[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16341-16344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-4713]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Colorado River Reservoir Operations: Development of Lower Basin
Shortage Guidelines and Coordinated Management Strategies for Lake
Powell and Lake Mead, Particularly Under Low Reservoir Conditions
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of public availability of a Scoping Summary Report on
the development of Lower Basin shortage guidelines and coordinated
management strategies for the operation of Lake
[[Page 16342]]
Powell and Lake Mead, particularly under low reservoir conditions.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969, as amended, and the Council on Environmental Quality's
Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA, the
Department of the Interior (Department) has issued a Scoping Summary
Report on the development of Lower Basin shortage guidelines and
coordinated management strategies for the operation of Lake Powell and
Lake Mead, particularly under low reservoir conditions. The Scoping
Summary Report provides a summary of the issues raised during the
scoping process and describes the Department's current assessment of
the proposed scope of the environmental analysis to be included in the
draft environmental impact statement (EIS). The Department anticipates
that the Draft EIS will be published in December 2006. The report also
includes a summary of the issues raised and comments received during
the scoping process. Among other things, the report identifies how the
Department anticipates addressing these issues.
Dates and Addresses: The Department will accept, review, and
incorporate, as appropriate, any additional public comments on the
information contained in the Scoping Summary Report as part of the
development of the Draft EIS, which the Department anticipates will be
published in December 2006. The Department would prefer that any such
comments be received by May 1, 2006, in order to allow full
consideration during the development of the Draft EIS. Send written
comments to: Regional Director, Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado
Region, Attention: BCOO-1000, P.O. Box 61470, Boulder City, Nevada
89006-1470; faxogram at (702) 293-8156; or e-mail at
[email protected].
The Scoping Summary Report is available on the Bureau of
Reclamation's Web site at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/strategies/index.html. If you would like a printed copy of the report,
please contact Nan Yoder at telephone (702) 293-8500; facsimile (702)
293-8156; e-mail: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terrance J. Fulp, Ph.D., at (702) 293-
8500 or e-mail at [email protected]; and/or Randall Peterson at
(801) 524-3633 or e-mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department is publishing the Scoping
Summary Report as a voluntary effort to assist in public understanding
of this important process. Based upon information presented in the
report and all information submitted to the Department as part of this
process, the Department is now undertaking preparation of a Draft EIS.
Proposed Federal Action
The Bureau of Reclamation, acting on behalf of the Secretary of the
Interior (Secretary), proposes to take action to adopt specific
Colorado River Lower Basin shortage guidelines and coordinated
reservoir management strategies to address operations of Lake Powell
and Lake Mead, particularly under low reservoir conditions. This action
will provide a greater degree of certainty to all water users and
managers in the Colorado River Basin by providing more detailed
objective guidelines for the operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead and
by allowing water users in the Lower Basin to know when, and by how
much, water deliveries will be reduced in drought and other low
reservoir conditions. In addition, this action is designed to delay the
onset and magnitude of shortages and maximize the protection afforded
to water supply, hydropower production, recreation, and environmental
benefits by water storage in Lakes Powell and Mead. As a result of
analysis of comments and public input received to date, the Department
anticipates that the elements of the proposed action will include:
(1) Adoption of guidelines that will identify those circumstances
under which the Secretary would reduce the annual amount of water
available for consumptive use from Lake Mead to the Lower Division
states (Arizona, California, and Nevada) below 7.5 million acre-feet
(maf) (a ``Shortage'') pursuant to Article II(B)(3) of the Supreme
Court Decree in Arizona v. California; \1\
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\1\ The Department intends to meet any consultation requirements
identified in Article II(B)(3) of the Supreme Court Decree in
Arizona v. California through the ongoing NEPA process initiated by
the Federal Register Notice of September 30, 2005 (70 FR 57322-
57323).
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(2) adoption of guidelines for the coordinated operation of Lake
Powell and Lake Mead that are designed to provide improved operation of
the two reservoirs, particularly under low reservoir conditions;
(3) adoption of guidelines for the storage and delivery of water in
Lake Mead to increase the flexibility to meet water use needs from Lake
Mead, particularly under low reservoir conditions. These guidelines are
anticipated to address the storage and delivery of non-system water,
exchanges, and water conserved by extraordinary measures; and
(4) modification of the substance and term of the existing Interim
Surplus Guidelines, published in the Federal Register on January 25,
2001 (66 FR 7772-7782), from 2016 to coincide with the proposed new
guidelines described above.
