Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 72535 

1The Department intends to meet any 

consultation requirements identified in Article 

II(B)(3) of the Supreme Court Decree in Arizona v. 

California through the ongoing NEPA process 

initiated by the Federal Register Notice of June 16, 

2023 (88 FR 39455–39458) and the annual 

implementation of guidelines developed through 

this process. 

2The treaties, compacts, decrees, statutes, 

regulations, contracts, and other legal documents 

Continued 

1976, 43 U.S.C. 1714(f), the Secretary 

determines that the withdrawal shall be 

extended. 

(Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1714) 

Shannon A. Estenoz, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23258 Filed 10–19–23; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Reclamation 

[RR03040000, 23XR0680A1, 

RX187860005004001] 

Colorado River Reservoir Operations: 

Development of Post-2026 Operational 

Guidelines and Strategies for Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead 

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Department of the 

Interior (Department) has issued a 

Scoping Summary Report on the 

Development of Post-2026 Operational 

Guidelines and Strategies for Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead. The Scoping 

Summary Report provides a summary of 

the comments received during the 

public scoping process and describes 

the Department’s current, preliminary 

assessment of the proposed federal 

action, purpose and need, and scope of 

the environmental analysis to be 

included in the draft environmental 

impact statement (DEIS). The 

Department anticipates the DEIS will be 

published in December 2024 for public 

review. 

ADDRESSES: The Scoping Summary 

Report is available on the Bureau of 

Reclamation’s website at https://

www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/ 

post2026/scoping/index.html. Printed 

copies of the report are available upon 

request from the point of contact listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this notice. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amanda Erath, Colorado River Post2026 Program Coordinator, Bureau of 

Reclamation, at (303) 445–2766, or by 

email at crbpost2026@usbr.gov. Please 

also visit the project website at https:// 

www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/ 

post2026/index.html. Individuals in the 

United States who are deaf, deafblind, 

hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 

TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and 

the Council on Environmental Quality’s 

Regulations for Implementing the 

Procedural Provisions of NEPA, the 

Department is publishing the Scoping 

Summary Report as a voluntary effort to 

assist in public understanding of this 

important NEPA process. Based on the 

information summarized in the report, 

the Department is preparing a DEIS 

starting with the development of a 

reasonable range of alternatives that are 

technically and economically feasible 

and meet the purpose and need for the 

proposed federal action (40 CFR part 

1508). Considering public input 

received to date, the Department’s 

current, preliminary assessment of the 

proposed federal action, purpose and 

need, and scope of the environmental 

analysis to be included in the DEIS are 

described below and in the Scoping 

Summary Report. 

Proposed Federal Action 

The Bureau of Reclamation, acting on 

behalf of the Secretary of the Interior 

(Secretary), proposes to take action to 

adopt specific guidelines and 

coordinated reservoir management 

strategies to address operations of Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead through their full 

operating range. This action would 

provide improved predictability to all 

water users and managers in the 

Colorado River Basin by developing and 

adopting objective guidelines for the 

operation of Glen Canyon Dam and 

Hoover Dam to take effect when the 

current operating guidelines (the 2007 

Colorado River Interim Guidelines for 

Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated 

Operations for Lake Powell and Lake 

Mead [2007 Interim Guidelines]) expire 

in 2026. In addition, this action is 

designed to provide for the sustainable 

management of the Colorado River 

system and its resources under a wide 

range of potential future system 

conditions due to a changing climate. 

Based on public input, the 

Department anticipates the guidelines 

would include the following elements: 

(1) Identification of circumstances 

under which the Secretary would 

allocate, reduce, or increase the annual 

amount of water available for 

consumptive use from Lake Mead to the 

Lower Division states (Arizona, 

California, and Nevada) at, below, or 

above 7.5 million acre-feet, pursuant to 

the Supreme Court Decree in Arizona v. 

California.1

(2) Coordinated operations of Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead, particularly 

under low reservoir conditions. 

