locations:
    1. Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area Office, 1917 Marsh 
Road, Yakima, Washington 98901.
    2. Washington State Department of Ecology, 15 W Yakima Avenue, 
Suite 200, Yakima, Washington 98902.

Public Disclosure

    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.

Lorri J. Gray,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2019-04295 Filed 3-14-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4332-90-P