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Notices Federal Register

7654 

Vol. 90, No. 13 

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Natural Resources Conservation 

Service 

Notice of Intent To Prepare a 

Supplemental Environmental Impact 

Statement for the Odessa Subarea 

Special Study Project in Adams, 

Franklin, Grant, and Lincoln Counties, 

Washington 

AGENCY: Natural Resources 

Conservation Service, U.S. Department 

of Agriculture (USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare 

a Supplemental Environmental Impact 

Statement (SEIS). 

SUMMARY: The Natural Resources 

Conservation Service (NRCS) 

Washington State Office, in 

coordination with the U.S. Bureau of 

Reclamation (Reclamation) and the 

Washington State Department of 

Ecology (Ecology), announces its intent 

to prepare an SEIS for the Odessa 

Subarea Special Study Project. The SEIS 

is necessary to evaluate modification of 

a component of Alternative 4A that 

would install a buried pipeline 

irrigation across lands that were not 

evaluated in FEIS. Installation of this 

pipeline would require blasting which 

was not addressed in FEIS. The 

intended effect of this action would 

result in the most economically viable 

way of providing surface water 

irrigation to specific cultivated lands in 

the Study Area in lieu of groundwater 

irrigation. The SEIS will examine an 

irrigation delivery system designated 

East Low Canal (EL) 11.8 that would 

serve approximately 7,638 acres of land 

currently served by groundwater in the 

northeastern portion of the East 

Columbia Basin Irrigation District 

(ECBID) in Grant County. NRCS is 

accepting comments regarding 

significant issues, potential alternatives, 

information, and analyses relevant to 

the proposed action from all interested 

individuals, Federal and State agencies, 

and Tribes. 

DATES: We will consider comments that 

are received by February 21, 2025. We 

will consider comments received after 

this period to the extent possible. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments in response to this notice. 

You may submit your comments 

through the method below: 

• Mail or Hand Delivery: Farmers 

Conservation Alliance, 102 State Street, 

Hood River, OR 97031; or Phone: (541) 

716–6085. In your comments, specify 

the SEIS for EL 11.8. 

• Electronic Submittal: Comments 

may be submitted online at https://

www.ogwrp-programs.org/watershedplan. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change and made publicly 

available on the project web page 

https://www.ogwrp-programs.org/ 

watershed-plan. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jules Riley, telephone: (509) 507–0178; 

email: jules.riley@usda.gov for questions 

related to submitting comments; or visit 

the project website at https://

www.ogwrp-programs.org/watershedplan. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means for communication should 

contact the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) Target Center at 

(202) 720-2600 (voice and text 

telephone [TTY]) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay service (both 

voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any telephone). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need 

The project area is located within the 

Odessa Subarea in Adams, Franklin, 

Grant, and Lincoln Counties, 

Washington. The Reclamation and 

Ecology 2012 Final EIS (FEIS) was 

published in a local newspaper on 

August 31, 2012. Reclamation selected 

Alternative 4A, the Modified PartialReplacement-Banks with Limited Spring 

Diversion Scenario. This alternative 

delivers surface water from the 

Columbia Basin Project (CBP) to 

irrigated lands that currently rely on 

declining groundwater supply in the 

Odessa Subarea Special Study Area 

(Study Area). 

The primary purpose for the proposed 

action is to maintain economic viability 

by providing surface water from CBP to 

replace groundwater from declining 

wells currently used for irrigation in the 

Study Area. Watershed planning is 

authorized under the Watershed 

Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 

1954 (Pub. L. 83–566), as amended, and 

the Flood Control Act of 1944 (Pub. L. 

78–534). This SEIS will analyze a 

distribution system route that traverses 

lands not included in the 2012 FEIS 

Study Area. 

This action is needed to address 

declining groundwater supply in the 

Study Area and avoid economic loss to 

the region’s agricultural sector. Located 

in central Washington State, ECBID is 

the largest irrigation district in the State, 

with authorization to irrigate 472,000 

acres. Currently, 167,365 acres are 

irrigated and managed by 4,500 

landowners within CBP. Additionally, 

ECBID provides infrastructure to deliver 

irrigation surface water for 87,638 acres 

associated with the Odessa 

Groundwater Replacement Program. 

Under Alternative 4A, ECBID would 

provide CBP surface water for irrigation 

to replace groundwater irrigation to 

approximately 70,000 acres of lands 

north and south of I–90. The proposed 

action is essential to deliver CBP water 

to lands currently irrigated with 

groundwater. The 2012 FEIS 

conceptually analyzed alternatives for 

alignments that would deliver surface 

water from CBP to the lands to be served 

by the proposed EL 11.8 distribution 

system, specifically within alternatives 

analyzed in detail and not selected. 