(3) Storage and delivery of conserved 

water in Lake Mead and/or Lake Powell 

to increase the flexibility to meet water 

use needs from both reservoirs, 

including the storage and delivery of 

non-system water; exchanges; and water 

conserved through extraordinary 

measures by or for tribal, agricultural, or 

municipal entities. 

The proposed federal action allows 

for development of robust operating 

guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake 

Mead without precluding upstream or 

downstream actions needed to protect 

critical reservoir elevations at Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead, such as the 

following: 

• Approaches that consider total 

system storage in all major Colorado 

River reservoirs and/or actual inflows to 

determine coordinated operations of 

Lake Powell and Lake Mead. 

• Approaches that include 

opportunities for conservation, 

augmentation, demand management, or 

other water management strategies. 

• Approaches that include 

opportunities for conservation, 

augmentation, demand management, or 

other water management strategies. 

• Temporary emergency response 

operations at upstream Colorado River 

reservoirs to protect critical 

infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam, so 

long as the project-specific operations of 

those reservoirs remain within their 

respective Records of Decision. 

The Department intends that the 

guidelines be interim in nature and 

extend for at least the same duration as 

the 2007 Interim Guidelines 

(approximately 20 years), subject to 

further consideration during the NEPA 

process. Adoption of new guidelines for 

an interim (or limited) period provides 

the opportunity to gain additional 

experience for operating the reservoirs, 

thereby informing future operational 

and water management decisions. 

Recognizing additional authorities 

may be developed, it is the intent of the 

Department to adopt and implement the 

guidelines in a manner consistent with 

the Law of the River.2 It is also the 


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72536 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2023 / Notices 

and agreements applicable to the allocation, 

appropriation, development, exportation, and 

management of the waters of the Colorado River 

Basin are often referred to as the ‘‘Law of the 

River.’’ There is no single, universally-agreed upon 

definition of the ‘‘Law of the River,’’ but it is useful 

as a shorthand reference to describe this 

longstanding and complex body of legal agreements 

governing the Colorado River. 

intent of the Department that the 

guidelines be used to implement the 

Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range 

Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs 

Pursuant to the Colorado River Basin 

Project Act of September 30, 1968 

(LROC). 

Purpose and Need for the Proposed 

Federal Action 

In accordance with NEPA 

implementing regulations, a statement 

of purpose and need is required in an 

EIS to explain why the agency is 

proposing the action. The ‘‘need’’ for the 

action may be described as the 

underlying problem or opportunity to 

which the agency is responding with the 

action; the ‘‘purpose’’ may refer to the 

goal or objective that the agency is 

trying to achieve (43 CFR 46.420). 

The proposed federal action is needed 

for the following reasons: 

• The Secretary is legally required to 

coordinate operations of Colorado River 

reservoirs: The Colorado River Basin 

Project Act of 1968 directs the Secretary 

to propose criteria for the coordinated 

long-range operation of Colorado River 

reservoirs. In compliance with this 

obligation, the LROC were developed 

and adopted by the Secretary in 1970. 

The LROC provide general narrative 

guidance regarding Lake Powell and 

Lake Mead operations but does not 

contain specific, objective criteria to 

guide annual operations. To address this 

inadequacy, the 2007 Interim 

Guidelines were developed to provide 

objective criteria used by the 

Department to implement the LROC. 

These guidelines have provided 

predictability needed by the entities that 

receive Colorado River water to better 

plan for and manage available water 

supplies from the Colorado River and 

other sources. 

• 2007 Interim Guidelines are 

expiring: Current operational guidelines 

expire during the 2026 operating year. 

The Department has determined that 

specific, objective operational 

guidelines are important to provide 

improved predictability and should be 

established for another interim period 

beyond 2026. 

