Columbia River Salmon and Other Native Fish Request for Information, 28532-28533 [2023-09525]
Download as PDF
28532
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 86 / Thursday, May 4, 2023 / Notices
• Information or feedback on the
inclusion of new actions to promote the
conservation and enhancement of HMS
EFH that may be adversely affected by
certain non-fishing activities.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq., and
1801 et seq.
Dated: May 1, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023–09516 Filed 5–3–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY
[CEQ–2023–0002]
Columbia River Salmon and Other
Native Fish Request for Information
Council on Environmental
Quality.
ACTION: Request for information.
AGENCY:
The Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing
this request for information (RFI) to
solicit feedback on Columbia River
salmon and other native fish restoration
and other relevant information to an
ongoing mediation.
DATES: The agency requests comments
by July 3, 2023, and must receive
comments on or before August 31, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by docket number CEQ–
2023–0002, using the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
All submissions received must
include the agency name, ‘‘Council on
Environmental Quality,’’ and the docket
number, CEQ–2023–0002, for this RFI.
Comments received will be posted
without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. Do not
submit any information you consider to
be private information, privileged or
confidential commercial or financial
information, or other information the
disclosure of which is restricted by
statute. CEQ encourages submissions of
1,000 words or fewer. For any
submissions that are over 1,000 words,
please consider including an executive
summary of 1,000 words or fewer.
All submissions are voluntary. You
may respond to some or all of the
questions listed in the RFI. You may
include references to academic
literature or links to online material
(such as datasets) but please ensure all
links are publicly available. Each
response should include:
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:12 May 03, 2023
Jkt 259001
• The name of the individual(s) or
entity responding.
• A brief description of the
responding individual(s) or entity’s
mission or areas of expertise.
• A contact for questions or other
follow-up on your response.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Issues regarding submission or
questions on this RFI can be sent to
De’Marcus Robinson, Ocean Policy
Fellow, 202–395–5750 or
De’Marcus.R.Robinson@ceq.eop.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Columbia River and its tributaries
were once among the most productive
salmon and steelhead ecosystems in the
world with an estimated 7.5 to 16
million adult salmon and steelhead
returning to Pacific Northwest
tributaries each year and sustaining the
cultures and economies of Tribal
Nations since time immemorial. From
the 1930s to the 1970s, the Federal
government constructed a series of 14
multipurpose dams in the Columbia
River Basin to address a myriad of
economic challenges, and, additionally,
more than 100 non-Federal dams were
constructed.
Communities across the Northwest
have come to rely on these dams for
reliable and affordable electricity, flood
risk management, water supply,
irrigation, navigation, and recreation.
The dams also altered free-flowing
rivers, affected juvenile fish as they
migrate out to sea, impeded adult fish
returning to spawn, inundated Tribal
fishing areas and sacred sites, and
forever displaced people from their
homes. The construction of the Grand
Coulee and Chief Joseph dams without
fish passage eradicated salmon and
steelhead from the Upper Columbia
River Basin. In the 1990s, 13 of the
Columbia River Basin’s remaining
salmon populations required the
protection of the Endangered Species
Act to survive.
The Federal Government has spent
tens of billions of dollars, in partnership
with Tribes, states, and nongovernmental organizations, on efforts
that contribute to fish survival and
recovery. States and Tribes have also
funded and implemented fish recovery
programs. Despite hard work, ingenuity,
great expense, and commitment across
all levels of Federal, state, Tribal and
local governments and a wide range of
stakeholders, many fish populations in
the Columbia River Basin—salmon,
steelhead, and others—have not
recovered, some continue to decline,
and many areas remain inaccessible to
them.
PO 00000
Frm 00074
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Litigation over the impact of the
operation of certain Federal dams in the
Columbia River System on salmon and
other native fish has been ongoing for
decades and the courts have
consistently ruled that the Federal
Government has fallen short of its legal
obligations. Currently, several ongoing
cases are pending in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Oregon and in
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit.
In the Fall of 2021, the plaintiffs and
petitioners in the litigation and the
Federal Government agreed to a
temporary stay in the litigation to create
an opportunity for the Federal
Government to develop a long-term plan
to restore Columbia River salmon and
other native fish. Shortly thereafter, the
Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) convened an interagency group
with leaders from: the Department of the
Interior, including the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, and Fish
and Wildlife Service; the Department of
Commerce, including the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration; the Department of the
Army, including the Army Corps of
Engineers; and the Department of
Energy, including the Bonneville Power
Administration. This interagency group
is intended to build on existing analyses
to identify a durable path forward that
ensures a clean energy future, supports
local and regional economies, and
restores ecosystem function, while
honoring longstanding commitments to
Tribal Nations.
