Odessa Subarea Special Study; Adams, Franklin, Grant, Lincoln and Walla Walla Counties, WA, 49487-49489 [E8-19376]
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 163 / Thursday, August 21, 2008 / Notices
National Park Service
Notice of Meetings for the National
Park Service (NPS) Subsistence
Resource Commission (SRC) Program
Within the Alaska Region
National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of meetings for the
National Park Service (NPS) Subsistence
Resource Commission (SRC) program
within the Alaska Region.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The NPS announces the SRC
meeting schedules for the following
areas: Aniakchak National Monument,
Cape Krusenstern National Monument,
Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark
National Park, and Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park. The purpose of each
meeting is to develop and continue
work on NPS subsistence hunting
program recommendations and other
related subsistence management issues.
Each meeting is open to the public and
will have time allocated for public
testimony. The public is welcome to
present written or oral comments to the
SRC. Each meeting will be recorded and
meeting minutes will be available upon
request from each Superintendent for
public inspection approximately six
weeks after each meeting. The NPS SRC
program is authorized under Title VIII,
Section 808 of the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act, Pub. L.
96–487, to operate in accordance with
the provisions of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act.
DATES: The Aniakchak National
Monument SRC meeting will be held on
Monday, October 6, 2008, from 9 a.m. to
12 p.m., at the Katmai National Park and
Preserve headquarters conference room
in King Salmon, AK.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mary McBurney, Subsistence Manager,
telephone: (907) 235–7891, or Ralph
Moore, Superintendent, telephone: (907)
246–2120, at Aniakchak National Park
and Preserve, P.O. Box 7, King Salmon,
AK 99613.
DATES: The Cape Krusenstern National
Monument SRC and the Kobuk Valley
National Park SRC meetings will be held
on Thursday, October 9, 2008 and
Friday, October 10, 2008 from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m., at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Office in Kotzebue, AK.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken
Adkisson, Subsistence Manager,
telephone (907) 443–2522, or Willie
Goodwin, Subsistence Manager, and
George Helfrich, Superintendent,
telephone: (907) 442–3890, at Western
Arctic Parklands, P.O. Box 1029,
Kotzebue, AK 99752.
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17:48 Aug 20, 2008
Jkt 214001
The Lake Clark National Park
SRC meeting will be held on September
24, 2008, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Visitor Center in Port Alsworth, AK.
DATES:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mary McBurney, Subsistence Manager,
telephone: (907) 235–7891, or Joel Hard,
Superintendent, and Michelle
Ravenmoon, Subsistence Coordinator,
telephone: (907) 781–2218, at Lake
Clark National Park and Preserve, 1 Park
Place, Port Alsworth, AK 99653.
The Wrangell-St. Elias National
Park SRC meeting will be held on
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 and
Thursday, October 30, 2008, from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. at the Yakutat-Alaska Native
Brotherhood Hall in Yakutat, AK.
DATES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Barbara Cellarius, Subsistence Manager,
telephone: (907) 822–7236, or Meg
Jensen, Superintendent, telephone:
(907) 822–5234, at Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box
439, Copper Center, AK 99573.
SRC
meeting locations and dates may need to
be changed based on weather or local
circumstances. If meeting dates and
locations are changed notice of each
meeting will be published in local
newspapers and announced on local
radio stations prior to the meeting dates.
The meetings may end early if all
business is completed.
The agendas for each meeting include
the following:
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Call to Order (SRC Chair)
2. SRC Roll Call and Confirmation of
Quorum
3. SRC Chair and Superintendent’s
Welcome and Introductions
4. Review and Approve Agenda
5. Status of SRC Membership
6. SRC Member Reports
7. Superintendent and NPS Staff
Reports
8. Federal Subsistence Board Update
(Review Proposals, Board Actions)
9. State of Alaska Board Actions Update
10. New Business
11. Agency and Public Comments
12. SRC Work Session
13. Set Time and Place of Next SRC
Meeting
Adjournment
Victor Knox,
Deputy Regional Director.
[FR Doc. E8–19437 Filed 8–20–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312–HE–P
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49487
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Odessa Subarea Special Study;
Adams, Franklin, Grant, Lincoln and
Walla Walla Counties, WA
Bureau of Reclamation,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of
Reclamation (Reclamation) proposes to
prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the Odessa Subarea
Special Study. The Washington
Department of Ecology (Ecology) is a
joint lead with Reclamation in the
preparation of this Environmental
Impact Statement which will also be
used to comply with requirements of the
Washington State Environmental Policy
Act (SEPA).
