Odessa Subarea Special Study; Adams, Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln Counties, Washington INT-DES 10-54, 65503-65505 [2010-26865]
Download as PDF
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 205 / Monday, October 25, 2010 / Notices
Brown, Carver, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Nobles,
Redwood, Sibley, and Yellow Medicine
Counties for Public Assistance.
The following Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance Numbers (CFDA) are to be used
for reporting and drawing funds: 97.030,
Community Disaster Loans; 97.031, Cora
Brown Fund; 97.032, Crisis Counseling;
97.033, Disaster Legal Services; 97.034,
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA);
97.046, Fire Management Assistance Grant;
97.048, Disaster Housing Assistance to
Individuals and Households In Presidentially
Declared Disaster Areas; 97.049,
Presidentially Declared Disaster Assistance—
Disaster Housing Operations for Individuals
and Households; 97.050 Presidentially
Declared Disaster Assistance to Individuals
and Households—Other Needs; 97.036,
Disaster Grants—Public Assistance
(Presidentially Declared Disasters); 97.039,
Hazard Mitigation Grant.
Brown Fund; 97.032, Crisis Counseling;
97.033, Disaster Legal Services; 97.034,
Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA);
97.046, Fire Management Assistance Grant;
97.048, Disaster Housing Assistance to
Individuals and Households in Presidentially
Declared Disaster Areas; 97.049,
Presidentially Declared Disaster Assistance—
Disaster Housing Operations for Individuals
and Households; 97.050 Presidentially
Declared Disaster Assistance to Individuals
and Households—Other Needs; 97.036,
Disaster Grants—Public Assistance
(Presidentially Declared Disasters); 97.039,
Hazard Mitigation Grant.)
W. Craig Fugate,
Administrator, Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
[FR Doc. 2010–26844 Filed 10–22–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111–23–P
65503
correction does not change the
application deadline date which
remains November 18, 2010.
For
questions concerning this technical
correction, please contact HUD’s
Homeless Resource Exchange (HRE)
Help Desk at https://www.hudhre.info/
helpdesk. Individuals who are hearing
or speech-impaired should use the
Information Relay Service at 1–800–
877–8339 (these are toll-free numbers).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dated: October 20, 2010.
Barbara S. Dorf,
Director, Departmental Grants Management
and Oversight Office of the Chief of the
Human Capital Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010–27015 Filed 10–22–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
W. Craig Fugate,
Administrator, Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[FR Doc. 2010–26845 Filed 10–22–10; 8:45 am]
[Docket No. FR–5415–C–17]
Bureau of Reclamation
Notice of Availability: Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) for Fiscal
Year (FY) 2010 Continuum of Care
(CoC) Homeless Assistance Program;
Technical Correction
Odessa Subarea Special Study;
Adams, Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln
Counties, Washington INT–DES 10–54
BILLING CODE 9111–23–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
Federal Emergency Management
Agency
[Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA–1942–
DR; Docket ID FEMA–2010–0002]
North Carolina; Amendment No. 1 to
Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration
Federal Emergency
Management Agency, DHS.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
This notice amends the notice
of a major disaster declaration for the
State of North Carolina (FEMA–1942–
DR), dated October 14, 2010, and related
determinations.
DATES: Effective Date: October 19, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peggy Miller, Office of Response and
Recovery, Federal Emergency
Management Agency, 500 C Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20472, (202) 646–3886.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The notice
of a major disaster declaration for the
State of North Carolina is hereby
amended to include the following areas
among those areas determined to have
been adversely affected by the event
declared a major disaster by the
President in his declaration of October
14, 2010.
emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
Brunswick, Jones, Pender, and Pitt
Counties for Individual Assistance.
(The following Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance Numbers (CFDA) are to be used
for reporting and drawing funds: 97.030,
Community Disaster Loans; 97.031, Cora
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:05 Oct 22, 2010
Jkt 223001
Office of the Chief of the
Human Capital Officer, HUD.
ACTION: Notice of technical correction.