In March 2022, CEQ Chair Brenda
Mallory, Secretary of the Interior Deb
Haaland, Secretary of Energy Jennifer
Granholm, Assistant Secretary of the
Army for Civil Works Michael Connor,
and Under Secretary of Commerce for
Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Richard
Spinrad convened a consultation with
Tribal Nations of the Columbia River
Basin and published a blog post
reflecting on what the Tribes shared at
the consultation and the
Administration’s values that inform its
effort to restore healthy and abundant
salmon and steelhead to the Columbia
River Basin.
In April 2022, the Federal
Government engaged the Federal
Mediation and Conciliation Service
(FMCS) to mediate and facilitate
between the parties in the litigation and
the regional sovereigns, including Tribal
Nations and states. In August 2022, the
plaintiffs, petitioners, and the Federal
government agreed to an additional stay
in litigation through August 2023.
Through the stay agreement, the
Federal Government committed to
supporting development of a durable
E:\FR\FM\04MYN1.SGM
04MYN1
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 86 / Thursday, May 4, 2023 / Notices
long-term strategy to restore salmon and
other native fish populations to healthy
and abundant levels, honoring Federal
commitments to Tribal Nations,
delivering affordable and reliable clean
power, and meeting the many resilience
needs of stakeholders across the region.
Since that time, the Federal Government
has engaged with the states, Tribes, and
other litigation parties through the
FMCS process toward developing a
long-term strategy and further stay or
resolution of the litigation. To provide
the stakeholders who are not directly
involved in the litigation an opportunity
to provide input to the Federal agencies
on Columbia River Basin restoration, the
Federal Government asked FMCS to
schedule listening sessions where
individuals could provide comment.
The first listening session occurred on
March 31, 2023. FMCS gave speakers
slots in the order that they registered.
Because of the number of people who
registered to speak (250 people), the first
session was extended in an overflow
session on April 3. Fifty-five people
offered comments on March 31, and
forty-eight on April 3. Across both days,
everyone in attendance who had
registered to speak had an opportunity
to do so; some persons who registered
to speak did not attend and others
attended but chose not to speak. FMCS
has scheduled another listening session
for May 25. CEQ is publishing this RFI
and opening a publicly accessible
docket to provide an additional
opportunity for public input on the key
questions below or any other
information and views relevant to the
task of identifying a durable path
forward for salmon and other native fish
that honors longstanding commitments
to Tribal Nations, ensures a clean energy
future, supports local and regional
economies, and restores ecosystem
function. Through this RFI, CEQ also
encourages the parties to the FMCS
process to review the comments
received on the docket to inform
discussions in the mediation. This RFI
does not serve as a substitute for other
public engagement that may be required
for any specific action that the Federal
government undertakes.
In March 2022, CEQ established an
email address, salmon@ceq.eop.gov, as a
means for interested persons to share
their thoughts on issues related to the
mediation. Emails sent to salmon@
ceq.eop.gov are delivered only to CEQ,
however, and are not directly available
to other parties to the mediation or the
public. Because this RFI and the
associated public docket provide a more
effective means for seeking input than
an agency email address, CEQ will close
the salmon@ceq.eop.gov email address
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:12 May 03, 2023
Jkt 259001
30 days after publication of this RFI.
Interested parties should submit
information in response to this RFI in
lieu of emailing salmon@ceq.eop.gov.
CEQ requests comments under this
RFI within 60 days to provide timely
information for consideration, however,
the public docket will remain open until
August 31, 2023, the date the stay
agreement is set to expire. CEQ will
continue to monitor the docket through
August 31, 2023, and will encourage all
parties to the mediation to do the same.
II. Key Questions for Input
Lower Snake River
In securing the current stay of
litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore lower Snake River
habitat restoration opportunities,
‘‘including but not limited to migration
corridor restoration through breaching
the four lower Snake River dams,’’
which would require Congressional
authorization. The Federal Government
would welcome views on:
• What constitutes ‘‘restoration’’ of
the lower Snake River and what steps
should the Federal Government take to
restore the lower Snake River?
• What considerations should inform
the Federal Government’s approach to
restoring the lower Snake River?
• What information should the
Federal government develop to support
discussions in the Northwest and in
Congress on the restoration of the lower
Snake River?
Upper Columbia River
In securing the current stay of
litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore providing full support
for and funding of a plan developed by
the Upper Columbia River Tribes to
reintroduce salmon into the Upper
Columbia River Basin. The Federal
Government would welcome views on:
• What considerations should inform
the Federal Government’s approach to
supporting the Upper Columbia River
Tribes’ reintroduction plan?
Funding
In securing the current stay of
litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore actions and funding to
address ‘‘unmitigated Tribal needs,
avoiding future issues with respect to
creating inequities, and actions
supporting salmon and other fisheries
and fish and wildlife programs and
infrastructure.’’ The Federal
Government would welcome views on:
• What steps should the Federal
Government take in response to this
commitment?
