Notice of Availability and Public Meeting on the Enviromental Impact Statement for the Greybull Valley Irrigation District Dam and Reservoir Project, WY

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-010-5101-00-K022, WYW-131027]

Notice of Availability and Public Meeting on the Enviromental

Impact Statement for the Greybull Valley Irrigation District Dam and

Reservoir Project, WY

AGENCIES: Bureau of Land Management, Interior and Army Corps of

Engineers, Defense.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Public Meeting on the

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Greybull Valley Irrigation

District Dam and Reservoir Project for public review and comment, Park

County, Wyoming.

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SUMMARY: A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a proposal

from the Greybull Valley Irrigation District (GVID) to construct,

operate, and maintain a 150-foot-high zoned-earth embankment dam and an

associated 33,470 acre-foot impoundment in an unnamed drainage west of

Roach Gulch, a tributary of the Greybull River, on public lands in Park

County, Wyoming, is available for public review. The DEIS describes and

documents the analysis of three alternatives and discloses each

alternative's environmental effects. A public meeting for comment on

the DEIS will be held.

DATES: Written comments concerning the analysis will be accepted for 60

days

[[Page 3910]]

following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes

the notice of filing of the DEIS in the Federal Register. When the

closing date for public comments is known, it will be published in the

local newspapers. Comments should be sent to BLM, Worland District; Don

Ogaard, Project Manager; P.O. Box 119; Worland, Wyoming 82401-0119. A

public meeting will be held in Emblem, Wyoming on January 29, 1997, to

provide opportunities for the public to meet with representatives from

the BLM and the Corps, and comment on the DEIS. The meeting will be

held at the Emblem Community Hall, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the DEIS may be reviewed at the following

locations: Worland District BLM Office, 101 South 23rd Street, (contact

Don Ogaard, BLM Project Manager) Worland, Wyoming; Wyoming State BLM

Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming (Susan Bennett,

Supervisor, Records and Public Service Group); Army Corps of Engineers,

Cheyenne Regulatory Office, 2232 Dell Range Blvd, Suite 210, Cheyenne

(Chandler Peter, Corps Project Manager); Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha

District Office, 215 N. 17th Street, Omaha, Nebraska (Becky Latka, EIS

Technical Manager); and county, city, and college libraries near the

proposed project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Don Ogaard, BLM Project Manager,

Bureau of Land Management, Worland District Office, P.O. Box 119, 1101

South 23rd Street, Worland, Wyoming 82401-0119, telephone (307) 347-

5160; or Candace M. Thomas, Chief, Environmental Analysis Branch,

Planning Division, Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, 215 North

17th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68102-4978, telephone (402) 221-4598.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Greybull Valley Irrigation District

(GVID) proposes to construct a 150-foot-high zoned-earth embankment dam

in an unnamed drainage west of Roach Gulch, a tributary of the Greybull

River, in Park County, Wyoming. This dam would impound 33,470 acre-feet

of water, inundating about 700 acres of BLM-administered public lands.

The GVID's purpose and need for the proposal is primarily to provide

early and late season water for irrigated crops; and to allow better

overall regulation of their system. The DEIS also considers an

alternative location in Blackstone Gulch, another tributary of the

Greybull River; as well as the ``No Action'' Alternative, under which

no dam would be built.

The DEIS is not a decision document. The purpose of the DEIS is to

provide sufficient information for the BLM and Corps to make an

informed decision about GVID's proposal. It is a document disclosing

the likely environmental consequences of implementing the proposed

action or one of the alternatives to that action. The BLM's Preferred

Alternative is Alternative B, Proposed Action, as modified by the

mitigation described in Chapter 5 of the DEIS. The Corps does not

identify a Preferred Alternative at this time.

Before GVID may construct the project, it must obtain Federal,

State, county, and local permits. Because the reservoir would inundate

public land administered by the BLM, the GVID must obtain a Right-of-

Way Grant from the BLM. A permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water

Act to conduct operations in a water of the United States, issued by

the Corps, would also be required. As part of the process for granting

the permits, these agencies must consider the GVID's proposal under

NEPA.

Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be

available for public review at the BLM's Worland District office during

regular business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday,

except holidays and may be published as part of the final environmental

impact statement. Individual respondents may request confidentiality.

If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review or from

disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your comment. Such requests will be

honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying

themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or

businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their

entirety.

Because the final EIS may be issued in partial text format, the

draft EIS should be retained for future reference.

Dated: January 16, 1997.

Alan L. Kesterke,

Associate State Director.

[FR Doc. 97-1902 Filed 1-24-97; 8:45 am]

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