Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 50 / Friday, March 14, 1997 / Notices 12245

and C Streets, NW, Washington, DC

20240

Department of the Interior, Central Utah

Project Completion Act Office, 302

East 1860 South, Provo, Utah 84606

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Uintah and

Ouray Agency, 988 South 7500 East,

Fort Duchesne, Utah 84026.

Dated: March 10, 1997.

Ronald Johnston,

CUPCA Program Director, Department of the

Interior.

[FR Doc. 97–6495 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–RK–P

Office of the Secretary

Notice of Intent (Notice) To Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

and Hold Public Scoping Workshops

on Water Resource Management

Proposals in Churchill, Douglas, Lyon,

Storey, and Washoe Counties, Nevada

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant

Secretary—Water and Science, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: The Department of the

Interior plans to hold four public

scoping workshops to gather

information that can be used to prepare

an EIS on actions related to water

resources in the Truckee and Carson

Rivers. The purpose of this EIS is to

review, in a comprehensive manner,

four proposed actions and consider the

environmental effects of those and other

actions. The Truckee-Carson

Coordination Office, acting on behalf of

the Department of the Interior, will

serve as lead agency and supervise

preparation of the EIS. Cooperating

federal agencies include Bureau of

Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation,

and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

DATES: Public scoping workshops will

be held at the following locations

beginning at 7:00 pm and ending no

later than 9:00 pm on the dates

indicated:

Date Location

March 11, 1997 .. Fallon Convention Center,

Fallon, Nevada.

March 13, 1997 .. Fernley Town Building,

Fernley, Nevada.

March 18, 1997 .. U.S. Geological Survey

Conference Room, Carson City, Nevada.

March 20, 1997 .. Washoe County Commissioners Chambers,

Reno, Nevada.

Interested persons are encouraged to

attend the workshops to identify and

discuss major issues, concerns,

opportunities, and alternatives that

should be considered in the EIS. The

workshops will begin with a brief

presentation describing the proposed

action followed by an opportunity for

interested citizens to provide

information relevant to the EIS

preparation process. The primary

purpose of the scoping workshops is to

identify issues and information related

to the proposed project rather than to

debate those issues.

These meetings supplement scoping

meetings held in September 1995 on

three of the four proposed actions.

Scoping comments submitted following

those meetings will also be considered

in preparing this EIS.

The scoping period will begin on the

date of the first scoping meeting and

remain open through preparation of the

EIS. Interested agencies, organizations,

and individuals are asked to submit

written comments on the scope of the

environmental document on or before

April 28, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are

requested to send their written

commnets on the scope of the

environmental document, significant

issues that should be addressed, and

alternatives that should be considered to

the following address: EIS Scoping

Comments, Truckee-Carson

Coordination Office, 1000 William

Street, Suite 100, Carson City, Nevada

89701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Truckee and Carson Rivers flow

eastward out of the Sierra Nevada

mountains and drain to interior basins.

The Truckee River terminates in

Pyramid Lake; the Carson River

terminates in the Stillwater wetlands

and Carson Sink. Water rights disputes

over waters of the Truckee and Carson

Rivers date back to the 1860’s during a

period of booming regional mining and

lumbering activity. Consumptive use of

water from the two rivers increased

significantly during the late 1880’s and

early 1900’s with the advent of various

irrigation developments, including the

Newlands Irrigation Project, one of the

first Federally funded irrigation

projects. With the increasing growth and

urbanization of the 20th Century,

additional demands were placed on the

Region’s water supply. In addition,

issues brought forward by the

establishment of the Pyramid Lake

Paiute Indian Reservation in 1859, and

the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribes

Indian Reservation in 1902 played a

major role in the evolution of waterrights disputes in the region.