• 2007 Interim Guidelines have not 

sufficiently reduced risk: Based on 

operational experience since 2007, the 

current guidelines are not robust enough 

to manage in a way that is sufficiently 

protective of the resources dependent 

on the Colorado River. Despite nearcontinuous drought-response actions in 

recent years, low-reservoir conditions 

have persisted and new infrastructure 

risks at Glen Canyon Dam have arisen. 

More robust and adaptive guidelines are 

needed for the efficient and sustainable 

management of the major mainstream 

Colorado River reservoirs and system 

resources. 

• Imbalance between water supply 

and demand will be exacerbated by 

increasingly likely low-runoff 

conditions: Climate science indicates 

the Colorado River Basin is 

experiencing climate-change induced 

aridification and that long-term and 

sustained drought and low-runoff 

conditions should be expected in the 

future. These conditions will exacerbate 

the now widely recognized imbalance 

between water supply and demand in 

the Colorado River Basin. Robust and 

flexible guidelines are needed to 

manage the Colorado River system and 

its resources under a broad range of 

potential future hydrologic conditions. 

• Expanded and innovative use of 

conservation is needed: Recognizing the 

anticipated future low-runoff conditions 

in the Colorado River Basin, the 

Department has also determined a need 

for guidelines that provide Colorado 

River water users, including Basin 

Tribes, expanded opportunities to 

conserve, store, and take subsequent 

delivery of water in and from Lake 

Mead and/or Lake Powell. The 

guidelines should also support and 

integrate future efficiency 

improvements and opportunities for 

augmentation. 

• Addressing tribal concerns 

regarding Colorado River Basin 

management is needed: Basin Tribes 

have expressed concern that the current 

approach to Colorado River water 

management is insufficient to address 

the range of interests, needs, and 

fundamental rights of the Basin Tribes. 

The Department has determined a need 

for guidelines that provide flexibility 

and predictability for Basin Tribes to 

remain able to benefit from their water 

rights and have an opportunity to 

participate in voluntary conservation 

programs. 

The purpose for the proposed federal 

action is to: 

• update and expand management 

guidelines for Colorado River reservoirs, 

particularly for Lake Powell and Lake 

Mead; 

• provide Colorado River water users, 

a greater degree of predictability with 

respect to the amount of annual water 

available in future years under 

anticipated increasing variability, low 

runoff and low reservoir conditions; 

• provide additional mechanisms for 

the conservation, storage and delivery of 

water supplies in Colorado River 

reservoirs; 

• provide new or enhanced 

opportunities for Basin Tribes to benefit 

from their water rights; and 

• provide flexibility to build 

resilience and accommodate future 

needs and growth that are supported by 

Colorado River water supplies, 

including the integration of 

unquantified tribal water rights once 

they are resolved. 

DEIS Approach 

The DEIS will consider the best 

scientific information currently 

available; actual operating experience 

since 2007; updated information on 

infrastructure considerations at Glen 

Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam; tradeoffs between the frequency and 

magnitude of reductions in water 

deliveries; mechanisms to encourage 

water conservation, efficiency 

improvements, and augmentation; and 

the effect of water storage in Lake 

Powell and Lake Mead on water supply, 

power production, recreation, 

environmental resources, cultural 

resources, and other relevant resources 

and factors. 

The geographic scope of the 

environmental analysis in the DEIS is 

dependent upon the range of 

alternatives developed in the DEIS and 

therefore will be determined later in the 

NEPA process. 

Next Steps 

With this Notice, the Department is 

transitioning to the next phase of the 

NEPA process, which is to develop 

alternatives for analysis in the DEIS. 

Reclamation has developed state-of-theart web-based tools to encourage and 

facilitate stakeholder collaboration 

during this phase and intends to deploy 

these tools in the early stages of this 

phase in the fall. It is the Department’s 

intent that these tools support the 

exploration and development of a broad 

range of reasonable alternatives and 

foster collaborative consensus-based 

approaches to alternative development. 

Maria Camille Touton, 

Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23127 Filed 10–19–23; 8:45 am] 

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