Availability of Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION

Availability of Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No

Significant Impact

agency: United States Section, International Boundary and Water

Commission, United States and Mexico.

action: Notice of availability of final environmental assessment and

finding of no significant impact.

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summary: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969; the Council on Environmental Quality Final

Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through 1508); and the Operational

Procedures of the United States Section, International Boundary and

Water Commission, United States and Mexico (USIBWC), for Implementing

Section 102 of NEPA, published in the Federal Register September 2,

1981 (46 FR 44083); the USIBWC hereby gives notice that the Final

Environmental Assessment and Final Finding of No Significant Impact for

Quisto Energy Corporation (Quisto) to construct, operate, and maintain

a gas well located on the Main Floodway of the Lower Rio Grande Flood

Control Project (LRGFCP) are available. The USIWBWC finds that the

proposed action to issue a license to Quisto for such works is not a

major federal action that would have a significant adverse effect on

the quality of the human environment. A Notice of Finding of No

Significant Impact was signed June 17, 1994, (59 FR 33303-33304) and

provided a thirty (30) day review and comment period before making the

finding final.

addresses: Dr. Conrad G. Keyes, Jr., Principal Engineer, Planning,

United States Section, International Boundary and Water Commission,

United States and Mexico, 4171 North Mesa Street, C-310, El Paso, Texas

79902-1441. Telephone: 915/534-6703.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Action

The action proposed is the USIBWC to issue a license to Quisto to

construct, operate, and maintain a gas well and install related

features with Meyerhoff No. 3 Drilling Unit, Lot 271, Kelly-Pharr

Subdivision, Hildalgo County, Texas. The gas well is proposed to be

located on privately owned land within the Main Floodway of the USIBWC

LRGFCP approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) southeast of the town of

Pharr. Access to the drilling site is by way of existing county and

private roads.

Alternatives Considered

Three alternatives were considered in the Environmental Assessment

(EA):

The Proposed Action Alternative is for Quisto to construct,

operate, and maintain a gas well in a cultivated field within the Main

Floodway of the USIBWC LRGFCP. The proposed action will require the

USIBWC to issue a license to ensure that such works do not cause an

obstruction to flood flows within the floodway or interfere with the

operation and maintenance of the LRGFCP.

The No Action Alternative is for Quisto to not construct, operate,

and maintain a gas well within the Main Floodway of the LRGFCP. The no

action alternative will not require the USIBWC to issue a license since

no work will be done within the LRGFRCP. The no action alternative will

result in the denial of access to the mineral owner to rightfully owned

minerals, loss of tax revenues to the State of Texas, and result in an

unrecoverable clean energy source.

The Directional Well alternative is for Quisto to drill a well from

outside the Main Floodway to a depth below the proposed surface

location. The directional well alternative will not require the USIBWC

to issue a license since no work will be done within the LRGFCP. The

directional well alternative is considered not workable because of a

lack of an available surface drillsite outside the Main Floodway and

technical problems associated with a bottomhole location some 610

meters (2,000 feet) or more from the surface location.

Finding of the Final Environmental Assessment

The EA finds that the proposed action for Quisto to construct,

operate, an maintain a gas well within the Main Floodway of the USIBWC

LRGFCP (and the USIBWC to issue a license for such work) does not

constitute a major federal action which would cause a significant

local, regional, or national adverse impact on the environment based on

the following facts:

1. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has determined that no

waters of the United States including wetlands will be impacted by the

proposed gas well and related features.

2. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that

federally listed endangered or threatened species are unlikely to be

adversely affected by the proposed gas well and related features.

3. The Texas Historical Commission and Department of Antiquities

Protection have determined that no survey is required and the project

may proceed.

4. The USIBWC Water Resources Investigations Division has

determined that the proposed gas well and related features will have no

significant effect upon the flood carrying capacity of the Main

Floodway.

Availability

Single copies of the Final Environmental Assessment and Final

Finding of No Significant Impact may be obtained by request at the

above address.

Dated: July 18, 1994.

Suzette Zaboroski,

Staff Counsel.

[FR Doc. 94-18320 Filed 7-27-94; 8:45 am]

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