[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12245-12246]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6471]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
Notice of Intent (Notice) To Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) and Hold Public Scoping Workshops on Water Resource
Management Proposals in Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Storey, and Washoe
Counties, Nevada
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary--Water and Science, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior plans to hold four public
scoping workshops to gather information that can be used to prepare an
EIS on actions related to water resources in the Truckee and Carson
Rivers. The purpose of this EIS is to review, in a comprehensive
manner, four proposed actions and consider the environmental effects of
those and other actions. The Truckee-Carson Coordination Office, acting
on behalf of the Department of the Interior, will serve as lead agency
and supervise preparation of the EIS. Cooperating federal agencies
include Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
DATES: Public scoping workshops will be held at the following locations
beginning at 7:00 pm and ending no later than 9:00 pm on the dates
indicated:
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Date Location
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March 11, 1997........................ Fallon Convention Center,
Fallon, Nevada.
March 13, 1997........................ Fernley Town Building, Fernley,
Nevada.
March 18, 1997........................ U.S. Geological Survey
Conference Room, Carson City,
Nevada.
March 20, 1997........................ Washoe County Commissioners
Chambers, Reno, Nevada.
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Interested persons are encouraged to attend the workshops to
identify and discuss major issues, concerns, opportunities, and
alternatives that should be considered in the EIS. The workshops will
begin with a brief presentation describing the proposed action followed
by an opportunity for interested citizens to provide information
relevant to the EIS preparation process. The primary purpose of the
scoping workshops is to identify issues and information related to the
proposed project rather than to debate those issues.
These meetings supplement scoping meetings held in September 1995
on three of the four proposed actions. Scoping comments submitted
following those meetings will also be considered in preparing this EIS.
The scoping period will begin on the date of the first scoping
meeting and remain open through preparation of the EIS. Interested
agencies, organizations, and individuals are asked to submit written
comments on the scope of the environmental document on or before April
28, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are requested to send their written
commnets on the scope of the environmental document, significant issues
that should be addressed, and alternatives that should be considered to
the following address: EIS Scoping Comments, Truckee-Carson
Coordination Office, 1000 William Street, Suite 100, Carson City,
Nevada 89701.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Truckee and Carson Rivers flow eastward
out of the Sierra Nevada mountains and drain to interior basins. The
Truckee River terminates in Pyramid Lake; the Carson River terminates
in the Stillwater wetlands and Carson Sink. Water rights disputes over
waters of the Truckee and Carson Rivers date back to the 1860's during
a period of booming regional mining and lumbering activity. Consumptive
use of water from the two rivers increased significantly during the
late 1880's and early 1900's with the advent of various irrigation
developments, including the Newlands Irrigation Project, one of the
first Federally funded irrigation projects. With the increasing growth
and urbanization of the 20th Century, additional demands were placed on
the Region's water supply. In addition, issues brought forward by the
establishment of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation in 1859,
and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribes Indian Reservation in 1902 played
a major role in the evolution of water-rights disputes in the region.
Before the mid-1800's, all water in the Truckee River flowed into
Pyramid Lake with overflows forming Winnemucca Lake, supporting fish
populations essential to the life and economy of the Pyramid Lake
Paiute Tribe. In Lahontan Valley, the Carson River flowed into vast
wetlands that sustained major populations of waterfowl, shorebirds and
other wildlife. A substantial population of Native Americans inhabited
the wetlands and were dependent on its resources. Gradually, upstream
consumptive use and changes to water quality in the two rivers
contributed to the degradation of wetland and lake habitats and the
species that depended on them. Substantial change was caused by the
development of the Newlands Irrigation Project, authorized by the
Reclamation Act of 1902.
A majority of the Newlands Project acreage, known as the Carson
Division, is located in the Carson River watershed. However, in most
years, water entitlements in the Carson Division cannot be satisfied
solely by Carson River flows. Varying quantities of Truckee River water
are annually diverted out of the Truckee River watershed and away from
Pyramid Lake to serve agriculture, wetlands, and other water rights in
Lahontan Valley and in the Truckee Division of the Newlands Project.
Primarily as a result of diversions for the Newlands Project, the level
of Pyramid Lake began to decline and today, the lake is more than 65
feet lower than it was 100 years ago. In addition, primary wetlands in
Lahontan Valley, which historically fluctuated between 100,000 and
300,000 acres in size, were reduced to a current average of 9,800 acres
as a consequence of water use on the Carson River and prolonged
drought. Today, remaining wetlands are primarily sustained by
irrigation return flows, a portion of which can be of poor quality.
Public Law 101-618, the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights
Settlement Act, was enacted in 1990. The Act assigned numerous diverse
responsibilities to the Department of the Interior for initiating
actions addressing, in part, wetlands, endangered species, and water
resource management. The Department of the Interior also has
responsibilities to satisfy settlement agreements, meet Newlands
Project water rights, and properly protect resources held in trust for
Indian tribes in the region.
Proposed Actions
The EIS will consider the potential impacts of the proposed water
resource management actions described above and the interrelationships
of these waters.
