[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10865-10866]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4663]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Shoreline Management Initiative, Reservoirs in Alabama, Georgia, 
Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia; 
Amendment to Record of Decision (ROD)

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

ACTION: Issuance of Amendment to ROD.

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SUMMARY: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 to 1508) and 
TVA's procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act. In 
1999, TVA adopted its current Shoreline Management Policy (SMP) to 
implement the preferred alternative in the November 1998 environmental 
impact statement (EIS) for the Shoreline Management Initiative (SMI). 
On August 20, 2009, the TVA Board of Directors decided to amend SMP to 
terminate the ``Maintain and Gain'' program, which

[[Page 10866]]

allowed for the exchange of shoreline access rights of equal or greater 
value. TVA determined that the environmental impacts of the 
modification of SMP would not materially differ from the impacts 
quantified in the original EIS and that the effect of removing the 
Maintain and Gain provision is adequately addressed in the EIS. The 
environmental and project goals of the SMI and SMP would still be met 
without the Maintain and Gain program.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles P. Nicholson, Program Manager, 
NEPA Compliance, Environment and Technology, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11D, Knoxville, Tennessee 
37902-1499; telephone (865) 632-3582 or e-mail <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1073607e7973787f7c637f7e506466713e777f66"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e68596888f858e898a958988a6929087c8818990">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1999, TVA adopted SMP to implement the 
April 1999 TVA Board decision to adopt the preferred alternative 
(Blended Alternative) of the November 1998 EIS entitled ``Shoreline 
Management Initiative: An Assessment of Residential Shoreline 
Development Impacts in the Tennessee Valley.'' In June 1999, TVA 
published a ROD in the Federal Register (64 FR 300092, June 4, 1999) 
reflecting this decision. The Blended Alternative emphasized 
conservation of shoreline resources and no net loss of public lands 
while providing for reasonable access and compatible use of the 
shoreline by adjacent residents. It also included the Maintain and Gain 
program that allowed TVA to consider requests from property owners 
without shoreline access rights to obtain those rights in exchange for 
eliminating shoreline access rights of equal or preferably greater 
length and value; such exchanges would result in no net loss, or 
preferably a net gain, of public shoreline.
    TVA recently reviewed the Maintain and Gain program. Since its 
inception in 1999, TVA has approved nine Maintain and Gain requests for 
the exchange of water access rights on TVA reservoirs, which have 
resulted in only a small increase in the amount of shoreline protected. 
The closing of 7,113 linear feet of shoreline for private water use 
access rights and opening 6,036 linear feet of shoreline access rights 
to private landowners has yielded a net gain of 1,077 linear feet of 
shoreline closed to residential water use access. Overall, this is less 
than one-tenth of 1 percent of the 4,100 miles of shoreline available 
for private water use throughout the Tennessee Valley.
    The Maintain and Gain program was used infrequently, and the 
decisions required to be made thereunder were vulnerable to some 
inconsistency. TVA has determined that the elimination of the Maintain 
and Gain program would have minor and insignificant environmental 
impacts and that such impacts would not significantly differ from the 
impacts quantified in the original EIS. The environmental and project 
goals of the SMI and SMP would still be met. Consequently, the TVA 
Board of Directors terminated the Maintain and Gain program on August 
20, 2009. The termination of the Maintain and Gain program does not 
affect the other key components of SMP, such as the use of vegetation 
management plans, limits to the size of residential water use 
facilities, use of shoreline management zones, management of access/
view corridor size, use of best management practices for construction, 
management of vegetation, stabilization of shoreline erosion, and 
education activities.

    Dated: February 25, 2010.
Anda Ray,
Senior Vice President of Environment and Technology and Environmental 
Executive.
[FR Doc. 2010-4663 Filed 3-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-08-P


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