[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11905-11906]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03870]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration

[BPA File No. Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades (DOE/EIS 0535)]


Bonneville Power Administration Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Termination

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to terminate the preparation of an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and intent to prepare an 
Environmental Assessment (EA).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that BPA is terminating the 
preparation of the Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades EIS and instead will 
prepare an EA. This EIS would have considered BPA's decision whether to 
fund the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation's (Yakama 
Nation) proposal to upgrade facilities at the Klickitat Hatchery to 
facilitate a possible increase in production of spring Chinook salmon 
in the Klickitat River Basin. The change in National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) analysis is due to a refinement of project scope and 
design that would minimize resource effects and extensive agency 
coordination that has shown existing permits are sufficient to address 
the proposed changes.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Sharp, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Bonneville Power Administration--ECF-4, P.O. Box 
3621, Portland, Oregon 97208-3621; toll-free telephone 1-800-622-4519; 
direct telephone 503-230-5206; or email [email protected] or Mary Todd 
Haight, Project Manager, Bonneville Power Administration--EWM-4, P.O. 
Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; toll-free telephone number 1-
800-622-4519; email [email protected]. Additional information can be 
found at the project website: www.bpa.gov/nepa/klickitat-hatchery-upgrades.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Notice of Intent (NOI) was published in 
the Federal Register on October 6, 2017 (82 FR 46804), to begin 
preparing an EIS for the Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades. The facility 
improvements would allow the Yakama Nation to increase spring Chinook 
production from 600,000 to 800,000 smolts, and move from a segregated 
to an integrated spring Chinook production program. Other cost-
dependent options include additional on-site housing for hatchery 
facility staff and upgrades to the hatchery administrative building.
    At the time of issuance, the 2017 NOI identified the National 
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) as a cooperating agency for the 
project. Since then, NMFS has determined their Mitchell Act Record of 
Decision (ROD) and Biological Opinion (BO) adequately cover their NEPA 
and Endangered Species Act (ESA) obligations for increased operations 
and maintenance funding for the increase in spring Chinook production 
and integrated programming at the Klickitat Hatchery. The U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) had also elected to be a 
cooperating agency based on an assumption that the proposed project 
would be determined to be a new source under 40 CFR 122.2 and 122.29. 
After reviewing more fully developed project designs, USEPA was able to 
determine that the proposed action would no longer meet the definition 
of a new source under 40 CFR 122.29, and USEPA thereby rescinded their 
status as cooperating agency on June 2, 2022. The U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers also issued a determination on August 5, 2022, that no permit 
would be required under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act.
    These efforts to minimize resource effects and coordination with 
permitting agencies to confirm that existing permits would address the 
proposed changes have allowed BPA to determine that an EA and FONSI are 
more appropriate for this project. BPA will complete an EA, consistent 
with NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality's and the Department 
of Energy's NEPA implementing regulations to decide whether to fund the 
proposed action. The document will be used by BPA as the funding 
entity, Yakama Nation as operator of the facility that is located on 
the Yakama Nation Reservation, and Washington Department of Fish and 
Wildlife as current landowner and co-manager of the fishery resources 
in the Klickitat River basin for their respective environmental 
compliance needs.
    The proposal would include funding capital improvements at the 
Klickitat Hatchery that would enable the Yakama Nation to implement a 
multi-year transition from a segregated production program of 600,000 
spring Chinook smolts to an integrated spring Chinook production 
program totaling 800,000 smolts. All fish production (spring and fall 
Chinook and coho salmon) operations and facility maintenance at the 
hatchery has been funded through NMFS under the Mitchell Act since the 
hatchery was built in 1954. BPA is not proposing to fund fish 
production or to assume responsibility for any Mitchell Act funding for 
the Klickitat Hatchery. BPA funds would be limited to the proposed 
capital improvements to support spring Chinook production.
    To facilitate this transition, capital improvements to the existing 
Klickitat Hatchery facility would include:

 Upgraded water supply and discharge systems
 Rehabilitation and consolidation of spring water intake and 
pipeline
 Rehabilitation of river water intake pumps and filtration 
system
 Replacement of the existing pollution abatement settling pond 
with a new in-line system
 Updates to the existing fish ladder
 New adult holding raceways and spawning infrastructure
 Installation of a new circular tank aquaculture system to 
support spring Chinook integrated programming
 Addition of a chemical storage building
 Upgrades to the hatchery security and alarm systems

    Optional, cost-dependent upgrades include:

 Updates to the existing hatchery administrative space
 Construction of two on-site residences for hatchery staff
 Installation of predator control netting over the spring 
Chinook raceways

    For the reasons previously explained in this notice, the EIS is 
being terminated in accordance with 40 CFR 1506.6 and 40 CFR 1506.10.
    Signing Authority: This document of the Department of Energy was 
signed on February 9, 2023 by John Hairston, Administrator and Chief 
Executive Officer of the Bonneville Power Administration, pursuant to 
delegated

[[Page 11906]]

authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original 
signature and date is maintained by the Department of Energy. For 
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of 
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned Department of 
Energy Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and 
submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an 
official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative 
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on February 21, 2023.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2023-03870 Filed 2-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P