Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Public Scoping on the Adoption of a Long-Term Experimental and Management Plan for the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam, 39435-39436 [2011-16926]
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 129 / Wednesday, July 6, 2011 / Notices
should be 4-wheel drive and have
heavy-duty tires due to the terrain. To
sign on for the tour, contact Sherry Foot,
Special Programs Coordinator, (801)
539–4195, no later than close of
business July 25, 201l.
On August 5, a business meeting will
be held to discuss the ecological, social,
and economic values that can be created
by the proposed grazing strategy
(follow-up to the field tour); RAC voting
in support of the Rich County Project
subgroup report; RAC subgroup report
on the draft BLM Utah Instruction
Memorandum on the Statewide Travel
Management Planning Policy; Air
Quality status update; a conference call
with BLM’s Director Abbey on the
RAC’s involvement with the America’s
Great Outdoors Initiative; and, Grazing/
Range monitoring guidelines and
protocol. The conference call with
Director Abbey will take place from 1–
1:45 p.m. (Mountain Time). A half-hour
public comment period, where the
public may address the Council, is
scheduled for August 5, from 2:45–3:15
p.m. Written comments may be sent to
the Bureau of Land Management
addressed listed above.
All meetings are open to the public;
however, transportation, lodging, and
meals are the responsibility of the
participating public.
Dated: June 29, 2011.
.
Juan Palma,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2011–16831 Filed 7–5–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–DQ–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
National Park Service
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement and
Conduct Public Scoping on the
Adoption of a Long-Term Experimental
and Management Plan for the
Operation of Glen Canyon Dam
Bureau of Reclamation and
National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
AGENCY:
On December 10, 2009,
Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) Ken
Salazar announced that the
development of a Long-Term
Experimental and Management Plan
(LTEMP) for Glen Canyon Dam was
needed. The Secretary emphasized the
inclusion of stakeholders, particularly
those in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive
Management Program (GCDAMP), in the
sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:17 Jul 05, 2011
Jkt 223001
development of the LTEMP. The
Department of the Interior (Department),
through the Bureau of Reclamation
(Reclamation) and the National Park
Service (NPS), will prepare a draft
environmental impact statement (EIS)
and conduct public scoping for the
adoption of a LTEMP for the operation
of Glen Canyon Dam. The Department’s
decision to develop the LTEMP is a
component of its efforts to continue to
comply with the ongoing requirements
and obligations established by the
Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992
(Pub. L. 102–575) (GCPA). Reclamation
and the NPS will co-lead this effort
because Reclamation has primary
responsibility for operation of Glen
Canyon Dam and the NPS has primary
responsibility for Grand Canyon
National Park and Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Beverley Heffernan, telephone (801)
524–3712; facsimile (801) 524–3826; email LTEMPEIS@usbr.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
GCDAMP was established by, and has
been implemented pursuant to the
Secretary’s 1996 Record of Decision on
the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam
(ROD), in order to comply with
monitoring and consultation
requirements of the GCPA. The
GCDAMP includes a Federal advisory
committee known as the Glen Canyon
Dam Adaptive Management Work
Group (AMWG), a technical work group,
a scientific monitoring and research
center administered by the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS), and
independent scientific review panels.
The AMWG makes recommendations to
the Secretary concerning Glen Canyon
Dam operations and other management
actions to protect resources downstream
of Glen Canyon Dam consistent with the
GCPA and other applicable provisions
of Federal law.
The purpose of the proposed LTEMP
is to utilize current, and develop
additional scientific information, to
better inform Departmental decisions
and to operate the dam in such a
manner as to improve and protect
important downstream resources while
maintaining compliance with relevant
laws including the GCPA, the Law of
the River, and the Endangered Species
Act (ESA). The National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) process will
document and evaluate impacts of the
alternatives described in the EIS. The
LTEMP is intended to develop and
implement a structured, long-term
experimental and management plan, to
determine the need for potential future
modifications to Glen Canyon Dam
PO 00000
Frm 00060
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
39435
operations, and to determine whether to
establish an ESA Recovery
Implementation Program for endangered
fish species below Glen Canyon Dam.