AGENCY:
On September 20, 2010, HUD
posted on https://www.Grants.gov and
https://www.hudhre.info its Notice of
Funding Availability (NOFA) for HUD’s
FY2010 Continuum of Care Homeless
Assistance Program. Today’s Federal
Register publication announces that
HUD has posted on https://
www.Grants.gov and https://
www.hudhre.info a technical correction
that corrects Appendix A of the NOFA.
Appendix A of the NOFA, the ‘‘List of
Counties Defined as Rural for the
FY2010 Selection Criteria,’’
inadvertently omitted listing six
counties. As provided in the FY2010
CoC NOFA, counties listed on
Appendix A and otherwise meeting the
criteria described in Section III.C.2.a.(5)
of the NOFA, are eligible for
consideration for the selection priority
described in Section V.B.2 of the NOFA.
In addition, HUD determined that five
counties not meeting the definition of
rural county used in the FY2010 CoC
NOFA were inadvertently included on
the list of rural counties in Appendix A.
As a result, HUD has corrected
Appendix A.
The revised CoC NOFA along with the
corrected Appendix A can be found and
downloaded from https://www.grants.gov
and https://www.hudhre.info. This
SUMMARY:
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Bureau of Reclamation,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability and notice
of public hearing of Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS).
AGENCY:
Pursuant to section 102(2)(C)
of the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Reclamation
(Reclamation) is notifying the public
that Reclamation and the State of
Washington have prepared a Draft EIS
for the Odessa Subarea Special Study.
The Washington Department of Ecology
(Ecology) is a joint lead with
Reclamation in the preparation of this
Draft EIS, 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 to replace groundwater
supply with surface water to irrigate
existing, groundwater-irrigated acres in
the Odessa Ground Water Management
Subarea. Measurements of groundwater
levels in wells have shown a substantial
decline in much of the Odessa Subarea
since the 1980s, which are the earliest
available measurements. This has
prompted public concern about the
declining aquifers and associated
economic and other effects, which
resulted in a directive by the U.S.
Congress and the Washington State
legislature to investigate the problem.
DATES: Written or e-mailed comments
on the Draft EIS will be accepted
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\25OCN1.SGM
25OCN1
65504
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 205 / Monday, October 25, 2010 / Notices
through December 31, 2010. Public
hearings will be held in November 2010.
See the Supplementary Information
section for dates and locations of these
hearings.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the
Draft EIS may be submitted to Bureau of
Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area
Office, Attention: Charles Carnohan,
Activity Manager, 1917 Marsh Road,
Yakima, Washington 98901–2058.
Comments may also be submitted
electronically to Odessa@usbr.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Charles Carnohan, Activity Manager,
Telephone (509) 575–5848 x370.
Information on this project can also be
found at https://www.usbr.gov/pn/
programs/ucao_misc/odessa/index.
html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Dates of Public Hearings
• November 17, 2010, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.,
Coulee Dam, WA.
• November 18, 2010, 3 p.m.-7 p.m.,
Moses Lake, WA.
Locations of Public Hearings
• Town of Coulee Dam Town Hall,
300 Lincoln Avenue, Coulee Dam, WA
99116.
• Grant County Advanced
Technologies Center (ATEC) Building
1800, Big Bend Community College,
7611 Bolling Street NE., Moses Lake,
WA 98837.
Meeting facilities are accessible to
people with disabilities. People needing
special assistance to attend and/or
participate should contact Charles
Carnahan at (509) 575–5848, extension
370, or mail him at the address in the
ADDRESSES section, as soon as possible.
To allow sufficient time to process
special requests, please call no later
than one week before the public meeting
of interest.
TTY users may dial 711 to obtain a
toll free TTY relay. Spanish language
interpretation requests should be made
to Enedina Galvez at (509) 575–5848. Si
necesita interpretacion para Espanol,
por favor llame Enedina Galvez a (509)
575–5848.
emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Hearing Process Information
Requests to make oral comments at
the public hearing may be made at the
hearing. In order to ensure that all those
interested in providing oral comments
have an opportunity to do so, speakers
will be limited to 5 minutes. Comments
will be recorded by a court reporter.
