[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 11874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6204]
[[Page 11874]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
Public Meetings for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement,
Bluestone Dam Safety Assurance Project, Hinton, WV
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: With the distribution of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) having been completed on the Bluestone Lake Dam Safety
Assurance Project, this notice announces the following two Public
Meetings to consider comments concerning the document:
First Meeting
Date of Meeting: April 1, 1998.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: State Capitol Complex, Building 7, Conference Room C, 1900
Kanawha Blvd., Charleston, West Virginia.
Second Meeting
Date of Meeting: April 2, 1998.
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Summers County High School, Auditorium, 1 Bobcat Drive,
Hinton, West Virginia.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Please address questions regarding this notice to Mr. A. Benjamin
Borda, Environmental Analysis Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 502
8th Street, Huntington, WV 25701. By telephone call (304) 529-5712 or
by facsimile (304) 529-5136.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the policy of evaluating existing
Corps of Engineers projects to ensure dam safety, the Huntington
District is evaluating alternative measures to modify Bluestone Dam
consistent with present day design criteria. The study is being
conducted through the Corps of Engineers (COE) Dam Safety Assurance
Program for the evaluation of existing dams. The COE has determined
that improvements to the dam are necessary to accommodate the probable
maximum flood (PMF). The DEIS analyzes three structural alternatives
for the correction of hydrologic and seismic deficiencies at Bluestone
Dam as well as a no-action alternative. These alternatives are
summarized as follows:
a. Alternative 1. Raise the existing dam and strengthen it, without
adding additional discharge capacity. It will sustain a pool elevation
of 1555.8 feet and safely withstand the PMF.
b. Alternative 2. Maintain the current height of the dam and
strengthen it to sustain a pool elevation of 1534.5 feet and construct
an auxiliary spillway for additional discharge capacity, to safely
withstand the PMF.
c. Alternative 3. Raise the existing dam and strengthen it, while
utilizing the six existing penstocks to allow additional discharge
capacity. It will sustain a pool elevation of 1546.8 feet and safely
withstand the PMF. This is the preferred alternative.
d. No Action Alternative. Make no changes to the dam, either
physically or operationally. The dam would not withstand the PMF. It is
highly probable that the dam would fail at a pool elevation estimated
to be 1532 feet.
Alternative 3 was not identified during scoping but arose from
environmental and economic considerations undertaken during the
development of the DEIS. The features of Alternative 3 are intermediate
to the original structural alternatives (1 & 2). The DEIS contains
specifics on all three structural alternatives in addition to a
description of projected impacts.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the COE to
take into account the environmental impacts that could result from this
Federal action. NEPA also requires that the COE discover and address
concerns the public may have about the proposed project. This was
accomplished initially through the ``scoping'' process. With
distribution of the DEIS having been completed, the COE is now making
the above notice of meetings to consider comments concerning the
document.
Interested groups and individuals are encouraged to attend the
meetings and to present oral comments on the environmental issues which
they believe should be considered further in the Final EIS. Anyone who
would like to make an oral presentation should telephone or write to
Mr. Ben Borda (above address) by 4 p.m., March 25, 1998, so that time
may be allotted during the meetings, and a name placed on the speaker
list.
Gregory D. Showalter,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 98-6204 Filed 3-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-GM-M