A primary function of the LTEMP will
be to identify adaptive management
experiments that have been successfully
completed under the GCDAMP and to
evaluate potential future experiments
that may further inform management
decisions. Revised dam operations and
other actions under the jurisdiction of
the Secretary will be considered for
alternatives in the EIS, in keeping with
the scope of the GCPA. The LTEMP will
be the first EIS completed on the
operations of Glen Canyon Dam since
the 1995 EIS, which was intended to
allow the Secretary to ‘‘balance and
meet statutory responsibilities for
protecting downstream resources for
future generations and producing
hydropower, and to protect affected
Native American interests.’’ Given that
it has been 15 years since completion of
the 1996 ROD on the operation of Glen
Canyon Dam, the Department will study
new information developed through the
GCDAMP, including information on
climate change, so as to more fully
inform future decisions regarding the
operation of Glen Canyon Dam and
other management and experimental
actions.
As stated above, the LTEMP will
build on more than a decade of
scientific experimentation and
monitoring undertaken as part of the
GCDAMP. Accordingly, Reclamation
and the NPS intend, where appropriate,
to incorporate by reference, or tier from,
earlier NEPA compliance documents
prepared as part of the Department’s
Glen Canyon Dam adaptive management
efforts, see 40 CFR 1500.4(i), 1502.20,
and 1508.20(b), such as the
Environmental Assessment for an
Experimental Protocol for High-Flow
Releases from Glen Canyon Dam and the
Environmental Assessment for NonNative Fish Control in the Colorado
River Downstream from Glen Canyon
Dam that are currently in preparation.
Environmental documentation and
updated information developed for the
Long-Term Experimental Plan (LTEP)
EIS (that was partially developed during
2006–2007) will be utilized. In a
Federal Register notice published on
February 12, 2008 (73 FR 8062), the
LTEP EIS was put on hold until
completion of environmental
compliance on a five-year plan of
experimental flows (2008–2012),
including a high-flow test completed in
March 2008 and yearly fall steady flows
to be conducted in September and
October of each year from 2008–2012.
E:\FR\FM\06JYN1.SGM
06JYN1
39436
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 129 / Wednesday, July 6, 2011 / Notices
sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
This Federal Register notice provides
notice that the LTEP EIS, initiated in a
Federal Register notice dated November
6, 2006 (71 FR 64982), will be
superseded by the LTEMP EIS. In
addition, this notice provides the public
with initial information regarding the
anticipated development and purpose of
the LTEMP, and notice of the
Department’s commitment to analyze
the LTEMP in an EIS pursuant to NEPA.
Public scoping meetings will be held
to solicit comments on the scope of the
LTEMP and the issues and alternatives
that should be analyzed. These meetings
will serve to expand upon the input
received from meetings and
recommendations of the AMWG.
Additional information regarding the
dates and times for the upcoming
meetings and identification of relevant
comment periods will be provided in a
future Federal Register notice, as well
as through other methods of public
involvement as the NEPA process is
undertaken and the LTEMP is
developed and prepared.
Background
Glen Canyon Dam was authorized by
the Colorado River Storage Project Act
of 1956 and completed by Reclamation
in 1963. Below Glen Canyon Dam, the
Colorado River flows for 15 miles
through the Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area which is managed by
the NPS. Fifteen miles below Glen
Canyon Dam, Lees Ferry, Arizona,
marks the beginning of Marble Canyon
and the northern boundary of Grand
Canyon National Park.
The major function of Glen Canyon
Dam is water conservation and storage.
The dam is specifically managed to
regulate releases of water from the
Upper Colorado River Basin to the
Lower Colorado River Basin to satisfy
provisions of the 1922 Colorado River
Compact and subsequent water delivery
commitments, and thereby allow states
within the Upper Basin to deplete water
from the watershed upstream of Glen
Canyon Dam and utilize their
apportionments of Colorado River
water.
Another function of Glen Canyon
Dam is to generate hydroelectric power.
Between the dam’s completion in 1963
and 1990, the dam’s daily operations
were primarily to maximize generation
of hydroelectric power. Over time,
concerns arose with respect to the
operation of Glen Canyon Dam,
including effects on the downstream
riparian ecosystem and on species listed
pursuant to the ESA. In 1992, Congress
passed and the President signed into
law the GCPA which addresses
potential impacts of dam operations on
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:17 Jul 05, 2011
Jkt 223001
downstream resources in Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area and Grand
Canyon National Park.
