[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34232-34234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11906]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

[RR03240000, XXXR4079G1, RX.03441994.0209100]


Central Arizona Project, Arizona; Water Allocations

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior (Department) is proposing to 
reallocate non-Indian agricultural (NIA) priority Central Arizona 
Project (CAP) water in accordance with the Arizona Department of Water 
Resources' (ADWR) recommendation for reallocation, as provided by 
ADWR's letter dated January 16, 2014, to the Department. The Department 
is requesting public comments on the proposed decision. If the proposed 
decision is implemented, the Department would offer to enter into a 
subcontract with the entities listed in the table below, as recommended 
by ADWR.

DATES: Submit comments on or before July 6, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments concerning the proposed decision to 
Ms. Leslie Meyers, Area Manager, Phoenix Area Office, Bureau of 
Reclamation, 6150 West Thunderbird Road, Glendale, AZ 85306-4001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Leslie Meyers, Bureau of 
Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office, 6150 West Thunderbird Road, Glendale, 
AZ 85306-4001; telephone 623-773-6211; facsimile 623-773-6480; email 
[email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the 
deaf may call the Federal Relay Service (Fed Relay) at 1-800-877-8339 
TTY/ASCII to contact the above individual during normal business hours 
or to leave a message or question after hours. You will receive a reply 
during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Decision

    The Department is publishing this proposed decision of the 
reallocation of NIA priority CAP water in accordance with the Arizona 
Water Settlements Act (Settlements Act) (Pub. L. 108-451, 118 Stat. 
3478), and the Secretary of the Interior's (Secretary) Final Decision 
of CAP Water Reallocation (71 FR 50449, August 25, 2006). The following 
table lists the entities recommended by ADWR to receive NIA priority 
CAP water and the quantities proposed to be reallocated to each.

                         ADWR Recommendation for Reallocation of NIA Priority CAP Water
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                       Municipal pool                                          Industrial pool
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                                             Amount in acre-                                      Amount in acre-
          State of Arizona entity             feet per year        State of Arizona entity         feet per year
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Carefree Water Company.....................             112  Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort.......             400
Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement                 299  New Harquahala Generating Company..             400
 District.
Town of Cave Creek.........................             386  Rosemont Copper Company............           1,124
EPCOR--Sun City West.......................           1,000  Salt River Project.................           2,160
Town of Queen Creek (Acquired H2O Water               4,162  Resolution Copper Mining...........           2,238
 Company).
Town of Marana.............................             515  Freeport-McMoRan-Sierrita Inc......           5,678
Apache Junction Water Utilities Community               817  ...................................  ..............
 Facilities District.
City of El Mirage..........................           1,318  ...................................  ..............
Town of Gilbert............................           1,832  ...................................  ..............
City of Buckeye (Formerly was Town of                 2,786  ...................................  ..............
 Buckeye).

[[Page 34233]]

 
Johnson Utilities..........................           3,217  ...................................  ..............
Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment            18,185  ...................................  ..............
 District.
Total NIA Priority CAP Water Reallocated to          34,629  Total NIA Priority CAP Water                 12,000
 Municipal.                                                   Reallocated to Industrial.
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    Total NIA Priority CAP Water To Be       ..............  ...................................          46,629
     Reallocated.
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Previous Notices Related to CAP Water

    Previous notices related to CAP water were published in the Federal 
Register at 37 FR 28082, December 20, 1972; 40 FR 17297, April 18, 
1975; 41 FR 45883, October 18, 1976; 45 FR 52938, August 8, 1980; 45 FR 
81265, December 10, 1980; 48 FR 12446, March 24, 1983; 56 FR 28404, 
June 20, 1991; 56 FR 29704, June 28, 1991; 57 FR 4470, February 5, 
1992; 57 FR 48388, October 23, 1992; 65 FR 39177, June 23, 2000; 65 FR 
43037, July 12, 2000; 67 FR 38514, June 4, 2002; 68 FR 36578, June 18, 
2003; 69 FR 9378, February 27, 2004; and, 71 FR 50449, August 25, 2006. 
These notices and decisions were made pursuant to the authority vested 
in the Secretary by the Reclamation Act of 1902, as amended and 
supplemented (32 Stat. 388, 43 U.S.C. 391), the Boulder Canyon Project 
Act of December 21, 1928 (45 Stat. 1057, 43 U.S.C. 617), the Colorado 
River Basin Project Act of September 30, 1968 (82 Stat. 885, 43 U.S.C. 
1501), the Settlements Act, and in recognition of the Secretary's trust 
responsibility to Indian tribes.

