Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Operations of the Navajo Unit, Colorado River Storage Project, New Mexico and Colorado and Announcement of Public Scoping Meetings

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact

Statement on the Operations of the Navajo Unit, Colorado River Storage

Project, New Mexico and Colorado and Announcement of Public Scoping

Meetings

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact

Statement on the operations of the Navajo Unit, Colorado River Storage

Project, New Mexico and Colorado and announcement of public scoping

meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation

(Reclamation), announces its intent to prepare a draft environmental

impact statement (DEIS), pursuant to the National Environmental Policy

Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, on the Navajo Unit (Unit). The DEIS

will describe the effects of operating the Unit to implement the flow

recommendations provided by the San Juan River Basin Recovery

Implementation Program (Program). The purpose of the proposed action is

to mimic the natural hydrograph of the San Juan River to create and

maintain habitat and a healthy biological community in order to

conserve populations of two endangered fishes, the razorback sucker and

the Colorado pikeminnow (formerly Colorado squawfish), while

maintaining the other authorized purposes of the Unit, Colorado River

Storage Project (CRSP). Such conservation is consistent with the

recovery goals established under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C.

1531 et seq.

Reclamation invites other federal agencies, states, Indian Tribes,

local governments, and the general public to submit written comments or

suggestions concerning the scope of the issues to be addressed in the

DEIS. The public is invited to participate in a series of scoping

meetings that will be held in November in Colorado and New Mexico (see

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section). Those not desiring to submit

comments or suggestions at this time, but who would like to receive a

copy of the DEIS, should write to the addresses below. When the DEIS is

complete, its availability will be announced in the Federal Register,

local news media, and through direct contact with interested parties so

that comments can be solicited.

DATES AND LOCATIONS: See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for meeting

dates and locations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jone Wright, Bureau of Reclamation,

Western Colorado Area Office, Northern Division, 2764 Compass Drive,

Suite 106, Grand Junction, Colorado 81506, telephone: (970) 248-0636.

FAX: (970) 248-0601. E-Mail: [email protected] or refer to

Reclamation's web site at www.uc.usbr.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Unit was authorized by Congress in 1956 as one of four key

features of the CRSP intended to develop the water resources of the

Upper Colorado River Basin for the purposes of:

* * * regulating the flow of the Colorado River, storing water

for beneficial consumptive use, making it possible for the States of

the Upper Basin to utilize, consistently with the provisions of the

Colorado River Compact, the apportionments made to and among them in

the Colorado River Compact and the Upper Colorado River Basin

Compact, respectively, providing for the reclamation of arid and

semiarid lands, for the control of floods, and for the generation of

hydroelectric power, as an incident to the foregoing purposes . * *

*

Other project purposes include a municipal and industrial water

supply, recreation, and fish and wildlife.

Operations

After completion of the Unit in December 1963, the focus of the

criteria for releasing water from the dam was primarily on meeting

irrigation needs, providing flood control, maintaining stable flows,

and providing a recreation pool in Navajo Reservoir. Over the last

decade, however, the focus of the criteria and associated pattern for

releasing water from the Unit has changed. The effects that Unit

operations have had on endangered fishes and trout have resulted in

various

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commitments by Reclamation to evaluate those effects and consider

implementing the flow recommendations.

Formal consultation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on the

Unit was requested by Reclamation in a July 30, 1991, memorandum to the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). Reclamation committed at that

time to, among other things, operate Navajo Dam in the manner most

consistent with endangered fish recovery, including mimicking a natural

hydrograph if that is the recommended course, for the life of Navajo

Dam. In an August 19, 1991, response to Reclamation, the Service

concurred that the consultation process should be initiated, and that

the consultation period for the operations of the Unit be extended

while research on the San Juan River was conducted.

Flow Recommendations

Under the direction of the Program's Biology Committee, test

releases were conducted and evaluated during the 1992-1998 research

period. At the completion of the research period, the Biology Committee

completed a report, entitled Flow Recommendations for the San Juan

River (1999), which provides recommended flows for the endangered

fishes in the San Juan River below Farmington, New Mexico. The

recommendations define the conditions for mimicking a natural

hydrograph in terms of magnitude, duration, and frequency of flows in

the San Juan River.

If the Service follows these recommendations in future biological

opinions, then the flow criteria or a reasonable alternative would have

to be met to avoid jeopardy. These recommendations have been accepted

by the Program's Coordination Committee and have been provided to the

Service for their use in future Section 7 consultations.

Related Projects

Subsequent consultations with the Service on other San Juan Basin

projects and associated federal actions included the operation of the

Unit as an element of the proposed plan or the resulting reasonable and

prudent alternative. These related projects include conversion of

irrigation water to municipal and industrial water on the Mancos

Project, Florida Project water sale contracts, the Animas La-Plata

Project, and completion of the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP)

and related water service contracts.

The Proposed Federal Action

Reclamation proposes to prepare a DEIS which will describe the

effects of operating the Unit to implement the flow recommendations, or

reasonable alternatives, as contained in the recommendation from the

Program's Biology Committee resulting from consultation under the ESA.

Reclamation would implement the proposed action by modifying the

operations decision criteria of the Unit. Modifying the operations

would provide sufficient releases of water at times, quantities, and

durations necessary to mimic the natural hydrograph of the river to

create and maintain habitat and to maintain a healthy biological

community in order to conserve populations of two endangered fishes,

while maintaining the other authorized purposes of the Unit.

Public Scoping

Scoping meetings will be held in Farmington, New Mexico;

Albuquerque, New Mexico; Durango, Colorado; and Pagosa Springs,

Colorado in early November 1999 for the purpose of obtaining public

input on the significant issues related to the proposed action. The

schedule and locations for the meetings are shown below. The public is

asked to provide input on the following:

1. Identification of relevant issues related to the proposed action.

2. Whether the overall range of alternatives is appropriate.

Schedule of Scoping Meetings

The following scoping meetings will be conducted in New Mexico and

Colorado.

November 3, 1999, from 6-9 p.m., Farmington Civic Center,

200 W. Arrington, Farmington, New Mexico.

November 4, 1999, from 6:30-9:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel,

501 Camino Del Rio, Durango, Colorado.

November 9, 1999, from 6-9 p.m., Crown Plaza Pyramid, 5151

San Francisco Road, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

November 10, 1999, from 6-9 p.m., Pagosa Inn, 3565 Highway

160, Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Dated: September 24, 1999.

Charles A. Calhoun,

Regional Director, Upper Colorado Region.

[FR Doc. 99-25475 Filed 9-30-99; 8:45 am]

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