The Secretary proposes that these guidelines will be interim in
nature and will extend through 2025. Adoption of new guidelines along
with modification of existing operational guidelines for a consistent
interim period will provide the opportunity to gain valuable experience
for operating the reservoirs under the modified operations and should
improve the basis for making additional future operational decisions,
whether during the interim period or thereafter.
It is the intent of the Department to adopt and implement the above
proposed action in a manner that is consistent with applicable Federal
law,\2\ and further, in a manner that does not require any additional
statutory authorization. In this regard, Reclamation proposes to
implement the proposed action consistent with the Colorado River
Compact of 1922, the Decree entered by the United States Supreme Court
in the case of Arizona v. California, and other provisions of
applicable Federal law. It is the intent of the Department that the
proposed action will be consistent with and provide implementing
guidance that would be used each year by the Department in implementing
the Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range Operation of Colorado River
Reservoirs Pursuant to the Colorado River Basin Project Act of
September 30, 1968 (Long-Range Operating Criteria or LROC).
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\2\ The treaties, compacts, decrees, statutes, regulations,
contracts, and other legal documents and agreements applicable to
the allocation, appropriation, development, exportation, and
management of the waters of the Colorado River Basin are often
referred to as the ``Law of the River.'' There is no single,
universally-agreed upon definition of the ``Law of the River,'' but
it is useful as a shorthand reference to describe this longstanding
and complex body of legal agreements governing the Colorado River.
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Purpose and Need for the Proposed Federal Action
The purpose of the proposed action is to adopt additional
operational strategies to improve the Department's annual management
and operation of key Colorado River reservoirs while also providing
mainstream users of Colorado River water, particularly those in the
Lower Division states of Arizona, California, and Nevada, a greater
degree
[[Page 16343]]
of predictability with respect to the amount of annual water deliveries
in future years, particularly under low reservoir conditions.
The need for the proposed action is based on a number of important
considerations including the following reasons:
The Colorado River flows through the driest portion of the
continental United States and is the primary source of water to a
region that has experienced continued population growth over recent
decades.
The Colorado River is of strategic importance in the
southwestern United States for water supply, hydropower production,
flood control, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and other
benefits. In addition, the United States has a delivery obligation to
the Republic of Mexico for certain waters of the Colorado River
pursuant to the 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty.
The Colorado River Basin experienced the worst five-year
drought in recorded history in 2000 through 2004. This drought has
impacted system storage, while demands for Colorado River water
supplies have continued to increase. During the period from October 1,
1999, to October 1, 2004, storage in Lakes Powell and Mead fell from
47.6 maf (approximately 95% of capacity) to 23.1 maf (approximately 46%
of capacity). This drought was also the worst sustained drought
experienced in the Colorado River Basin at a time when all major
storage facilities were in place, and when use by the Lower Division
states met or exceeded the annual ``normal'' apportionment of 7.5 maf
pursuant to Article II(B)(1) of the Decree. Moreover, entering the five
year drought period with Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoir storage
capacity at 95% fortuitously provided for sufficient water supplies to
meet basin demands. This may not be the case in the future. Among other
factors, these conditions led the Department to conclude that
additional management guidelines are necessary and desirable for the
efficient, and coordinated, management of the major mainstem Colorado
River reservoirs.
In the future, low reservoir conditions will likely not be
limited to drought periods because of anticipated future demands on
Colorado River water supplies. Projected future increases in Colorado
River water demands are expected to increase the frequency and
magnitude that Colorado River reservoirs are drawn down to low
reservoir conditions.
As a result of actual operating experience and through
reviews of the LROC and preparation of Annual Operating Plans,
particularly during recent drought years, the Secretary has determined
a need for more specific guidelines, consistent with the Decree and
other applicable provisions of Federal law, to assist in the
Secretary's determination of annual water supply conditions in the
Lower Basin. The increased level of predictability is needed by the
entities that receive Colorado River water to better plan for and
manage available water supplies, and to allow such entities to better
integrate the use of Colorado River water with other water supplies
that they rely on. To date, storage of water and flows in the Colorado
River Basin have been sufficient so that it has not been necessary to
reduce Lake Mead annual releases below 7.5 maf; nor has the Department
yet identified when water supplies would be reduced, by how much, or
who would experience specified reductions.
