Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Greybull Valley Irrigation District Dam and Resevoir Project

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

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

Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement for the

Greybull Valley Irrigation District Dam and Resevoir Project

AGENCIES: Bureau of Land Management, Interior, and U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, Defense.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Final Environmental Impact

Statement (FEIS) for the Greybull Valley Irrigation District Dam and

Reservoir Project for public review and comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The FEIS 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 south of Roach Gulch, a tributary of

the Greybull River, on public lands in Park County, Wyoming, is

available for public review. The FEIS was prepared by WEST, Inc., a

third-party contractor for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) under the provisions of Section

102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as

amended. The FEIS supplements the Draft Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS), providing additional information, changes, and corrections to

the DEIS.

DATES: Written comments concerning the analysis will be accepted for 30

days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

publishes the notice of filing of the FEIS in the Federal Register,

which is expected to be on September 19, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the DEIS and the FEIS may be reviewed at the

following locations: Worland District BLM Office, 101 South 23rd

Street, (contact Don Ogaard, BLM Project Manager), Worland, WY; Wyoming

State BLM Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY, (Jon Johnson,

Environmental Protection Specialist); COE Cheyenne Regulatory Office,

2232 Dell Range Blvd., Suite 210, Cheyenne, WY (Chandler Peter, COE

Project Manager); COE Omaha District Office, 215 N. 17th Street, Omaha,

NE (Becky Latka, EIS Technical Manager); and county and city 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, 101

South 23rd Street, Worland, WY 82401-0119, telephone 307-347-5100; or

Chandler Peter, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

[[Page 50962]]

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

WY 82009, telephone 307-772-2300.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GVID proposes to construct a 150-foot-

high zoned-earth embankment dam in an unnamed drainage south 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 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

studied 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 FEIS is not a decision document. The FEIS supplements the DEIS,

providing additional information, changes, and corrections to the DEIS,

as well as responses to comments received on the DEIS. The FEIS does

not reiterate those sections of the DEIS which were not changed;

therefore, the reader must have a copy of the DEIS to use the FEIS. The

BLM's Preferred Alternative remains Alternative B, Proposed Action, as

modified by the mitigation described in Chapter 5 of the DEIS. The COE

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, GVID must obtain a Right-of-Way

Grant from the Federal Government. A permit under Section 404 of the

Clean Water Act to conduct operations in a Water of the United States,

issued by COE, would also be required. As part of the process for

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

under NEPA. The agencies will accept public comment on the FEIS for 30

days from the date of publication of EPA's Notice of Filing. At this

time, comments will be most helpful if they focus on any remaining

technical or factual errors in the final analysis, and factors the

agencies should consider in reaching a decision. The BLM's and the

COE's decisions will be documented in Records of Decision which could

be issued anytime after the 30-day public comment period.

Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents will

be available for public review at the Worland District Office, 101

South 23rd Street, Worland, WY, during regular business hours (7:30

a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) Monday through Friday, except holidays. 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 comments. 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.

Dated: September 18, 1997.

Alan R. Pierson,

State Director.

[FR Doc. 97-25726 Filed 9-26-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-22-P