Before the mid-1800’s, all water in the

Truckee River flowed into Pyramid Lake

with overflows forming Winnemucca

Lake, supporting fish populations

essential to the life and economy of the

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. In Lahontan

Valley, the Carson River flowed into

vast wetlands that sustained major

populations of waterfowl, shorebirds

and other wildlife. A substantial

population of Native Americans

inhabited the wetlands and were

dependent on its resources. Gradually,

upstream consumptive use and changes

to water quality in the two rivers

contributed to the degradation of

wetland and lake habitats and the

species that depended on them.

Substantial change was caused by the

development of the Newlands Irrigation

Project, authorized by the Reclamation

Act of 1902.

A majority of the Newlands Project

acreage, known as the Carson Division,

is located in the Carson River

watershed. However, in most years,

water entitlements in the Carson

Division cannot be satisfied solely by

Carson River flows. Varying quantities

of Truckee River water are annually

diverted out of the Truckee River

watershed and away from Pyramid Lake

to serve agriculture, wetlands, and other

water rights in Lahontan Valley and in

the Truckee Division of the Newlands

Project. Primarily as a result of

diversions for the Newlands Project, the

level of Pyramid Lake began to decline

and today, the lake is more than 65 feet

lower than it was 100 years ago. In

addition, primary wetlands in Lahontan

Valley, which historically fluctuated

between 100,000 and 300,000 acres in

size, were reduced to a current average

of 9,800 acres as a consequence of water

use on the Carson River and prolonged

drought. Today, remaining wetlands are

primarily sustained by irrigation return

flows, a portion of which can be of poor

quality.

Public Law 101–618, the TruckeeCarson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights

Settlement Act, was enacted in 1990.

The Act assigned numerous diverse

responsibilities to the Department of the

Interior for initiating actions addressing,

in part, wetlands, endangered species,

and water resource management. The

Department of the Interior also has

responsibilities to satisfy settlement

agreements, meet Newlands Project

water rights, and properly protect

resources held in trust for Indian tribes

in the region.

Proposed Actions

The EIS will consider the potential

impacts of the proposed water resource

management actions described above

and the interrelationships of these

waters.
12246 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 50 / Friday, March 14, 1997 / Notices

1. The Secretary is authorized and

directed by Section 206(a) of the Act to

acquire water and water rights to

sustain, on a long-term average, 25,000

acres of primary wetland habitat in

Lahontan Valley. The U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS) is preparing a

wetlands management plan detailing

actions necessary to best manage water

being acquired to sustain 25,000 acres of

wetland habitat, including the timing of

water applications to wetlands, and the

volumes of acquired water to be

applied.

2. Section 207(a) directs the Secretary

to expeditiously implement plans for

the conservation and recovery of

endangered cui-ui, a fish species found

only in Pyramid Lake and the lower

Truckee River. Section 207(c)(1)

authorizes the Secretary to acquire

water and water rights to assist the

conservation and recovery of the

species. General recovery actions are

authorized under the Endangered

Species Act. The recovery objective

stated in the Cui-ui Recovery Plan,

completed by the Fish and Wildlife

Service in 1992, is to improve the status

of cui-ui so that the species has at least

a 0.95 probability of persisting for 200

years. This objective necessitates

securing spawning habitat in the lower

Truckee River and rearing habitat in

Pyramid Lake as well as an avenue of

passage for spawners and larvae.

3. The Secretary is considering

modifications to the Newlands Irrigation

Project Operating Criteria and

Procedures (OCAP). The OCAP were

most recently modified in 1988 and in

the intervening years, several factors

which affect water management in the

Project have changed. For example, the

number of water-righted, irrigated acres

in the Project has not expanded to meet

predicted levels. Also, formulas used to

calculate allowable diversions of

Truckee River water to the Project need

to be revised to reflect current and

expected conditions within the Project.

Short-term OCAP adjustments within

the framework of the existing criteria

and procedures are currently in

preparation to account for changes in

water demand assumptions and

operational experience gained since

1988. The Department of the Interior

will examine more fundamental

potential revisions to OCAP in order to

optimize the use of Project water to

meet competing uses and legal

responsibilities, including serving

agricultural water rights, meeting trust

responsibilities to the Pyramid Lake

Paiute and Fallon Paiute-Shoshone

Tribes, conserving and recovering

endangered fish species, restoring and

protecting Lahontan Valley wetlands,

and meeting other water demands.