• What considerations should inform
the Federal Government’s approach to
PO 00000
Frm 00075
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
28533
funding and actions to restore fish
populations throughout the Columbia
River Basin?
Amy Coyle,
Deputy General Counsel
[FR Doc. 2023–09525 Filed 5–3–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3325–F3–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket No.: ED–2022–SCC–0159]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget for Review
and Approval; Comment Request;
Foreign Gifts and Contracts
Disclosures
Federal Student Aid (FSA),
Department of Education (ED).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, the Department is proposing a
new information collection request
(ICR).
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before June 5,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for proposed
information collection requests should
be submitted within 30 days of
publication of this notice. Click on this
link www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain to access the site. Find this
information collection request (ICR) by
selecting ‘‘Department of Education’’
under ‘‘Currently Under Review,’’ then
check the ‘‘Only Show ICR for Public
Comment’’ checkbox. Reginfo.gov
provides two links to view documents
related to this information collection
request. Information collection forms
and instructions may be found by
clicking on the ‘‘View Information
Collection (IC) List’’ link. Supporting
statements and other supporting
documentation may be found by
clicking on the ‘‘View Supporting
Statement and Other Documents’’ link.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
specific questions related to collection
activities, please contact Beth
Grebeldinger, 202–377–4018.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Department is especially interested in
public comment addressing the
following issues: (1) is this collection
necessary to the proper functions of the
Department; (2) will this information be
processed and used in a timely manner;
(3) is the estimate of burden accurate;
(4) how might the Department enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\04MYN1.SGM
04MYN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 86 (Thursday, May 4, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28532-28533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09525]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
[CEQ-2023-0002]
Columbia River Salmon and Other Native Fish Request for
Information
AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.
ACTION: Request for information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing this
request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback on Columbia River
salmon and other native fish restoration and other relevant information
to an ongoing mediation.
DATES: The agency requests comments by July 3, 2023, and must receive
comments on or before August 31, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number CEQ-
2023-0002, using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
All submissions received must include the agency name, ``Council on
Environmental Quality,'' and the docket number, CEQ-2023-0002, for this
RFI. Comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Do
not submit any information you consider to be private information,
privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, or
other information the disclosure of which is restricted by statute. CEQ
encourages submissions of 1,000 words or fewer. For any submissions
that are over 1,000 words, please consider including an executive
summary of 1,000 words or fewer.
All submissions are voluntary. You may respond to some or all of
the questions listed in the RFI. You may include references to academic
literature or links to online material (such as datasets) but please
ensure all links are publicly available. Each response should include:
The name of the individual(s) or entity responding.
A brief description of the responding individual(s) or
entity's mission or areas of expertise.
A contact for questions or other follow-up on your
response.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding submission or
questions on this RFI can be sent to De'Marcus Robinson, Ocean Policy
Fellow, 202-395-5750 or De'[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Columbia River and its tributaries were once among the most
productive salmon and steelhead ecosystems in the world with an
estimated 7.5 to 16 million adult salmon and steelhead returning to
Pacific Northwest tributaries each year and sustaining the cultures and
economies of Tribal Nations since time immemorial. From the 1930s to
the 1970s, the Federal government constructed a series of 14
multipurpose dams in the Columbia River Basin to address a myriad of
economic challenges, and, additionally, more than 100 non-Federal dams
were constructed.
Communities across the Northwest have come to rely on these dams
for reliable and affordable electricity, flood risk management, water
supply, irrigation, navigation, and recreation. The dams also altered
free-flowing rivers, affected juvenile fish as they migrate out to sea,
impeded adult fish returning to spawn, inundated Tribal fishing areas
and sacred sites, and forever displaced people from their homes. The
construction of the Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams without fish
passage eradicated salmon and steelhead from the Upper Columbia River
Basin. In the 1990s, 13 of the Columbia River Basin's remaining salmon
populations required the protection of the Endangered Species Act to
survive.
The Federal Government has spent tens of billions of dollars, in
partnership with Tribes, states, and non-governmental organizations, on
efforts that contribute to fish survival and recovery. States and
Tribes have also funded and implemented fish recovery programs. Despite
hard work, ingenuity, great expense, and commitment across all levels
of Federal, state, Tribal and local governments and a wide range of
stakeholders, many fish populations in the Columbia River Basin--
salmon, steelhead, and others--have not recovered, some continue to
decline, and many areas remain inaccessible to them.
Litigation over the impact of the operation of certain Federal dams
in the Columbia River System on salmon and other native fish has been
ongoing for decades and the courts have consistently ruled that the
Federal Government has fallen short of its legal obligations.
Currently, several ongoing cases are pending in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Oregon and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit.
