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Renewal of Sacramento River Settlement Contracts, Central Valley Project, CA
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: July 19, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 139)]
[Notices]
[Page 37703-37704]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19jy01-101]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Renewal of Sacramento River Settlement Contracts, Central Valley
Project, CA
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental document
(environmental assessment or environmental impact statement) and notice
of public meetings.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation)
proposes to prepare an environmental document to evaluate alternatives
for renewal of long-term contracts with the entities and individuals
asserting rights to divert water from the natural flow of the
Sacramento River. These entities and individuals, known as the
Sacramento River settlement contractors, typically receive both non-
Central Valley Project water, referred to as base supply, and
supplemental water from the Central Valley Project, referred to as
Project water. The current contracts expire in 2004, and the proposed
renewals would extend for at least 25 years.
At present it is not clear whether the scope of the action and
anticipated project impacts will require preparation of an
environmental impact statement (EIS) instead of an environmental
assessment (EA). However, to ensure the timely and appropriate level of
NEPA compliance and to limit potential future delays to the project
schedule, Reclamation is proceeding as if the project impacts would
require preparation of an EA. Reclamation will re-evaluate the need for
an EIS after obtaining written and oral comments on the project scope,
alternatives and environmental impacts, and after Reclamation's
evaluation of potential impacts of the proposed project. Reclamation
will publish a notice of change if a decision is made to prepare an EIS
rather than an EA. However, the scoping process to be conducted will
suffice for either course of action.
There are no known Indian Trust Asset or environmental justice
issues associated with the proposed action.
DATES: Three scoping meetings will be held to solicit comments from
interested parties to assist in determining the scope of the
environmental analysis and to identify the significant issues related
to this proposed action. The meeting dates are:
Monday, August 6, 2001, 1 to 4 p.m., Tracy, California
Tuesday, August 7, 2001, 1 to 4 p.m., Concord, California
Wednesday, August 8, 2001, 1 to 4 p.m., Red Bluff, California
Written comments on the scope of the environmental document should
be mailed to Reclamation at the address below by August 27, 2001.
ADDRESSES: The meeting locations are as follows:
Tracy at Veterans of Foreign Wars, 430 West Grant Line Road
Concord at Hilton Hotel, 1970 Diamond Boulevard
[[Page 37704]]
Red Bluff at Red Bluff Community/Senior Center, 1500 South
Jackson Street
Written comments on the scope of the environmental document should
be sent to Buford Holt, Environmental Specialist, Bureau of
Reclamation, Northern California Area Office, 16349 Shasta Dam
Boulevard, Shasta Lake, CA 96019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Buford Holt at the above address, by
telephone at (530) 275-1554, or e-mail at bholt@mp.usbr.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Central Valley Project (CVP) was first
authorized as a Federal project in 1935 and includes facilities on the
Trinity River, Sacramento River, American River, Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta, San Joaquin River, Stanislaus River and offstream storage and
conveyance facilities associated with the San Luis Reservoir and Delta
Mendota Canal. Construction of dams on the Sacramento River and the
Trinity River substantially modified the flows of the Sacramento River.
Prior to construction of the CVP, individuals and entities along the
Sacramento River were diverting water for irrigation and municipal and
industrial uses under various claims of right. In order to settle the
controversy over assertions of water rights, the United States, acting
through the Bureau of Reclamation, negotiated contracts that provided
for agreement on diversion of water and CVP water service. The term of
these Sacramento River settlement contracts was not to exceed 40 years
and the contracts expire on March 31, 2004. The settlement contracts
provide for renewal which must be accomplished prior to March 31, 2004.
Our practice is to make comments, including names and home
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's
identity from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish us to
withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at
the beginning of your comment. We will make all submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, available for public disclosure in their entirety.
Special Services
Persons requiring any special services should contact Sammie
Cervantes at (916) 978-5104. Please notify Ms. Cervantes as far in
advance of the particular meeting as possible, but no later than 3
working days prior to the meeting to enable Reclamation to secure the
services. If a request cannot be honored, the requester will be
notified.
Dated: June 29, 2001.
Laura Allen,
Deputy Regional Environmental Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-18043 Filed 7-18-01; 8:45 am]
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