After public consultation meetings held in the summer of
2005, the Secretary has also determined the desirability of developing
additional operational guidelines that will provide for releases
greater than or less than 8.23 maf from Lake Powell.
To further enhance this coordinated reservoir approach,
the Secretary has also determined a need for guidelines that provide
water users with the opportunity to conserve, store, and take delivery
of water in and from Lake Mead for the purposes of enhancing existing
water supplies, particularly under low reservoir conditions.
Lastly, the Secretary has determined the need to modify
and extend the Interim Surplus Guidelines to coincide with the duration
of the proposed new guidelines. This will provide an integrated
approach for reservoir management and more predictability for future
Colorado River Basin water supplies.
Results of Scoping Input
The description of the Proposed Federal Action and the Purpose and
Need for the Proposed Federal Action described in this Notice and in
the Scoping Summary Report available at Reclamation's Web site noted
above, was refined to reflect information and comments received during
the scoping meetings and in written and oral scoping comments submitted
to the Department.\3\ The Proposed Federal Action has been crafted to
reflect, among others, three important considerations that were
identified by commentors:
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\3\ The Scoping Summary Report also addresses in Section 5.0
those issues raised during scoping that have been determined to be
beyond the proposed scope of the EIS. 10
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(1) Importance of Encouraging Conservation of Water: Many comments
submitted to the Department focused on the importance of encouraging
and utilizing water conservation as an important tool to better manage
limited water supplies and therefore minimize the likelihood and
severity of potential future shortages. See e.g., comment G-0003,
``Conservation Before Shortage'' proposal submitted to the Department
on July 18, 2005, which is available in its entirety in Appendix W of
the Scoping Summary Report. Water conservation can occur through a
number of approaches that will be identified in the Draft EIS,
including: Extraordinary conservation, forbearance, financial
incentives to maximize conservation, dry-year options, and associated
storage and recovery methodologies and procedures to address
conservation actions by particular parties.
(2) Importance of Consideration of Reservoir Operations at all
Operational Levels: Comments submitted to the Department urged the
Department to consider and analyze management and operational
guidelines for the full range of operational levels at Lake Powell and
Lake Mead. See e.g., comment S-2006, ``Basin States' Preliminary
Proposal Regarding Colorado River Interim Operations'' submitted to the
Department on February 3, 2006, which is available in its entirety in
Appendix Q of the Scoping Summary Report. It was suggested that this
approach is integral to the prudent development of new low-reservoir
operational guidelines, as the approach and management of these
reservoirs at higher elevations has a direct impact on available
storage, thereby affecting the likelihood and severity of potential
future shortages.
(3) Term of Operational Guidelines: Comments submitted to the
Department urged the Department to consider interim, rather than
permanent, additional operational guidelines. See e.g., comment letters
L-2002 through 2006 submitted to the Department by several Arizona
municipalities which are available in their entirety in Appendix W of
the Scoping Summary Report. In this manner, the Department would have
the ability to use actual operating experience for a period of years,
thereby facilitating a better understanding of the operational effects
of the new guidelines; modifications would then be made, if necessary,
during or preferably at the end of the interim period. In particular,
the
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Department was also urged to consider adopting additional operational
guidelines for both low and higher reservoir elevations for a
consistent period of years. At this time, it is important to note, the
Department has detailed operational guidelines for declaration of
surplus conditions at higher elevations of Lake Mead through 2016, but
does not have similar detailed operational guidelines for either Lake
Powell or the lower operational levels of Lake Mead.
Public Disclosure
Written comments, including names and home addresses of
respondents, will be made available for public review. Individual
respondents may request that their home address be withheld from public
disclosure, which will be honored to the extent allowable by law. There
may be circumstances in which respondents' identity may also be
withheld from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish to
have your name and/or address withheld, you must state this prominently
at the beginning of your comment. All submissions from organizations,
business, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public disclosure in their entirety.
Dated: March 18, 2006.
Robert W. Johnson,
Regional Director, Lower Colorado Region, Bureau of Reclamation.
Dated: March 16, 2006.
Rick L. Gold,
Regional Director, Upper Colorado Region, Bureau of Reclamation.
[FR Doc. E6-4713 Filed 3-30-06; 8:45 am]
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