The purpose of Reclamation’s Odessa
Subarea Special Study is to evaluate
alternatives that would deliver project
water from the Columbia Basin Project
(CBP) to lands currently using
groundwater for irrigation in the Odessa
Ground Water Management Subarea.
The Study is needed to fulfill the
obligation Reclamation made in a
Memorandum of Agreement between
the State of Washington (State) and the
Project irrigation districts in December
2004, which included cooperating on a
study to explore opportunities for
delivery of Columbia Basin Project
water to existing groundwater-irrigated
lands within the Odessa Subarea.
Action is needed to avoid significant
economic loss, in the near term, to the
region’s agricultural sector because of
resource conditions associated with
continued decline of the aquifers in the
Odessa Subarea. Groundwater in the
Odessa Subarea is currently being
depleted to such an extent that water
must be pumped from great depths.
Pumping depths are 750 feet in some
areas, and well depths are as great as
2,100–2,400 feet. Well drilling costs and
pumping water from this depth have
resulted in expensive power costs and
water quality concerns such as high
water temperatures and high sodium
concentrations.
The ability of farmers to irrigate their
crops is at risk. Domestic, commercial,
municipal, and industrial uses and
water quality are also affected. Those
irrigating with wells of lesser depth live
with uncertainty about future well
production.
Washington State University
conducted a regional economic impact
E:\FR\FM\21AUN1.SGM
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49488
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 163 / Thursday, August 21, 2008 / Notices
study assessing the effects of lost potato
production and processing in Adams,
Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln counties
from continued aquifer decline.
Assuming that all potato production and
processing is lost from the region, the
analysis estimated the regional
economic impact would be a loss of
about $630 million dollars annually in
regional sales, a loss of 3,600 jobs, and
a loss of $211 million in regional
income (Bhattacharjee and Holland
2005).
Scoping meetings will be held on
September 10, 2008 and Sept 11, 2008,
from 7 to 9 p.m., at the locations
indicated under the ADDRESSES section.
Written comments will be accepted
through September 19, 2008, for
inclusion in the scoping summary
document. Requests for sign language
interpretation for the hearing impaired
or other special assistance needs should
be submitted to Ellen Berggren as
indicated under the FOR FUTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section by August
27, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Meetings will be held at:
• Town of Coulee Dam Town Hall,
300 Lincoln Avenue, Coulee Dam, WA
99116 (September 10, 2008);
• The Advanced Technologies
Education Center (ATEC), Big Bend
Community College, 7611 Bolling
Street, NE., Moses Lake, WA 98837
(September 11, 2008).
The meeting facilities are physically
accessible to people with disabilities.
Comments and requests to be added
to the mailing list may be submitted to
Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific
Northwest Regional Office, Attention:
Ellen Berggren, Activity Manager, 1150
N. Curtis Rd., Suite 100, Boise, ID
83706. Comments may also be
submitted electronically to
StudyManager@pn.usbr.gov.
DATES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Contact Ellen Berggren, Activity
Manager, Telephone (208) 378–5090.
TTY users in Washington may dial the
following numbers to obtain a toll free
TTY relay: 800–833–6384(V); for the
hearing impaired 800–833–6388(T); for
the deaf.
Information on this project can also be
found at: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/
programs/ucao_misc/odessa/
index.html.
The
Columbia Basin Project is a
multipurpose water development
project in the central part of the State of
Washington (State). The Grand Coulee
Dam Project was authorized for
construction by the Act of August 30,
1935, and reauthorized and renamed in
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:48 Aug 20, 2008
Jkt 214001
the Columbia Basin Project Act of
March 10, 1943. Congress authorized
the CBP to irrigate a total of 1,029,000
acres; about 671,000 acres are currently
irrigated.
Section 9(a) of the Reclamation
Project Act of 1939 gave authority to the
Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to
approve a finding of feasibility and
thereby authorize construction of a
project upon submitting a report to the
President and the Congress. The
Secretary approved a plan of
development for the Columbia Basin
Project, known as House Document No.