Speakers will be called in the order
indicated on the sign-in list for
speaking. Speakers not present when
called will be recalled at the end of the
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:05 Oct 22, 2010
Jkt 223001
scheduled speakers. Speakers may
provide written versions of their oral
comments, or other additional written
comments, for the hearing record.
Longer comments should be
summarized at the public hearing and
submitted in writing either at the public
hearing or identified as hearing
comments and mailed within 7 days of
the hearing date to Mr. Charles
Carnohan as indicated under the
ADDRESSES section.
Background Information
The Columbia Basin Project (CBP) is
a multipurpose water development
project in the central part of the state of
Washington. The Grand Coulee Dam
Project was authorized for construction
by the Act of August 30, 1935, and
reauthorized and renamed in the CBP
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 CBP, known as
House Document No. 172 in 1945.
House Document No. 172 anticipated
that development of the CBP 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 CBP 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. Ecology 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 CBP. 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
PO 00000
Frm 00059
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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 outof-stream uses through storage,
conservation, and voluntary regional
water management agreements.
Reclamation’s Odessa Subarea Special
Study is one of several activities
identified in the legislation.
Reclamation has developed
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 CBP.
Reclamation can only deliver water to
lands authorized to receive CBP 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
CBP surface water.
Reclamation and Ecology are studying
the potential to replace groundwater
currently used for irrigation in the
Odessa Subarea Special Study Area
(Study Area) with CBP surface water.
The alternatives being considered
include the No Action Alternative as
required by NEPA and SEPA, and eight
action alternatives that address the
Purpose and Need. The eight action
alternatives fall within two categories:
Partial Replacement: This group of
delivery alternatives focuses on
enlarging the existing East Low Canal
and providing CBP surface water to
approximately 58,000 acres in the Study
Area currently irrigated with
groundwater. The acreage served would
be south of I–90. No surface water
replacement would be provided to most
of the remaining groundwater-irrigated
acres in the Study Area (north of I–90).
Full Replacement: This group of
delivery alternatives would provide CBP
surface water to most groundwaterirrigated acreage in the Study Area
(102,614 acres), both north and south of
I–90. Lands south of I–90 would be
served by enlarging the East Low Canal.
Lands north of I–90 would be served by
constructing an East High Canal system.
The eight action alternatives consist
of four partial replacement alternatives
and four full replacement alternatives.
The four alternatives within each of the
two replacement alternative categories
consist of variations in the water supply
options that would be used. Four supply
options are being considered that would
use storage from Banks Lake, Lake
Roosevelt, or a new Rocky Coulee
Reservoir, either individually or in
combination, as follows: Option A—
Banks Lake, would use storage in and
additional drawdowns from Banks Lake,
E:\FR\FM\25OCN1.SGM
25OCN1
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 205 / Monday, October 25, 2010 / Notices
exclusively; Option B—Banks Lake and
Lake Roosevelt, would use existing
storage in Banks Lake and Lake
Roosevelt, resulting in drawdowns from
both reservoirs; Option C—Banks Lake
and Rocky Coulee Reservoir, would use
existing storage in Banks Lake, plus a
new Rocky Coulee Reservoir; and
Option D—Banks Lake, Lake Roosevelt,
and Rocky Coulee Reservoir, would use
a combination of all three storage
facilities. Alternatives would involve
various combinations and
configurations of these water
conveyance and water supply
components.
The Draft EIS is available for public
inspection at the following locations:
• Bureau of Reclamation, ColumbiaCascades Area Office, 1917 Marsh Road,
Yakima, WA 98901–2058; telephone:
(509) 575–5848.
• Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific
Northwest Regional Office, 1150 North
Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, ID 83706–
1234; telephone: (208) 378–5012.
emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Libraries
• Ritzville Public Library, 302 West
Main, Ritzville, WA 99169.
• Basin City Branch, Mid-Columbia
Library, Basin City, WA 99343.
• Benton-Franklin County Regional
Law Library, Columbia Basin College, L
Building, 2600 North 10th Avenue,
Pasco, WA 99301.
• Big Bend Community College
Library, Building 1800, 7611 Bolling
Street, NE, Moses Lake, WA 98837.
• Columbia Basin College Library,
2600 North 20th Avenue, Pasco, WA
99301.