[[Page 12246]]
1. The Secretary is authorized and directed by Section 206(a) of
the Act to acquire water and water rights to sustain, on a long-term
average, 25,000 acres of primary wetland habitat in Lahontan Valley.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is preparing a wetlands
management plan detailing actions necessary to best manage water being
acquired to sustain 25,000 acres of wetland habitat, including the
timing of water applications to wetlands, and the volumes of acquired
water to be applied.
2. Section 207(a) directs the Secretary to expeditiously implement
plans for the conservation and recovery of endangered cui-ui, a fish
species found only in Pyramid Lake and the lower Truckee River. Section
207(c)(1) authorizes the Secretary to acquire water and water rights to
assist the conservation and recovery of the species. General recovery
actions are authorized under the Endangered Species Act. The recovery
objective stated in the Cui-ui Recovery Plan, completed by the Fish and
Wildlife Service in 1992, is to improve the status of cui-ui so that
the species has at least a 0.95 probability of persisting for 200
years. This objective necessitates securing spawning habitat in the
lower Truckee River and rearing habitat in Pyramid Lake as well as an
avenue of passage for spawners and larvae.
3. The Secretary is considering modifications to the Newlands
Irrigation Project Operating Criteria and Procedures (OCAP). The OCAP
were most recently modified in 1988 and in the intervening years,
several factors which affect water management in the Project have
changed. For example, the number of water-righted, irrigated acres in
the Project has not expanded to meet predicted levels. Also, formulas
used to calculate allowable diversions of Truckee River water to the
Project need to be revised to reflect current and expected conditions
within the Project. Short-term OCAP adjustments within the framework of
the existing criteria and procedures are currently in preparation to
account for changes in water demand assumptions and operational
experience gained since 1988. The Department of the Interior will
examine more fundamental potential revisions to OCAP in order to
optimize the use of Project water to meet competing uses and legal
responsibilities, including serving agricultural water rights, meeting
trust responsibilities to the Pyramid Lake Paiute and Fallon Paiute-
Shoshone Tribes, conserving and recovering endangered fish species,
restoring and protecting Lahontan Valley wetlands, and meeting other
water demands.
4. In October 1996, the United States signed the Truckee River
Water Quality Settlement Agreement with the cities of Reno and Sparks,
Washoe County, the State of Nevada, and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.
The agreement resolves litigation over approval and operation of the
Reno-Sparks water treatment facility brought by the Pyramid Lake Paiute
Tribe against Reno, Sparks, the State of Nevada, and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. Under terms of the agreement, the
Department of the Interior will allocate $12 million over five years to
acquire Truckee River water rights and dedicate them to a joint program
to manage an equal quantity of water rights to be acquired by Reno,
Sparks, and Washoe County for the purpose of improving water quality
and instream flows in the Truckee River from Reno to Pyramid Lake. In
addition, the Department of the Interior agreed to aid Reno, Sparks,
and Washoe County in meeting water quality goals by storing acquired
water in federal Truckee River reservoirs and timing releases to
improve instream flows during normally dry periods of the summer and
early fall.
Other Actions To Be Considered
In addition, the EIS will consider an extensive list of proposed
and active projects that may have cumulative impacts within the scope
of this document. Two actions authorized under P.L. 101-618 are being
reviewed in separate EISs. These are: (1) Modification of reservoir and
river operations on the Truckee River as described in the Truckee River
Operating Agreement draft EIS currently being prepared by the Bureau of
Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and expected
to be released in the spring of 1997; and (2) acquisition of water for
development of wetlands at the terminus of the Carson River as
described in the Lahontan Valley Wetlands Water Rights Acquisition
Program final EIS released by the FWS in September 1996.
Additional projects and actions to be considered include the new
Operation and Maintenance contract for the Newlands Irrigation Project;
possible agreement between the Department of the Interior and the
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe regarding water and water-rights
management, acquisition, and protection; efforts of the Fish and
Wildlife Service to acquire water from the Upper Carson River;
implementation of the agreement with the Department of the Navy to
conserve and transfer water from the Fallon Naval Air Station to the
Fish and Wildlife Service; and possible water storage agreements for
Lahontan Reservoir. The EIS proposed in this Notice will, as part of
its analysis, consolidate and review the effects of these and other
water management actions identified during the scoping process.
This notice is being published, and the environmental review of
this project will be completed, in accordance with Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (40 CFR 1508.22).
Tentative Schedule
Estimated dates for completion of activities for an environmental
impact statement evaluating the potential impacts of water resources
management in the Truckee and Carson Rivers program are:
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Milestone Date
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Public Scoping Period..................... April 1997.
Identification of Alternatives............ May 1997.
Draft EIS Published....................... December 1997.
Public Hearings on DEIS................... January 1998.
Final EIS filed with EPA.................. June 1998.
Implementation of Decisions............... August 1998.
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Dated: March 7, 1997.
Patricia J. Beneke,
Assistant Secretary--Water and Science.
[FR Doc. 97-6471 Filed 3-13-97; 8:45 am]
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