172 in 1945. House Document No. 172
anticipated that development of the
Columbia Basin Project would occur in
phases over a 70-year period.
Reclamation is authorized to implement
additional development phases as long
as the Secretary finds it to be
economically justified and financially
feasible. The Odessa Subarea Special
Study is conducted under the authority
of the Columbia Basin Project Act of
1943, as amended, and the Reclamation
Act of 1939.
In response to the public’s concern
about the declining aquifer and
associated economic and other effects,
Congress has funded Reclamation to
investigate this problem. The State of
Washington has partnered with
Reclamation by providing funding and
collaborating on various technical
studies.
The State, Reclamation, and irrigation
districts signed the Columbia River
Initiative Memorandum of
Understanding (CRI MOU) in December
2004, to promote a cooperative process
for implementing activities to improve
Columbia River water management and
water management within the Columbia
Basin Project. The Odessa Subarea
Special Study implements Section 15 of
the CRI MOU, which states in part that,
‘‘The parties will cooperate to explore
opportunities for delivery of water to
additional existing agricultural lands
within the Odessa Subarea.’’ In
February 2006, the State legislature
passed the Columbia River Water
Resource Management Act (HB 2860)
that directs Ecology to aggressively
pursue development of water benefiting
both instream and out-of-stream uses
through storage, conservation, and
voluntary regional water management
agreements. Among the activities
identified in the legislation, Ecology is
directed to focus on ‘‘development of
alternatives to ground water for
agricultural users in the Odessa subarea
aquifer.’’ Ecology is participating in the
Odessa Subarea Special Study to
provide support for state and local
agency permit decisions that will likely
PO 00000
Frm 00083
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
be necessary to implement a water
delivery project.
Reclamation is developing
alternatives to replace the current and
increasingly unreliable groundwater
supplies used for irrigation with a
surface supply as part of continued
phased development of the Columbia
Basin Project. Reclamation can only
deliver water to lands authorized to
receive Columbia Basin Project water.
An estimated 170,000 acres within the
Odessa Subarea are now being irrigated
with groundwater with an estimated
140,000 of these acres eligible to receive
Project surface water. Reclamation is
considering alternatives that would
provide a replacement surface water
supply for up to 140,000 groundwaterirrigated acres within the Study area.
Alternatives include two main
components.
• Water conveyance; this component
consists of infrastructure such as canals,
pumping plants and laterals to deliver
surface water to groundwater-irrigated
lands. These could include building a
new East High canal system and
reregulating reservoir in Black Rock
Coulee north of Interstate 90 and/or
expanding the capacity of the existing
East Low Canal system and building a
2.3 mile extension.
• Water supply; this component
consists of storage facilities that could
store the replacement surface water
supply for later use in the Odessa
Subarea. These involve modifying
operations at Banks Lake and/or
constructing a new reservoir in Rocky
Coulee.
Alternatives would involve various
combinations and configurations of
these water conveyance and water
supply components.
Public Involvement
Reclamation will conduct public
scoping meetings to solicit comments on
the alternatives developed to address
the concerns in the Odessa Subarea and
to identify potential issues and impacts
associated with those alternatives.
Reclamation will summarize comments
received during the scoping meetings
and from letters of comment received
during the scoping period, identified
under the DATES section, into a scoping
summary document that will be made
available to those who have provided
comments. It will also be available to
others upon request.
If you wish to comment, you may
mail us your comments as indicated
under the ADDRESSES section. Our
practice is to make comments, including
names, home addresses, home phone
numbers, and e-mail addresses of
respondents, available for public
E:\FR\FM\21AUN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 163 / Thursday, August 21, 2008 / Notices
review. Individual respondents may
request that we withhold their names
and/or home addresses, etc., but if you
wish us to consider withholding this
information you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your
comments. In addition, you must
present a rationale for withholding this
information. This rationale must
demonstrate that disclosure would
constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of privacy. Unsupported
assertions will not meet this burden. In
the absence of exceptional,
documentable circumstances, this
information will be released. We will
always make submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
J. William McDonald,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. E8–19376 Filed 8–20–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
Background
[Investigation Nos. 701–TA–457 and 731–
TA–1153 (Preliminary)]
Certain Tow-Behind Lawn Groomers
and Parts Thereof From China
Determinations
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
On the basis of the record1 developed
in the subject investigations, the United
States International Trade Commission
(Commission) determines, pursuant to
sections 705(b) and 735(b) of the Tariff
Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671d(a) and
1673d(a)) (the Act), that there is a
reasonable indication that an industry
in the United States is materially
injured by reason of imports from China
of certain tow-behind lawn groomers
and parts thereof (‘‘TBLG’’), provided
for in statistical reporting numbers
8432.40.0000, 8432.80.0000,
8432.90.0030, 8432.90.0080,
8479.89.9897, 8479.90.9496, and
9603.50.0000 of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States, that are
alleged to be sold in the United States
at less than fair value (LTFV) and
alleged to be subsidized by the
Government of China.
