Bureau of Reclamation July 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) proposes to prepare a draft EIS that analyzes effects associated with construction of the AVC, a proposed feature of the Fryingpan-Arkansas (Fry-Ark) Project, and the issuance of an Excess Capacity Master Contract to Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Southeastern). The proposed Federal action is to construct the pipeline to provide treated water to the service area in southeastern Colorado. Towns in the service area need to construct new or improved water treatment systems, supplement their current water supply, and/or purchase other water supplies to replace poor quality water. Some also need more water to meet demands of a growing population. The proposed Federal action associated with the Excess Capacity Master Contract is to issue a long-term contract to Southeastern for storage of non-Fry-Ark Project water in Pueblo Reservoir, a feature of the Fry-Ark Project. The water would be used by several water providers within Southeastern's boundaries.

Notice is hereby given of contractual actions that have been proposed to the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and were pending through December 31, 2009, and contract actions that have been completed or discontinued since the last publication of this notice on November 6, 2009. From the date of this publication, future notices during this calendar year will be limited to new, modified, discontinued, or completed contract actions. This annual notice should be used as a point of reference to identify changes in future notices. This notice is one of a variety of means used to inform the public about proposed contractual actions for capital recovery and management of project resources and facilities consistent with section 9(f) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939. Additional announcements of individual contract actions may be published in the Federal Register and in newspapers of general circulation in the areas determined by Reclamation to be affected by the proposed action.

The Department of the Interior (Department) through the Bureau of Reclamation published a notice of intent and notice of public scoping meetings for an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) in the Federal Register on June 14, 2010. The notice contained an incorrect date for when the Department will accept scoping comments for this EIS/EIR.