The GCPA required the Secretary to
complete an EIS evaluating alternative
operating criteria that would determine
how Glen Canyon Dam would be
operated ‘‘to protect, mitigate adverse
impacts to, and improve the values for
which Grand Canyon National Park and
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
were established.’’ The final EIS was
completed in March 1995. Consistent
with section 1802 of the GCPA, the
Preferred Alternative (Modified Low
Fluctuating Flow Alternative) was
selected as the best means to operate
Glen Canyon Dam in a ROD issued on
October 9, 1996. In 1997 the Secretary
adopted operating criteria for Glen
Canyon Dam (62 FR 9447) as required
by Section 1804(c) of the GCPA.
Additionally, the GCPA required the
Secretary to undertake research and
monitoring to determine if revised dam
operations were achieving the resource
protection objectives of the final EIS and
ROD. These provisions of the GCPA
were incorporated into the 1996 ROD
and led to the establishment of the
GCDAMP, administered by
Reclamation, and of the Grand Canyon
Monitoring and Research Center within
the USGS.
Purpose and Need for Action
Frm 00061
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Public Disclosure
Before including a name, address,
telephone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information
in the comment, please be advised that
the entire comment—including personal
identifying information—may be made
publicly available at any time. While a
commenter may request that
Reclamation and the NPS withhold
personal identifying information from
public review, Reclamation and the NPS
cannot guarantee that the Department
will be able to do so.
Dated: June 23, 2011.
Anne J. Castle,
Assistant Secretary—Water and Science.
Rachel Jacobson,
Acting Assistant Secretary—Fish and Wildlife
and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2011–16926 Filed 7–5–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
The purpose of the proposed action is
to fully evaluate dam operations and
identify management actions and
experimental options that will provide a
framework for adaptively managing
Glen Canyon Dam over the next 15 to
20 years consistent with the GCPA and
other provisions of applicable Federal
law. The proposed action will help
determine specific alternatives that
could be implemented to meet the
GCPA’s requirements and to minimize—
consistent with law—adverse impacts
on the downstream natural, recreational,
and cultural resources in the two park
units, including resources of importance
to American Indian Tribes. The need for
the proposed action stems from the need
to utilize scientific information
developed over the past 15 years to
better inform Departmental decisions on
dam operations and other management
and experimental actions so that the
Secretary may continue to meet
statutory responsibilities for protecting
downstream resources for future
generations, conserving ESA listed
species, and protecting Native American
interests, while meeting water delivery
obligations and for the generation of
hydroelectric power.
PO 00000
Proposed Federal Action
The proposed Federal action is to (a)
Develop and implement a structured,
long-term experimental and
management plan for the operation of
Glen Canyon Dam and (b) to determine
whether to establish a Recovery
Implementation Program for endangered
fish species below Glen Canyon Dam.
Draft Environmental Impact Statement/
Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR)
and Notice of Scoping Meeting for the
San Joaquin River Exchange
Contractors Water Authority’s 25-Year
Water Transfer Program 2014 to 2038,
California
Bureau of Reclamation,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent and scoping
meeting.
AGENCY:
The Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
(Reclamation) and the San Joaquin River
Exchange Contractors Water Authority
(Exchange Contractors) propose to
prepare a joint EIS/EIR for a twenty-five
year water transfer program (Program).