Commencement of Final Phase
Investigations
Pursuant to section 207.18 of the
Commission’s rules, the Commission
1 The record is defined in sec. 207.2(f) of the
Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (19
CFR 207.2(f)).
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:48 Aug 20, 2008
Jkt 214001
also gives notice of the commencement
of the final phase of its investigations.
The Commission will issue a final phase
notice of scheduling, which will be
published in the Federal Register as
provided in section 207.21 of the
Commission’s rules, upon notice from
the Department of Commerce
(Commerce) of affirmative preliminary
determinations in the investigations
under sections 703(b) and 733(b) of the
Act, or, if the preliminary
determinations are negative, upon
notice of affirmative final
determinations in those investigations
under section 705(a) and 735(a) of the
Act. Parties that filed entries of
appearance in the preliminary phase of
the investigations need not enter a
separate appearance for the final phase
of the investigations. Industrial users,
and, if the merchandise under
investigation is sold at the retail level,
representative consumer organizations
have the right to appear as parties in
Commission antidumping and
countervailing duty investigations. The
Secretary will prepare a public service
list containing the names and addresses
of all persons, or their representatives,
who are parties to the investigations.
On June 24, 2008, a petition was filed
with the Commission and Commerce by
Agri–Fab, Inc., Sullivan, IL, alleging that
an industry in the United States is
materially injured by reason of
subsidized imports of TBLGs from
China and LTFV sales of TBLG imports
from China. Accordingly, effective June
24, 2008, the Commission instituted
countervailing duty investigation No.
701–TA–457 (Preliminary) and
antidumping investigation No. 731–TA–
1153 (Preliminary).
Notice of the institution of the
Commission’s investigations and of a
public conference to be held in
connection therewith was given by
posting copies of the notice in the Office
of the Secretary, U.S. International
Trade Commission, Washington, DC,
and by publishing the notice in the
Federal Register of July 1, 2008 (72 FR
37494). The conference was held in
Washington, DC, on July 15, 2008, and
all persons who requested the
opportunity were permitted to appear in
person or by counsel.
The Commission transmitted its
determinations in these investigations to
the Secretary of Commerce on August 8,
2008. The views of the Commission are
contained in USITC Publication 4028
(August 2008), entitled Certain TowBehind Lawn Groomers and Parts
Thereof from China Investigation Nos.
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49489
701–TA–457 and 731–TA–1153
(Preliminary).
By order of the Commission.
Issued: August 18, 2008.
William R. Bishop,
Acting Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. E8–19400 Filed 8–20–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020–02–P
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree
Under the Clean Air Act
Notice is hereby given that on August
13, 2008, a proposed Consent Decree
(the ‘‘Decree’’) in United States v. Allied
Waste Services of Massachusetts, LLC,
Civil Action No. 08–11382, was lodged
with the United States District Court for
the District of New Jersey.
In a complaint, filed simultaneously
with the Decree, the United States
alleges that Allied Waste Services of
Massachusetts, LLC (‘‘Allied Waste’’)
violated the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C.
7401 et seq., at four of its waste-hauling
depots in western Massachusetts by
allowing some of its diesel wastehauling trucks to idle in excess of five
minutes, as prescribed by 30 CMR
7.11(b), a regulation included in the
Massachusetts State Implementation
Plan.