In the Fall of 2021, the plaintiffs and petitioners in the
litigation and the Federal Government agreed to a temporary stay in the
litigation to create an opportunity for the Federal Government to
develop a long-term plan to restore Columbia River salmon and other
native fish. Shortly thereafter, the Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) convened an interagency group with leaders from: the Department
of the Interior, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of
Reclamation, and Fish and Wildlife Service; the Department of Commerce,
including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the
Department of the Army, including the Army Corps of Engineers; and the
Department of Energy, including the Bonneville Power Administration.
This interagency group is intended to build on existing analyses to
identify a durable path forward that ensures a clean energy future,
supports local and regional economies, and restores ecosystem function,
while honoring longstanding commitments to Tribal Nations.
In March 2022, CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory, Secretary of the Interior
Deb Haaland, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Assistant Secretary
of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor, and Under Secretary of
Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Richard Spinrad convened a
consultation with Tribal Nations of the Columbia River Basin and
published a blog post reflecting on what the Tribes shared at the
consultation and the Administration's values that inform its effort to
restore healthy and abundant salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River
Basin.
In April 2022, the Federal Government engaged the Federal Mediation
and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to mediate and facilitate between the
parties in the litigation and the regional sovereigns, including Tribal
Nations and states. In August 2022, the plaintiffs, petitioners, and
the Federal government agreed to an additional stay in litigation
through August 2023.
Through the stay agreement, the Federal Government committed to
supporting development of a durable
[[Page 28533]]
long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations
to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal
Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting
the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region. Since that
time, the Federal Government has engaged with the states, Tribes, and
other litigation parties through the FMCS process toward developing a
long-term strategy and further stay or resolution of the litigation. To
provide the stakeholders who are not directly involved in the
litigation an opportunity to provide input to the Federal agencies on
Columbia River Basin restoration, the Federal Government asked FMCS to
schedule listening sessions where individuals could provide comment.
The first listening session occurred on March 31, 2023. FMCS gave
speakers slots in the order that they registered. Because of the number
of people who registered to speak (250 people), the first session was
extended in an overflow session on April 3. Fifty-five people offered
comments on March 31, and forty-eight on April 3. Across both days,
everyone in attendance who had registered to speak had an opportunity
to do so; some persons who registered to speak did not attend and
others attended but chose not to speak. FMCS has scheduled another
listening session for May 25. CEQ is publishing this RFI and opening a
publicly accessible docket to provide an additional opportunity for
public input on the key questions below or any other information and
views relevant to the task of identifying a durable path forward for
salmon and other native fish that honors longstanding commitments to
Tribal Nations, ensures a clean energy future, supports local and
regional economies, and restores ecosystem function. Through this RFI,
CEQ also encourages the parties to the FMCS process to review the
comments received on the docket to inform discussions in the mediation.
This RFI does not serve as a substitute for other public engagement
that may be required for any specific action that the Federal
government undertakes.
In March 2022, CEQ established an email address,
[email protected], as a means for interested persons to share their
thoughts on issues related to the mediation. Emails sent to
[email protected] are delivered only to CEQ, however, and are not
directly available to other parties to the mediation or the public.
Because this RFI and the associated public docket provide a more
effective means for seeking input than an agency email address, CEQ
will close the [email protected] email address 30 days after
publication of this RFI. Interested parties should submit information
in response to this RFI in lieu of emailing [email protected].
CEQ requests comments under this RFI within 60 days to provide
timely information for consideration, however, the public docket will
remain open until August 31, 2023, the date the stay agreement is set
to expire. CEQ will continue to monitor the docket through August 31,
2023, and will encourage all parties to the mediation to do the same.
II. Key Questions for Input
Lower Snake River
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore lower Snake River habitat restoration opportunities,
``including but not limited to migration corridor restoration through
breaching the four lower Snake River dams,'' which would require
Congressional authorization. The Federal Government would welcome views
on:
What constitutes ``restoration'' of the lower Snake River
and what steps should the Federal Government take to restore the lower
Snake River?
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to restoring the lower Snake River?
What information should the Federal government develop to
support discussions in the Northwest and in Congress on the restoration
of the lower Snake River?
Upper Columbia River
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore providing full support for and funding of a plan
developed by the Upper Columbia River Tribes to reintroduce salmon into
the Upper Columbia River Basin. The Federal Government would welcome
views on:
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to supporting the Upper Columbia River Tribes' reintroduction
plan?
Funding
In securing the current stay of litigation, the Federal Government
agreed to explore actions and funding to address ``unmitigated Tribal
needs, avoiding future issues with respect to creating inequities, and
actions supporting salmon and other fisheries and fish and wildlife
programs and infrastructure.'' The Federal Government would welcome
views on:
What steps should the Federal Government take in response
to this commitment?
What considerations should inform the Federal Government's
approach to funding and actions to restore fish populations throughout
the Columbia River Basin?
Amy Coyle,
Deputy General Counsel
[FR Doc. 2023-09525 Filed 5-3-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3325-F3-P