• Connell Branch, Mid-Columbia
Library, 118 North Columbia Avenue,
Connell, WA 99362.
• Coulee City Public Library, 405
West Main Street, Coulee City, WA
99115.
• Ephrata City Library, 45 Alder
Street Northwest, Ephrata, WA 98823–
2420.
• Grant County Law Library, 35 C
Street, NW, Ephrata, WA 98823.
• Kahlotus Branch, Mid-Columbia
Library, East 225 Weston, Kahlotus, WA
99335.
• Moses Lake Community Library,
418 East 5th Avenue, Moses Lake, WA
98837–1797.
• Odessa Public Library, 21 East 1st
Avenue, Odessa, WA 99159.
• Othello Branch, Mid-Columbia
Library, 101 East Main, Othello, WA
99344.
• Pasco Branch, Mid-Colombia
Library, 1320 West Hopkins, Pasco, WA
99301.
• Quincy Public Library, 108 B Street
Southwest, Quincy, WA 98848.
VerDate Mar<15>2010
16:05 Oct 22, 2010
Jkt 223001
• North Central Regional Library,
Royal City Library, 136 Camelia Street,
Royal City, WA 99357.
• Seattle Public Library, Central
Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle,
WA 98104.
• Sprague Public Library, 119 West
Second Street, Sprague, WA 99032.
• North Central Regional Library,
Warden Library, 305 South Main Street,
Warden, WA 98857.
• Washington State Library, 6880
Capitol Boulevard South, Olympia, WA
98504.
Public Disclosure Statement
If you wish to comment, you may
mail or e-mail your comments as
indicated under the ADDRESSES section.
Before including your name, address,
phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment (including your
personal identifying information) may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can request in your comment
for us to withhold your personal
identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so.
Timothy L. Personius,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Northwest
Region.
[FR Doc. 2010–26865 Filed 10–22–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R9–IA–2010–N239; 96300–1671–
0000–P5]
Endangered Species; Receipt of
Applications for Permit
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of receipt of applications
for permit.
AGENCY:
We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, invite the public to
comment on the following applications
to conduct certain activities with
endangered species. With some
exceptions, the Endangered Species Act
(ESA) prohibits activities with listed
species unless a Federal permit is issued
that allows such activities. The ESA
laws require that we invite public
comment before issuing these permits.
DATES: We must receive comments or
requests for documents or comments on
or before November 24, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Brenda Tapia, Division of
Management Authority, U.S. Fish and
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
65505
Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax
Drive, Room 212, Arlington, VA 22203;
fax (703) 358–2280; or e-mail
DMAFR@fws.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brenda Tapia, (703) 358–2104
(telephone); (703) 358–2280 (fax);
DMAFR@fws.gov (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Public Comment Procedures
A. How do I request copies of
applications or comment on submitted
applications?
Send your request for copies of
applications or comments and materials
concerning any of the applications to
the contact listed under ADDRESSES.
Please include the Federal Register
notice publication date, the PRTnumber, and the name of the applicant
in your request or submission. We will
not consider requests or comments sent
to an e-mail or address not listed under
ADDRESSES. If you provide an e-mail
address in your request for copies of
applications, we will attempt to respond
to your request electronically.
Please make your requests or
comments as specific as possible. Please
confine your comments to issues for
which we seek comments in this notice,
and explain the basis for your
comments. Include sufficient
information with your comments to
allow us to authenticate any scientific or
commercial data you include.
The comments and recommendations
that will be most useful and likely to
influence agency decisions are: (1)
Those supported by quantitative
information or studies; and (2) Those
that include citations to, and analyses
of, the applicable laws and regulations.
We will not consider or include in our
administrative record comments we
receive after the close of the comment
period (see DATES) or comments
delivered to an address other than those
listed above (see ADDRESSES).
B. May I review comments submitted by
others?
