[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 231 (Wednesday, December 2, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66622-66623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32055]
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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY
Environmental Impact Statement: Union County, Mississippi,
Multipurpose Reservoir/Other Water Supply Alternatives
AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS) on a multipurpose reservoir in
Union County, Mississippi, located in northeast Mississippi. The
primary purpose of the reservoir is to provide an adequate and reliable
water supply for the Union County area. This EIS will also consider
other alternative means of meeting the area's water supply needs.
Alternatives to be considered will include one or a combination of the
following: construction of a surface impoundment on a tributary of the
Little Tallahatchie River; installation of one or more water pipelines
from existing public water supplies; development of new groundwater
sources; and the no action alternative. With this notice, TVA invites
comments on the scope of this EIS.
DATES: Comments on the scope of the EIS must be received on or before
January 8, 1999. TVA will conduct a public meeting in New Albany,
Mississippi to discuss the project and obtain comments on the scope of
the EIS. The location and time of this meeting are described below in
the Scoping Process section.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Charles P. Nicholson, National
Environmental Policy Act Specialist, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400
West Summit Hill Drive, WT 8C, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499.
Comments may also be e-mailed to cpnicholson@tva.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel H. Ferry, Tennessee Valley
Authority, WT 10D-K, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499, e-mail:
dhferry@tva.gov; or Gary D. Hickman, Tennessee Valley Authority, ABL
1A-N, Norris, Tennessee 37828, e-mail: gdhickman@tva.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: TVA has been asked by Union County,
Mississippi, and the City of New Albany to assist in the evaluation of
a proposed reservoir and other means of supplying the area's water
supply needs. In addition, TVA has been asked to relocate one of its
electrical transmission lines that lies within the proposed reservoir
pool if the County and City decide to pursue that alternative.
[[Page 66623]]
Water needs in Union County, Mississippi, are currently supplied by
wells operated by municipal water systems, rural water associations,
and institutional and industrial users. The average daily water use
from the public water systems in 1996 was 2.365 million gallons per day
(MGD) and the peak daily use was 4.040 MGD. Two-thirds of the county
water needs are supplied by wells in the Eutaw-McShan aquifer, and most
of these wells are near the City of New Albany. Pumping from these
wells has lowered groundwater levels. New wells drilled in this area
have generally been unproductive.
In order to meet projected future water supply needs, Union County
and the City of New Albany combined efforts to develop an alternate
water supply and have proposed constructing a multipurpose reservoir on
a tributary of the Little Tallahatchie River. In order to obtain public
input on this proposal and to fully evaluate a range of alternatives,
TVA has decided to prepare an EIS.
Alternatives
Alternatives presently under consideration include: (1) No action;
(2) construction of a multipurpose reservoir on a tributary to the
Little Tallahatchie River; (3) construction of one or more pipelines
from an existing water supply system with sufficient capacity to meet
the needs of Union County; and (4) construction of new groundwater
sources by tapping into additional aquifers. Reasonable alternative
actions available to TVA are to relocate the transmission line, and the
no action alternative. Some of the water supply alternatives would also
involve actions by other federal agencies. TVA has identified two
alternative routes for its tramsnission line if it is relocated. TVA
invites the public to comment on these alternatives or to suggest other
possible alternatives.
Proposed Issues To Be Addressed
The EIS will evaluate the water supply needs of Union County
through the year 2050, and potential effects of alternative means of
meeting the water supply needs. Potentially important issues for
discussion in the EIS include:
1. Effects on stream discharge, water quality, and availability;
2. Impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecology, including endangered
and threatened species;
3. Impacts on floodplains, wetlands, recreation, and existing land
uses; and
4. Socioeconomic, historic, archaeological, and cultural effects
associated with the alternative actions.
This list is not intended to be all inclusive, nor is it intended
to be a predetermination of impacts. As scoping and preparation of the
EIS proceed, other issues may be revealed which will necessitate
further analyses.
Scoping Process
Scoping, which is integral to the EIS process, is a procedure that
solicits public input to the EIS process to ensure that: (1) Issues are
identified early and properly studied; (2) issues of little
significance do not consume substantial time and effort; (3) the EIS is
thorough and balanced; and (4) delays caused by an inadequate EIS are
avoided. TVA's procedures implementing the National Environmental
Policy Act require that the scoping process commence after a decision
has been reached to prepare an EIS in order to provide an early and
open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and
for identifying the significant issues related to a proposed action.
The scope of issues to be addressed in an EIS will be determined, in
part, from written comments submitted by mail, and comments presented
orally or in writing at a public scoping meeting. The preliminary
identification of reasonable alternatives and environmental issues
provided in this notice is not meant to be exhaustive or final. TVA
considers the scoping process to be open and dynamic in the sense that
alternatives other than those given above may warrant study and new
matters may be identified for potential evaluation.
The scoping process will include both interagency and public
scoping. The agencies expected to participate in interagency scoping
include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and various State of Mississippi agencies including the
Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries,
and Parks, the Department of Economic and Community Development, State
Historic Preservation Office of the Department of Archives and History,
and other federal, state and local agencies as appropriate. TVA
anticipates that some of these agencies, because of their jurisdiction
and/or expertise, will be cooperators in the development of the EIS.
The public is invited to submit written comments or e-mail comments
on the scope of this EIS no later than the date given under the DATES
section of this notice and/or attend the public scoping meeting. TVA
will conduct a public meeting on the scope of the EIS in New Albany,
Mississippi on Thursday, December 10, 1998. The meeting will be held at
the Union County Courthouse, which is located at 116 East Bankhead.
Registration for the meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. with the
meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin with brief
presentations by representatives of the Union County Development
Association, the City of New Albany, and TVA explaining the proposed
project and the EIS process. Following this presentation, attendees
will be given the opportunity to express issues and concerns that
should be considered in the EIS.
Upon consideration of the scoping comments, TVA will develop
alternatives and identify important environmental issues to be
addressed in the EIS. Following analysis of the water supply needs and
of the environmental consequences of each alternative, TVA will prepare
a draft EIS for public review and comment. A notice of availability of
the draft EIS will be published in the Federal Register and area
newspapers. TVA expects to have this draft EIS completed in early 2000.
Dated: November 24, 1998.
Kathryn J. Jackson,
Executive Vice President, Resource Group.
[FR Doc. 98-32055 Filed 12-1-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-08-P
