[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 86 (Thursday, May 4, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28532-28533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09525]
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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
[CEQ-2023-0002]
Columbia River Salmon and Other Native Fish Request for
Information
AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing this
request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback on Columbia River
salmon and other native fish restoration and other relevant information
to an ongoing mediation.
DATES: The agency requests comments by July 3, 2023, and must receive
comments on or before August 31, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number CEQ-
2023-0002, using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
All submissions received must include the agency name, ``Council on
Environmental Quality,'' and the docket number, CEQ-2023-0002, for this
RFI. Comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Do
not submit any information you consider to be private information,
privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, or
other information the disclosure of which is restricted by statute. CEQ
encourages submissions of 1,000 words or fewer. For any submissions
that are over 1,000 words, please consider including an executive
summary of 1,000 words or fewer.
All submissions are voluntary. You may respond to some or all of
the questions listed in the RFI. You may include references to academic
literature or links to online material (such as datasets) but please
ensure all links are publicly available. Each response should include:
The name of the individual(s) or entity responding.
A brief description of the responding individual(s) or
entity's mission or areas of expertise.
A contact for questions or other follow-up on your
response.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding submission or
questions on this RFI can be sent to De'Marcus Robinson, Ocean Policy
Fellow, 202-395-5750 or De'[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Columbia River and its tributaries were once among the most
productive salmon and steelhead ecosystems in the world with an
estimated 7.5 to 16 million adult salmon and steelhead returning to
Pacific Northwest tributaries each year and sustaining the cultures and
economies of Tribal Nations since time immemorial. From the 1930s to
the 1970s, the Federal government constructed a series of 14
multipurpose dams in the Columbia River Basin to address a myriad of
economic challenges, and, additionally, more than 100 non-Federal dams
were constructed.
Communities across the Northwest have come to rely on these dams
for reliable and affordable electricity, flood risk management, water
supply, irrigation, navigation, and recreation. The dams also altered
free-flowing rivers, affected juvenile fish as they migrate out to sea,
impeded adult fish returning to spawn, inundated Tribal fishing areas
and sacred sites, and forever displaced people from their homes. The
construction of the Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams without fish
passage eradicated salmon and steelhead from the Upper Columbia River
Basin. In the 1990s, 13 of the Columbia River Basin's remaining salmon
populations required the protection of the Endangered Species Act to
survive.
The Federal Government has spent tens of billions of dollars, in
partnership with Tribes, states, and non-governmental organizations, on
efforts that contribute to fish survival and recovery. States and
Tribes have also funded and implemented fish recovery programs. Despite
hard work, ingenuity, great expense, and commitment across all levels
of Federal, state, Tribal and local governments and a wide range of
stakeholders, many fish populations in the Columbia River Basin--
salmon, steelhead, and others--have not recovered, some continue to
decline, and many areas remain inaccessible to them.
Litigation over the impact of the operation of certain Federal dams
in the Columbia River System on salmon and other native fish has been
ongoing for decades and the courts have consistently ruled that the
Federal Government has fallen short of its legal obligations.
Currently, several ongoing cases are pending in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Oregon and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit.
In the Fall of 2021, the plaintiffs and petitioners in the
litigation and the Federal Government agreed to a temporary stay in the
litigation to create an opportunity for the Federal Government to
develop a long-term plan to restore Columbia River salmon and other
native fish. Shortly thereafter, the Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) convened an interagency group with leaders from: the Department
of the Interior, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of
Reclamation, and Fish and Wildlife Service; the Department of Commerce,
including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the
Department of the Army, including the Army Corps of Engineers; and the
Department of Energy, including the Bonneville Power Administration.
This interagency group is intended to build on existing analyses to
identify a durable path forward that ensures a clean energy future,
supports local and regional economies, and restores ecosystem function,
while honoring longstanding commitments to Tribal Nations.
In March 2022, CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory, Secretary of the Interior
Deb Haaland, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Assistant Secretary
of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor, and Under Secretary of
Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Richard Spinrad convened a
consultation with Tribal Nations of the Columbia River Basin and
published a blog post reflecting on what the Tribes shared at the
consultation and the Administration's values that inform its effort to
restore healthy and abundant salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River
Basin.