4. In October 1996, the United States

signed the Truckee River Water Quality

Settlement Agreement with the cities of

Reno and Sparks, Washoe County, the

State of Nevada, and the Pyramid Lake

Paiute Tribe. The agreement resolves

litigation over approval and operation of

the Reno-Sparks water treatment facility

brought by the Pyramid Lake Paiute

Tribe against Reno, Sparks, the State of

Nevada, and the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency. Under terms of the

agreement, the Department of the

Interior will allocate $12 million over

five years to acquire Truckee River

water rights and dedicate them to a joint

program to manage an equal quantity of

water rights to be acquired by Reno,

Sparks, and Washoe County for the

purpose of improving water quality and

instream flows in the Truckee River

from Reno to Pyramid Lake. In addition,

the Department of the Interior agreed to

aid Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County

in meeting water quality goals by storing

acquired water in federal Truckee River

reservoirs and timing releases to

improve instream flows during normally

dry periods of the summer and early

fall.

Other Actions To Be Considered

In addition, the EIS will consider an

extensive list of proposed and active

projects that may have cumulative

impacts within the scope of this

document. Two actions authorized

under P.L. 101–618 are being reviewed

in separate EISs. These are: (1)

Modification of reservoir and river

operations on the Truckee River as

described in the Truckee River

Operating Agreement draft EIS currently

being prepared by the Bureau of

Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service (FWS), and expected to

be released in the spring of 1997; and (2)

acquisition of water for development of

wetlands at the terminus of the Carson

River as described in the Lahontan

Valley Wetlands Water Rights

Acquisition Program final EIS released

by the FWS in September 1996.

Additional projects and actions to be

considered include the new Operation

and Maintenance contract for the

Newlands Irrigation Project; possible

agreement between the Department of

the Interior and the Fallon PaiuteShoshone Tribe regarding water and

water-rights management, acquisition,

and protection; efforts of the Fish and

Wildlife Service to acquire water from

the Upper Carson River; implementation

of the agreement with the Department of

the Navy to conserve and transfer water

from the Fallon Naval Air Station to the

Fish and Wildlife Service; and possible

water storage agreements for Lahontan

Reservoir. The EIS proposed in this

Notice will, as part of its analysis,

consolidate and review the effects of

these and other water management

actions identified during the scoping

process.

This notice is being published, and

the environmental review of this project

will be completed, in accordance with

Council on Environmental Quality

Regulations for Implementing the

National Environmental Policy Act (40

CFR 1508.22).

Tentative Schedule

Estimated dates for completion of

activities for an environmental impact

statement evaluating the potential

impacts of water resources management

in the Truckee and Carson Rivers

program are:

Milestone Date

Public Scoping Period April 1997.

Identification of Alternatives.May 1997.

Draft EIS Published .. December 1997.

Public Hearings on

DEIS.

January 1998.

Final EIS filed with

EPA.

June 1998.

Implementation of Decisions.August 1998.

Dated: March 7, 1997.

Patricia J. Beneke,

Assistant Secretary—Water and Science.

[FR Doc. 97–6471 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–RK–M

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council;

Restoration of Resources and Services

Injured by Oil Spill; (FY 1998)

Proposals Request

AGENCY: Department of the Interior,

Office of the Secretary.

ACTION: Invitation for proposals.

SUMMARY: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Trustee Council is asking the public,

private organizations, and government

agencies to submit proposals for the

restoration of the Exxon Valdez oil spill

region. The Invitations to Submit

Restoration Proposals for Federal Fiscal

Year 1998, a booklet explaining the

process, is available from the Trustee

Council office.

DATES: Proposals are due April 15, 1997,

at 5:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Trustee Council, 645 ‘‘G’’ Street, Suite

401, Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

Restoration Office, (907) 278–8012 or