Comments, including names and
street addresses of respondents, will be
available for public review at the
address listed under ADDRESSES. The
public may review documents and other
information applicants have sent in
support of the application unless our
allowing viewing would violate the
Privacy Act or Freedom of Information
Act. Before including your address,
phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
E:\FR\FM\25OCN1.SGM
25OCN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 205 (Monday, October 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65503-65505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-26865]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Odessa Subarea Special Study; Adams, Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln
Counties, Washington INT-DES 10-54
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability and notice of public hearing of Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is notifying
the public that Reclamation and the State of Washington have prepared a
Draft EIS for the Odessa Subarea Special Study. The Washington
Department of Ecology (Ecology) is a joint lead with Reclamation in the
preparation of this Draft EIS, 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 to replace groundwater supply with surface water
to irrigate existing, groundwater-irrigated acres in the Odessa Ground
Water Management Subarea. Measurements of groundwater levels in wells
have shown a substantial decline in much of the Odessa Subarea since
the 1980s, which are the earliest available measurements. This has
prompted public concern about the declining aquifers and associated
economic and other effects, which resulted in a directive by the U.S.
Congress and the Washington State legislature to investigate the
problem.
DATES: Written or e-mailed comments on the Draft EIS will be accepted
[[Page 65504]]
through December 31, 2010. Public hearings will be held in November
2010. See the Supplementary Information section for dates and locations
of these hearings.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Draft EIS may be submitted to Bureau
of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area Office, Attention: Charles
Carnohan, Activity Manager, 1917 Marsh Road, Yakima, Washington 98901-
2058. Comments may also be submitted electronically to Odessa@usbr.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Carnohan, Activity Manager,
Telephone (509) 575-5848 x370. Information on this project can also be
found at https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/ucao_misc/odessa/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Dates of Public Hearings
November 17, 2010, 3 p.m.-7 p.m., Coulee Dam, WA.
November 18, 2010, 3 p.m.-7 p.m., Moses Lake, WA.
Locations of Public Hearings
Town of Coulee Dam Town Hall, 300 Lincoln Avenue, Coulee
Dam, WA 99116.
Grant County Advanced Technologies Center (ATEC) Building
1800, Big Bend Community College, 7611 Bolling Street NE., Moses Lake,
WA 98837.
Meeting facilities are accessible to people with disabilities.
People needing special assistance to attend and/or participate should
contact Charles Carnahan at (509) 575-5848, extension 370, or mail him
at the address in the Addresses section, as soon as possible. To allow
sufficient time to process special requests, please call no later than
one week before the public meeting of interest.
TTY users may dial 711 to obtain a toll free TTY relay. Spanish
language interpretation requests should be made to Enedina Galvez at
(509) 575-5848. Si necesita interpretacion para Espanol, por favor
llame Enedina Galvez a (509) 575-5848.
Hearing Process Information
Requests to make oral comments at the public hearing may be made at
the hearing. In order to ensure that all those interested in providing
oral comments have an opportunity to do so, speakers will be limited to
5 minutes. Comments will be recorded by a court reporter. Speakers will
be called in the order indicated on the sign-in list for speaking.
Speakers not present when called will be recalled at the end of the
scheduled speakers. Speakers may provide written versions of their oral
comments, or other additional written comments, for the hearing record.
Longer comments should be summarized at the public hearing and
submitted in writing either at the public hearing or identified as
hearing comments and mailed within 7 days of the hearing date to Mr.
Charles Carnohan as indicated under the ADDRESSES section.
Background Information
The Columbia Basin Project (CBP) is a multipurpose water
development project in the central part of the state of Washington. The
Grand Coulee Dam Project was authorized for construction by the Act of
August 30, 1935, and reauthorized and renamed in the CBP 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 CBP, known as House Document No.
172 in 1945. House Document No. 172 anticipated that development of the
CBP 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 CBP 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. Ecology 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 CBP. 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. Reclamation's Odessa Subarea Special Study is
one of several activities identified in the legislation.
Reclamation has developed 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 CBP.
Reclamation can only deliver water to lands authorized to receive CBP
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 CBP surface water.
Reclamation and Ecology are studying the potential to replace
groundwater currently used for irrigation in the Odessa Subarea Special
Study Area (Study Area) with CBP surface water. The alternatives being
considered include the No Action Alternative as required by NEPA and
SEPA, and eight action alternatives that address the Purpose and Need.