In April 2022, the Federal Government engaged the Federal Mediation
and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to mediate and facilitate between the
parties in the litigation and the regional sovereigns, including Tribal
Nations and states. In August 2022, the plaintiffs, petitioners, and
the Federal government agreed to an additional stay in litigation
through August 2023.
Through the stay agreement, the Federal Government committed to
supporting development of a durable
[[Page 28533]]
long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations
to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal
Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting
the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region. Since that
time, the Federal Government has engaged with the states, Tribes, and
other litigation parties through the FMCS process toward developing a
long-term strategy and further stay or resolution of the litigation. To
provide the stakeholders who are not directly involved in the
litigation an opportunity to provide input to the Federal agencies on
Columbia River Basin restoration, the Federal Government asked FMCS to
schedule listening sessions where individuals could provide comment.
The first listening session occurred on March 31, 2023. FMCS gave
speakers slots in the order that they registered. Because of the number
of people who registered to speak (250 people), the first session was
extended in an overflow session on April 3. Fifty-five people offered
comments on March 31, and forty-eight on April 3. Across both days,
everyone in attendance who had registered to speak had an opportunity
to do so; some persons who registered to speak did not attend and
others attended but chose not to speak. FMCS has scheduled another
listening session for May 25. CEQ is publishing this RFI and opening a
publicly accessible docket to provide an additional opportunity for
public input on the key questions below or any other information and
views relevant to the task of identifying a durable path forward for
salmon and other native fish that honors longstanding commitments to
Tribal Nations, ensures a clean energy future, supports local and
regional economies, and restores ecosystem function. Through this RFI,
CEQ also encourages the parties to the FMCS process to review the
comments received on the docket to inform discussions in the mediation.
This RFI does not serve as a substitute for other public engagement
that may be required for any specific action that the Federal
government undertakes.
In March 2022, CEQ established an email address,
[email protected], as a means for interested persons to share their
thoughts on issues related to the mediation. Emails sent to
[email protected] are delivered only to CEQ, however, and are not
directly available to other parties to the mediation or the public.
Because this RFI and the associated public docket provide a more
effective means for seeking input than an agency email address, CEQ
will close the [email protected] email address 30 days after
publication of this RFI. Interested parties should submit information
in response to this RFI in lieu of emailing [email protected].
CEQ requests comments under this RFI within 60 days to provide
timely information for consideration, however, the public docket will
remain open until August 31, 2023, the date the stay agreement is set
to expire. CEQ will continue to monitor the docket through August 31,
2023, and will encourage all parties to the mediation to do the same.
II. Key Questions for Input
Lower Snake River
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore lower Snake River habitat restoration opportunities,
``including but not limited to migration corridor restoration through
breaching the four lower Snake River dams,'' which would require
Congressional authorization. The Federal Government would welcome views
on:
What constitutes ``restoration'' of the lower Snake River
and what steps should the Federal Government take to restore the lower
Snake River?
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to restoring the lower Snake River?
What information should the Federal government develop to
support discussions in the Northwest and in Congress on the restoration
of the lower Snake River?
Upper Columbia River
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore providing full support for and funding of a plan
developed by the Upper Columbia River Tribes to reintroduce salmon into
the Upper Columbia River Basin. The Federal Government would welcome
views on:
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to supporting the Upper Columbia River Tribes' reintroduction
plan?
Funding
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore actions and funding to address ``unmitigated Tribal
needs, avoiding future issues with respect to creating inequities, and
actions supporting salmon and other fisheries and fish and wildlife
programs and infrastructure.'' The Federal Government would welcome
views on:
What steps should the Federal Government take in response
to this commitment?
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to funding and actions to restore fish populations throughout
the Columbia River Basin?
Amy Coyle,
Deputy General Counsel
[FR Doc. 2023-09525 Filed 5-3-23; 8:45 am]
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