Background of CAP Water Allocations

    In a Record of Decision (ROD) published on March 24, 1983 (48 FR 
12446), the Secretary, among other actions, superseded and replaced the 
1980 ROD (45 FR 81265, December 10, 1980), reiterated the allocations 
to Indian tribes reflected in that 1980 ROD, allocated CAP water for 
non-Indian municipal and industrial (M&I) uses, and allocated the 
remaining amount for NIA uses. Subject to certain conditions, the CAP 
water for Indian uses was allocated to 12 Indian tribes for irrigation 
use or for maintaining tribal homelands. Also subject to certain 
conditions, the CAP water for M&I uses was allocated based on the State 
of Arizona's 1982 allocation recommendations for non-Indian entities 
that provided an amount of CAP water for M&I use to certain non-Indian 
entities, with the remaining amount of CAP water allocated for NIA use. 
The CAP NIA water was allocated to 23 non-Indian irrigation districts 
or other agricultural entities as a percentage of the NIA water supply 
that was available in any given year.
    Two-party CAP water service contracts were executed between the 
United States and individual Indian tribes in 1980 pursuant to the 1980 
ROD. CAP non-Indian M&I water service subcontracts and CAP NIA water 
service subcontracts were executed with those entities desiring to 
enter into subcontracts for CAP water. The CAP water service 
subcontracts for the non-Indian M&I water and the NIA water are three-
party subcontracts among the entity, the Central Arizona Water 
Conservation District (CAWCD), and the Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation). Some of the entities that were allocated NIA water and 
M&I priority water elected not to contract for the offered allocations. 
After completing the initial subcontracting process, 29.3 percent of 
the NIA water supply and 65,647 acre-feet of M&I water was not under 
contract.
    Congress enacted the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community 
Water Rights Settlement Act of 1988 (102 Stat. 2558) (SRPMIC Act). 
Pursuant to section 11(h) of the SRPMIC Act, the Secretary was required 
to request a reallocation recommendation from ADWR for the remaining 
NIA water that was not under contract. The Secretary was also required 
to reallocate the uncontracted CAP water for NIA use and to offer new 
or amendatory subcontracts for such water.
    By letter dated January 7, 1991, ADWR recommended an allocation to 
the Secretary. The Secretary published a notice on June 20, 1991 (56 FR 
28404), inviting public comments on the proposed reallocation of CAP 
water. After considering the public comments, the Secretary published a 
final decision on February 5, 1992 (57 FR 4470). That decision 
contemplated that new or amendatory CAP water service subcontracts 
would be offered soon thereafter.
    CAP water service subcontracts for the reallocated water were not 
executed for several reasons, including but not limited to the 
following: (1) Some entities could not meet the financial feasibility 
requirements for receipt of CAP water; (2) lack of agreement on the 
form of the CAP water service subcontract, and (3) financial 
difficulties in the CAP NIA sector.
    Beginning in the early 1990s, long-term utilization of the CAP 
water available for reallocation under the 1992 decision and of the 
uncontracted CAP M&I priority water was a central issue in negotiations 
to resolve various operational and financial disputes between 
Reclamation and CAWCD. After attempts at negotiations failed, water 
contracting issues were included in litigation and the resulting 
stipulated settlement between the United States and CAWCD. To implement 
some of the conditions contained in the stipulated settlement, new 
Federal legislation was required.
    After the 1992 decision but before Federal legislation was enacted, 
the Secretary published on June 4, 2002 (67 FR 38514), a notice of 
proposed modification to the 1983 decision. The 1983 decision provided 
that the M&I allocation can be made more firm by execution of feasible 
non-potable effluent exchanges with Indian tribes and the M&I 
allocation was subject to adoption of a pooling concept, whereby all 
M&I entities share in the benefits of effluent exchanges. The pooling 
concept provision was included in the CAP M&I water service 
subcontracts. The 2002 proposed modification to the 1983 decision was 
to delete the mandatory effluent pooling provision in M&I subcontracts 
with the cities of Chandler and Mesa, and from other M&I water service 
subcontracts upon request. That provision in the CAP M&I water service 
subcontracts was an impediment to effluent exchanges and effective 
water management in central Arizona. After review and consideration of 
the public comments, the final decision was published on June 18, 2003 
(68 FR

[[Page 34234]]