Pursuant to the Decree, Allied will
implement a number of compliance
measures, including: Requiring a
supervisor to walk-through the four
depots where violations were found
(‘‘subject facilities’’) twice a day to
identify and rectify illegal idling; the
implementation of a driver training
program that highlights Allied Waste’s
anti-idling policy; the inclusion of the
anti-idling policy as part of the subject
facilities’ daily debriefing checklist to be
reviewed with each driver of a wastehauling truck at the end of their route;
the posting of ‘‘No Idling’’ signs at the
subject facilities; and the certification by
Allied Waste that all trucks equipped
with automatic engine shut-offs are
working and set to turnoff the engine at
the expiration of five minutes of idling.
If Allied Waste fails to conduct the
aforementioned compliance measures,
or is in future violation of 30 CMR
7.11(b), it will be subject to stipulated
penalties under the terms of the Decree.
Allied Waste will pay a $195,000 civil
monetary penalty to the United States
pursuant to the Decree.
The Department of Justice will
receive, for a period of thirty (30) days
from the date of this publication,
comments relating to the Decree.
Comments should be addressed to the
E:\FR\FM\21AUN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 163 (Thursday, August 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49487-49489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-19376]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Odessa Subarea Special Study; Adams, Franklin, Grant, Lincoln and
Walla Walla Counties, WA
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation)
proposes to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the
Odessa Subarea Special Study. The Washington Department of Ecology
(Ecology) is a joint lead with Reclamation in the preparation of this
Environmental Impact Statement which will also be used to comply with
requirements of the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
The purpose of Reclamation's Odessa Subarea Special Study is to
evaluate alternatives that would deliver project water from the
Columbia Basin Project (CBP) to lands currently using groundwater for
irrigation in the Odessa Ground Water Management Subarea. The Study is
needed to fulfill the obligation Reclamation made in a Memorandum of
Agreement between the State of Washington (State) and the Project
irrigation districts in December 2004, which included cooperating on a
study to explore opportunities for delivery of Columbia Basin Project
water to existing groundwater-irrigated lands within the Odessa
Subarea.
Action is needed to avoid significant economic loss, in the near
term, to the region's agricultural sector because of resource
conditions associated with continued decline of the aquifers in the
Odessa Subarea. Groundwater in the Odessa Subarea is currently being
depleted to such an extent that water must be pumped from great depths.
Pumping depths are 750 feet in some areas, and well depths are as great
as 2,100-2,400 feet. Well drilling costs and pumping water from this
depth have resulted in expensive power costs and water quality concerns
such as high water temperatures and high sodium concentrations.
The ability of farmers to irrigate their crops is at risk.
Domestic, commercial, municipal, and industrial uses and water quality
are also affected. Those irrigating with wells of lesser depth live
with uncertainty about future well production.
Washington State University conducted a regional economic impact
[[Page 49488]]
study assessing the effects of lost potato production and processing in
Adams, Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln counties from continued aquifer
decline. Assuming that all potato production and processing is lost
from the region, the analysis estimated the regional economic impact
would be a loss of about $630 million dollars annually in regional
sales, a loss of 3,600 jobs, and a loss of $211 million in regional
income (Bhattacharjee and Holland 2005).
DATES: Scoping meetings will be held on September 10, 2008 and Sept 11,
2008, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the locations indicated under the ADDRESSES
section. Written comments will be accepted through September 19, 2008,
for inclusion in the scoping summary document. Requests for sign
language interpretation for the hearing impaired or other special
assistance needs should be submitted to Ellen Berggren as indicated
under the FOR FUTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section by August 27, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Meetings will be held at:
Town of Coulee Dam Town Hall, 300 Lincoln Avenue, Coulee
Dam, WA 99116 (September 10, 2008);
The Advanced Technologies Education Center (ATEC), Big
Bend Community College, 7611 Bolling Street, NE., Moses Lake, WA 98837
(September 11, 2008).
The meeting facilities are physically accessible to people with
disabilities.
Comments and requests to be added to the mailing list may be
submitted to Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Regional Office,
Attention: Ellen Berggren, Activity Manager, 1150 N. Curtis Rd., Suite
100, Boise, ID 83706. Comments may also be submitted electronically to
StudyManager@pn.usbr.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Ellen Berggren, Activity
Manager, Telephone (208) 378-5090. TTY users in Washington may dial the
following numbers to obtain a toll free TTY relay: 800-833-6384(V); for
the hearing impaired 800-833-6388(T); for the deaf.