The action would be to execute
agreements for water transfers among
Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region;
Central Valley Project (CVP) and State
Water Project (SWP) contractors; and
the Exchange Contractors for water
service years 2014 to 2038. The Program
would consist of the annual
development and transfer of up to
150,000 acre-feet of substitute water
(maximum of 100,000 acre-feet of
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\06JYN1.SGM
06JYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39435-39436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-16926]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
National Park Service
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact
Statement and Conduct Public Scoping on the Adoption of a Long-Term
Experimental and Management Plan for the Operation of Glen Canyon Dam
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On December 10, 2009, Secretary of the Interior (Secretary)
Ken Salazar announced that the development of a Long-Term Experimental
and Management Plan (LTEMP) for Glen Canyon Dam was needed. The
Secretary emphasized the inclusion of stakeholders, particularly those
in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP), in the
development of the LTEMP. The Department of the Interior (Department),
through the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the National Park
Service (NPS), will prepare a draft environmental impact statement
(EIS) and conduct public scoping for the adoption of a LTEMP for the
operation of Glen Canyon Dam. The Department's decision to develop the
LTEMP is a component of its efforts to continue to comply with the
ongoing requirements and obligations established by the Grand Canyon
Protection Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-575) (GCPA). Reclamation and the
NPS will co-lead this effort because Reclamation has primary
responsibility for operation of Glen Canyon Dam and the NPS has primary
responsibility for Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverley Heffernan, telephone (801)
524-3712; facsimile (801) 524-3826; e-mail LTEMPEIS@usbr.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GCDAMP was established by, and has been
implemented pursuant to the Secretary's 1996 Record of Decision on the
Operation of Glen Canyon Dam (ROD), in order to comply with monitoring
and consultation requirements of the GCPA. The GCDAMP includes a
Federal advisory committee known as the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive
Management Work Group (AMWG), a technical work group, a scientific
monitoring and research center administered by the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), and independent scientific review panels. The AMWG makes
recommendations to the Secretary concerning Glen Canyon Dam operations
and other management actions to protect resources downstream of Glen
Canyon Dam consistent with the GCPA and other applicable provisions of
Federal law.
The purpose of the proposed LTEMP is to utilize current, and
develop additional scientific information, to better inform
Departmental decisions and to operate the dam in such a manner as to
improve and protect important downstream resources while maintaining
compliance with relevant laws including the GCPA, the Law of the River,
and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) process will document and evaluate impacts of the
alternatives described in the EIS. The LTEMP is intended to develop and
implement a structured, long-term experimental and management plan, to
determine the need for potential future modifications to Glen Canyon
Dam operations, and to determine whether to establish an ESA Recovery
Implementation Program for endangered fish species below Glen Canyon
Dam.
A primary function of the LTEMP will be to identify adaptive
management experiments that have been successfully completed under the
GCDAMP and to evaluate potential future experiments that may further
inform management decisions. Revised dam operations and other actions
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary will be considered for
alternatives in the EIS, in keeping with the scope of the GCPA. The
LTEMP will be the first EIS completed on the operations of Glen Canyon
Dam since the 1995 EIS, which was intended to allow the Secretary to
``balance and meet statutory responsibilities for protecting downstream
resources for future generations and producing hydropower, and to
protect affected Native American interests.'' Given that it has been 15
years since completion of the 1996 ROD on the operation of Glen Canyon
Dam, the Department will study new information developed through the
GCDAMP, including information on climate change, so as to more fully
inform future decisions regarding the operation of Glen Canyon Dam and
other management and experimental actions.
As stated above, the LTEMP will build on more than a decade of
scientific experimentation and monitoring undertaken as part of the
GCDAMP. Accordingly, Reclamation and the NPS intend, where appropriate,
to incorporate by reference, or tier from, earlier NEPA compliance
documents prepared as part of the Department's Glen Canyon Dam adaptive
management efforts, see 40 CFR 1500.4(i), 1502.20, and 1508.20(b), such
as the Environmental Assessment for an Experimental Protocol for High-
Flow Releases from Glen Canyon Dam and the Environmental Assessment for
Non-Native Fish Control in the Colorado River Downstream from Glen
Canyon Dam that are currently in preparation.
Environmental documentation and updated information developed for
the Long-Term Experimental Plan (LTEP) EIS (that was partially
developed during 2006-2007) will be utilized. In a Federal Register
notice published on February 12, 2008 (73 FR 8062), the LTEP EIS was
put on hold until completion of environmental compliance on a five-year
plan of experimental flows (2008-2012), including a high-flow test
completed in March 2008 and yearly fall steady flows to be conducted in
September and October of each year from 2008-2012.
[[Page 39436]]
This Federal Register notice provides notice that the LTEP EIS,
initiated in a Federal Register notice dated November 6, 2006 (71 FR
64982), will be superseded by the LTEMP EIS. In addition, this notice
provides the public with initial information regarding the anticipated
development and purpose of the LTEMP, and notice of the Department's
commitment to analyze the LTEMP in an EIS pursuant to NEPA.