36578), deleting the mandatory effluent pooling provision.
    The Settlements Act was enacted on December 10, 2004, and provides, 
among other things, for: (1) A final allocation of CAP water, with a 
CAP supply permanently designated for Indian uses and a CAP supply 
designated for non-Indian M&I or NIA uses; (2) a reallocation by the 
Secretary of 65,647 acre-feet of currently uncontracted CAP M&I water 
to 20 specific M&I entities; (3) ratification of the Arizona Water 
Settlement Agreement (the ``Master Agreement'') among the United 
States, ADWR, and CAWCD, which provides a statutory-based framework to 
enable the CAP NIA districts to relinquish existing rights to the 
delivery of CAP NIA priority water under their CAP water service 
subcontracts, including their rights, if any, to the reallocated water; 
and, (4) a reallocation of the relinquished and uncontracted NIA water 
supply to various Arizona Indian tribes and ADWR for future M&I use.
    On August 25, 2006, the Secretary published a final reallocation 
decision (71 FR 50449) that, among other things, reallocated the CAP 
NIA water and the uncontracted CAP M&I water. The August 2006 
reallocation decision is summarized below:
    The Secretary's decision reallocated up to 96,295 acre-feet of 
agricultural priority water per year to ADWR, pursuant to section 
104(a)(2)(A) of the Settlements Act and subject to subparagraph 9.3 of 
the Master Agreement, to be held under contract in trust for further 
allocation pursuant to section 104(a)(2)(C) of the Settlements Act. 
Direct use of the agricultural priority water by ADWR is prohibited 
under the Master Agreement and this notice.
    In accordance with section 104(a)(2)(C) of the Settlements Act, 
before water may be further allocated the Director of ADWR shall submit 
to the Secretary of the Interior a recommendation for reallocation. 
After receiving the recommendation, the Secretary shall carry out all 
of the necessary reviews for the proposed reallocation in accordance 
with applicable Federal law. If the Director's recommendation is 
rejected, the Secretary shall request a revised recommendation from the 
Director of ADWR and proceed with any reviews required.
    The reallocation of agricultural priority water to ADWR pursuant to 
section 104(a)(2)(A) and section 104(a)(2)(C) of the Settlements Act is 
subject to the Master Agreement, including certain rights provided by 
the Master Agreement to water users in Pinal County, Arizona. The 
agricultural priority water reallocated to the ADWR shall be subject to 
the condition that the water retain its non-Indian agricultural 
delivery priority.
    As required in Section 104(a)(2)(C)(i)(I) of the Settlements Act 
and the August 25, 2006 final reallocation decision, ADWR submitted to 
the Secretary a recommendation for reallocation of agricultural 
priority water. This recommendation was transmitted by letter dated 
January 16, 2014, and ADWR requested the Secretary carry out all of the 
necessary reviews of the proposed reallocation in accordance with 
applicable Federal law.
    Reclamation prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in accordance 
with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, 
and pursuant to Section 104 of the Settlements Act. Public scoping was 
initiated on November 30, 2015, with a newsletter that was sent to 
interested parties and published on Reclamation's website. Scoping 
comments were accepted via facsimile, email, U.S. mail, and in-person 
at the scoping meetings, which were held on December 8-10, 2015, in 
Phoenix, Casa Grande, and Tucson, Arizona, respectively. Reclamation 
received two public responses during this initial scoping period, one 
of which resulted in Reclamation honoring a request for a comment 
period extension to January 18, 2016.
    In June 2016, Reclamation mailed Notices of Availability (NOA) of 
the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) to Federal, state, and local 
agencies, Indian tribes, organizations, proposed recipients, and other 
interested stakeholders. A public meeting was held on June 22, 2016, in 
Casa Grande, Arizona, and the commenting period closed on July 22, 
2016. Reclamation conducted in-person consultation with the Tohono 
O'odham Nation on February 17, 2017, and with the San Carlos Apache 
Tribe on June 16, 2017. The draft EA was revised in response to the 
comments received. A NOA for the Final Environmental Assessment--
Arizona Department of Water Resources Recommendation for the 
Reallocation of Non-Indian Agricultural Priority Central Arizona 
Project Water in Accordance with the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 
2004 was issued on November 15, 2019, and the Final Finding of No 
Significant Impact--Arizona Department of Water Resources 
Recommendation for the Reallocation of Non-Indian Agricultural Priority 
Central Arizona Project Water in Accordance with the Arizona Water 
Settlements Act of 2004 was signed on November 8, 2019.

Rationale for Proposed Decision

    The Department is proposing to allocate CAP NIA water in accordance 
with ADWR's recommendation. The ADWR recommendation covered the initial 
phase, reallocating 46,629 acre-feet per year of NIA priority CAP water 
of the 96,295 acre-feet per year to be reallocated, as shown in the 
table above. The total of 46,629 acre-feet per year of CAP NIA priority 
water in this phase is in two pools: (1) A municipal pool of 34,629 
acre-feet for M&I water providers within the CAP service area and the 
Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, and (2) an 
industrial pool of 12,000 acre-feet for industrial water users within 
the CAP service area. The rationale for the proposed decision is based 
on the following:
    (1) ADWR's extensive public outreach, in consultation with 
Reclamation, to interested parties regarding its recommendation.
    (2) An EA evaluating impacts of the proposed reallocation, in 
accordance with NEPA, and the resulting FONSI.
    The Final EA and FONSI can be found on Reclamation's website at: 
https://www.usbr.gov/lc/phoenix/reports/reports.html.

Request for Public Comments

    We request public comments on the proposed reallocation prior to 
the Department making a final decision. Our practice is to make 
comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available 
for public review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address from public disclosure, which we will honor to the 
extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we 
would withhold a respondent's identity from public disclosure, as 
allowable by law. If you wish for us to withhold your name and/or 
address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your 
comment. We will make all submissions from organizations or businesses, 
and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or 
officials of organizations or businesses, available for public 
disclosure in their entirety.

Timothy R. Petty,
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
[FR Doc. 2020-11906 Filed 6-2-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4332-90-P