Information on this project can also be found at: https://
www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ucao_misc/odessa/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Columbia Basin Project is a multipurpose
water development project in the central part of the State of
Washington (State). The Grand Coulee Dam Project was authorized for
construction by the Act of August 30, 1935, and reauthorized and
renamed in the Columbia Basin Project Act of March 10, 1943. Congress
authorized the CBP to irrigate a total of 1,029,000 acres; about
671,000 acres are currently irrigated.
Section 9(a) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 gave authority
to the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to approve a finding of
feasibility and thereby authorize construction of a project upon
submitting a report to the President and the Congress. The Secretary
approved a plan of development for the Columbia Basin Project, known as
House Document No. 172 in 1945. House Document No. 172 anticipated that
development of the Columbia Basin Project would occur in phases over a
70-year period. Reclamation is authorized to implement additional
development phases as long as the Secretary finds it to be economically
justified and financially feasible. The Odessa Subarea Special Study is
conducted under the authority of the Columbia Basin Project Act of
1943, as amended, and the Reclamation Act of 1939.
In response to the public's concern about the declining aquifer and
associated economic and other effects, Congress has funded Reclamation
to investigate this problem. The State of Washington has partnered with
Reclamation by providing funding and collaborating on various technical
studies.
The State, Reclamation, and irrigation districts signed the
Columbia River Initiative Memorandum of Understanding (CRI MOU) in
December 2004, to promote a cooperative process for implementing
activities to improve Columbia River water management and water
management within the Columbia Basin Project. The Odessa Subarea
Special Study implements Section 15 of the CRI MOU, which states in
part that, ``The parties will cooperate to explore opportunities for
delivery of water to additional existing agricultural lands within the
Odessa Subarea.'' In February 2006, the State legislature passed the
Columbia River Water Resource Management Act (HB 2860) that directs
Ecology to aggressively pursue development of water benefiting both
instream and out-of-stream uses through storage, conservation, and
voluntary regional water management agreements. Among the activities
identified in the legislation, Ecology is directed to focus on
``development of alternatives to ground water for agricultural users in
the Odessa subarea aquifer.'' Ecology is participating in the Odessa
Subarea Special Study to provide support for state and local agency
permit decisions that will likely be necessary to implement a water
delivery project.
Reclamation is developing alternatives to replace the current and
increasingly unreliable groundwater supplies used for irrigation with a
surface supply as part of continued phased development of the Columbia
Basin Project. Reclamation can only deliver water to lands authorized
to receive Columbia Basin Project water. An estimated 170,000 acres
within the Odessa Subarea are now being irrigated with groundwater with
an estimated 140,000 of these acres eligible to receive Project surface
water. Reclamation is considering alternatives that would provide a
replacement surface water supply for up to 140,000 groundwater-
irrigated acres within the Study area. Alternatives include two main
components.
Water conveyance; this component consists of
infrastructure such as canals, pumping plants and laterals to deliver
surface water to groundwater-irrigated lands. These could include
building a new East High canal system and reregulating reservoir in
Black Rock Coulee north of Interstate 90 and/or expanding the capacity
of the existing East Low Canal system and building a 2.3 mile
extension.
Water supply; this component consists of storage
facilities that could store the replacement surface water supply for
later use in the Odessa Subarea. These involve modifying operations at
Banks Lake and/or constructing a new reservoir in Rocky Coulee.
Alternatives would involve various combinations and configurations
of these water conveyance and water supply components.
Public Involvement
Reclamation will conduct public scoping meetings to solicit
comments on the alternatives developed to address the concerns in the
Odessa Subarea and to identify potential issues and impacts associated
with those alternatives. Reclamation will summarize comments received
during the scoping meetings and from letters of comment received during
the scoping period, identified under the DATES section, into a scoping
summary document that will be made available to those who have provided
comments. It will also be available to others upon request.
If you wish to comment, you may mail us your comments as indicated
under the ADDRESSES section. Our practice is to make comments,
including names, home addresses, home phone numbers, and e-mail
addresses of respondents, available for public
[[Page 49489]]
review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their names
and/or home addresses, etc., but if you wish us to consider withholding
this information you must state this prominently at the beginning of
your comments. In addition, you must present a rationale for
withholding this information. This rationale must demonstrate that
disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of
exceptional, documentable circumstances, this information will be
released. We will always make submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
J. William McDonald,
Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. E8-19376 Filed 8-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P