Public scoping meetings will be held to solicit comments on the
scope of the LTEMP and the issues and alternatives that should be
analyzed. These meetings will serve to expand upon the input received
from meetings and recommendations of the AMWG. Additional information
regarding the dates and times for the upcoming meetings and
identification of relevant comment periods will be provided in a future
Federal Register notice, as well as through other methods of public
involvement as the NEPA process is undertaken and the LTEMP is
developed and prepared.
Background
Glen Canyon Dam was authorized by the Colorado River Storage
Project Act of 1956 and completed by Reclamation in 1963. Below Glen
Canyon Dam, the Colorado River flows for 15 miles through the Glen
Canyon National Recreation Area which is managed by the NPS. Fifteen
miles below Glen Canyon Dam, Lees Ferry, Arizona, marks the beginning
of Marble Canyon and the northern boundary of Grand Canyon National
Park.
The major function of Glen Canyon Dam is water conservation and
storage. The dam is specifically managed to regulate releases of water
from the Upper Colorado River Basin to the Lower Colorado River Basin
to satisfy provisions of the 1922 Colorado River Compact and subsequent
water delivery commitments, and thereby allow states within the Upper
Basin to deplete water from the watershed upstream of Glen Canyon Dam
and utilize their apportionments of Colorado River water.
Another function of Glen Canyon Dam is to generate hydroelectric
power. Between the dam's completion in 1963 and 1990, the dam's daily
operations were primarily to maximize generation of hydroelectric
power. Over time, concerns arose with respect to the operation of Glen
Canyon Dam, including effects on the downstream riparian ecosystem and
on species listed pursuant to the ESA. In 1992, Congress passed and the
President signed into law the GCPA which addresses potential impacts of
dam operations on downstream resources in Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park.
The GCPA required the Secretary to complete an EIS evaluating
alternative operating criteria that would determine how Glen Canyon Dam
would be operated ``to protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and
improve the values for which Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area were established.'' The final EIS was
completed in March 1995. Consistent with section 1802 of the GCPA, the
Preferred Alternative (Modified Low Fluctuating Flow Alternative) was
selected as the best means to operate Glen Canyon Dam in a ROD issued
on October 9, 1996. In 1997 the Secretary adopted operating criteria
for Glen Canyon Dam (62 FR 9447) as required by Section 1804(c) of the
GCPA.
Additionally, the GCPA required the Secretary to undertake research
and monitoring to determine if revised dam operations were achieving
the resource protection objectives of the final EIS and ROD. These
provisions of the GCPA were incorporated into the 1996 ROD and led to
the establishment of the GCDAMP, administered by Reclamation, and of
the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center within the USGS.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose of the proposed action is to fully evaluate dam
operations and identify management actions and experimental options
that will provide a framework for adaptively managing Glen Canyon Dam
over the next 15 to 20 years consistent with the GCPA and other
provisions of applicable Federal law. The proposed action will help
determine specific alternatives that could be implemented to meet the
GCPA's requirements and to minimize--consistent with law--adverse
impacts on the downstream natural, recreational, and cultural resources
in the two park units, including resources of importance to American
Indian Tribes. The need for the proposed action stems from the need to
utilize scientific information developed over the past 15 years to
better inform Departmental decisions on dam operations and other
management and experimental actions so that the Secretary may continue
to meet statutory responsibilities for protecting downstream resources
for future generations, conserving ESA listed species, and protecting
Native American interests, while meeting water delivery obligations and
for the generation of hydroelectric power.
Proposed Federal Action
The proposed Federal action is to (a) Develop and implement a
structured, long-term experimental and management plan for the
operation of Glen Canyon Dam and (b) to determine whether to establish
a Recovery Implementation Program for endangered fish species below
Glen Canyon Dam.
Public Disclosure
Before including a name, address, telephone number, e-mail address,
or other personal identifying information in the comment, please be
advised that the entire comment--including personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While a
commenter may request that Reclamation and the NPS withhold personal
identifying information from public review, Reclamation and the NPS
cannot guarantee that the Department will be able to do so.
Dated: June 23, 2011.
Anne J. Castle,
Assistant Secretary--Water and Science.
Rachel Jacobson,
Acting Assistant Secretary--Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 2011-16926 Filed 7-5-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P