The eight action alternatives fall within two categories:
Partial Replacement: This group of delivery alternatives focuses on
enlarging the existing East Low Canal and providing CBP surface water
to approximately 58,000 acres in the Study Area currently irrigated
with groundwater. The acreage served would be south of I-90. No surface
water replacement would be provided to most of the remaining
groundwater-irrigated acres in the Study Area (north of I-90).
Full Replacement: This group of delivery alternatives would provide
CBP surface water to most groundwater-irrigated acreage in the Study
Area (102,614 acres), both north and south of I-90. Lands south of I-90
would be served by enlarging the East Low Canal. Lands north of I-90
would be served by constructing an East High Canal system.
The eight action alternatives consist of four partial replacement
alternatives and four full replacement alternatives. The four
alternatives within each of the two replacement alternative categories
consist of variations in the water supply options that would be used.
Four supply options are being considered that would use storage from
Banks Lake, Lake Roosevelt, or a new Rocky Coulee Reservoir, either
individually or in combination, as follows: Option A-- Banks Lake,
would use storage in and additional drawdowns from Banks Lake,
[[Page 65505]]
exclusively; Option B--Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt, would use
existing storage in Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt, resulting in
drawdowns from both reservoirs; Option C--Banks Lake and Rocky Coulee
Reservoir, would use existing storage in Banks Lake, plus a new Rocky
Coulee Reservoir; and Option D--Banks Lake, Lake Roosevelt, and Rocky
Coulee Reservoir, would use a combination of all three storage
facilities. Alternatives would involve various combinations and
configurations of these water conveyance and water supply components.
The Draft EIS is available for public inspection at the following
locations:
Bureau of Reclamation, Columbia-Cascades Area Office, 1917
Marsh Road, Yakima, WA 98901-2058; telephone: (509) 575-5848.
Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Regional Office,
1150 North Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, ID 83706-1234; telephone:
(208) 378-5012.
Libraries
Ritzville Public Library, 302 West Main, Ritzville, WA
99169.
Basin City Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, Basin City, WA
99343.
Benton-Franklin County Regional Law Library, Columbia
Basin College, L Building, 2600 North 10th Avenue, Pasco, WA 99301.
Big Bend Community College Library, Building 1800, 7611
Bolling Street, NE, Moses Lake, WA 98837.
Columbia Basin College Library, 2600 North 20th Avenue,
Pasco, WA 99301.
Connell Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, 118 North Columbia
Avenue, Connell, WA 99362.
Coulee City Public Library, 405 West Main Street, Coulee
City, WA 99115.
Ephrata City Library, 45 Alder Street Northwest, Ephrata,
WA 98823-2420.
Grant County Law Library, 35 C Street, NW, Ephrata, WA
98823.
Kahlotus Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, East 225 Weston,
Kahlotus, WA 99335.
Moses Lake Community Library, 418 East 5th Avenue, Moses
Lake, WA 98837-1797.
Odessa Public Library, 21 East 1st Avenue, Odessa, WA
99159.
Othello Branch, Mid-Columbia Library, 101 East Main,
Othello, WA 99344.
Pasco Branch, Mid-Colombia Library, 1320 West Hopkins,
Pasco, WA 99301.
Quincy Public Library, 108 B Street Southwest, Quincy, WA
98848.
North Central Regional Library, Royal City Library, 136
Camelia Street, Royal City, WA 99357.
Seattle Public Library, Central Library, 1000 Fourth
Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104.
Sprague Public Library, 119 West Second Street, Sprague,
WA 99032.
North Central Regional Library, Warden Library, 305 South
Main Street, Warden, WA 98857.
Washington State Library, 6880 Capitol Boulevard South,
Olympia, WA 98504.
Public Disclosure Statement
If you wish to comment, you may mail or e-mail your comments as
indicated under the ADDRESSES section. Before including your name,
address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire
comment (including your personal identifying information) may be made
publicly available at any time. While you can request in your comment
for us to withhold your personal identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Timothy L. Personius,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2010-26865 Filed 10-22-10; 8:45 am]
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