Water delivery to these lands was 

proposed to be served by a new canal, 

designated the East High Canal. With 

the selection of Alternative 4A as the 

preferred alternative, the East High 

Canal was not chosen for construction 

to service those lands. However, due to 

the flexibility afforded in the 2012 FEIS, 

and due to the irrigator’s need for 

surface water in that area, a new 

alignment was subsequently designed 

from EL to ensure the delivery of surface 

water to the area. 

The lands that will be analyzed in the 

SEIS Study Area include a mix of 

undeveloped and agricultural lands 

within the Odessa Groundwater 

Management Subarea and the Odessa 

Subarea Special Study Area boundaries 

in Grant County. A portion of the lands 

that the distribution system would cross 

from EL to the delivery point were not 

analyzed in the 2012 FEIS Study Area, 


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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 22, 2025 / Notices 7655 

and the SEIS will consider the impacts 

of construction and operation of EL 11.8 

on these lands. The construction of EL 

11.8 is anticipated to require blasting in 

the first 5.5 miles of the alignment. The 

2012 FEIS did not analyze noise and 

vibration effects associated with blasting 

because the distribution alignments 

anticipated at the time were not 

expected to require blasting. NRCS will, 

therefore, analyze the effects of noise 

and vibration within the anticipated 

affected area. The lands that the 

distribution system would serve were 

analyzed in the 2012 FEIS Study Area, 

and NRCS has determined that 

additional analysis of these lands is not 

needed. 

If selected as the SEIS preferred 

alternative after finalization of the SEIS, 

EL 11.8 would become a component of 

Alternative 4A. This would be 

formalized by amending the NRCS 2024 

ROD for Alternative 4A to include this 

distribution system. A map of the EL 

11.8 distribution system is available at: 

http://www.ogwrp-programs.org/ 

watershed-plan. The EL 11.8 would be 

included in the watershed plan being 

written by NRCS for Alternative 4A to 

be eligible for funding under Public Law 

83–566. 

Estimated Federal funds required for 

the construction of the proposed action 

that would become a component of 

Alternative 4A will exceed $25 million. 

Consistent with section 2 of the 

Watershed Protection and Flood 

Prevention Act of 1954, (16 U.S.C. 

1002), given that the Federal 

construction cost are estimated to be 

greater than $25 million, the 

Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry 

Committee of the Senate and the 

Committee on Agriculture of the House 

of Representatives will be notified that 

the Chief of NRCS plans to authorize 

this project for implementation. 

Preliminary Proposed Action and 

Alternatives, Including No Action 

The SEIS objective is to formulate and 

evaluate alternatives for the avoidance 

of economic loss to the region’s 

agricultural sector along with impacts to 

domestic and municipal water supplies. 

The SEIS will analyze a distribution 

system route that was not included in 

Alternative 4A for delivery of surface 

water from the CBP to replace 

groundwater irrigation in lands in the 

Odessa Subarea Special Study Area. The 

SEIS is expected to evaluate two 

alternatives: one no action alternative 

and one action alternative. 

The alternatives that may be 

considered for detailed analysis include: 

• Alternative 1—No Action 

Alternative: Taking no action would 

consist of activities conducted if no 

Federal action or funding were provided 

for the proposed action. If the No Action 

Alternative is selected, the irrigators in 

the Study Area would not be able to 

maintain economic viability because 

they would not be able to access 

irrigation water. The groundwater levels 

in the Study Area are declining. Due to 

that decline, irrigation water quantities 

are expected to become insufficient to 

support agricultural needs, which 

would lead to economic loss in the 

project area. Declining groundwater 

levels may also impact area domestic 

and municipal water supply. No Federal 

action or funding would be associated 

with the proposed action with the No 

Action Alternative. 

• Alternative 2—Proposed Action— 

EL 11.8. The proposed action would 

include the construction and operation 

of EL 11.8, which is a surface water 

distribution system alignment north of 

I–90 and east of Ephrata, Washington 

that would provide irrigation surface 

water from EL to lands 5 to 10 miles east 

along road W NE. The proposed EL 11.8 

system would include a new canal 

turnout infrastructure, a large-scale 

canal pump station, and 10.5 miles of 

large-diameter pipeline (60-inchthrough 44-inch-diameter mainline). 

The EL 11.8 system would serve 

approximately 7,638 acres of land 

currently served by groundwater. If EL 

11.8 is chosen as the preferred 

alternative in the supplemental EIS, 

these lands would be a portion of the 

overall 70,000 acres of land authorized 

under Alternative 4A for one-to-one 

replacement of groundwater irrigation 

with CBP surface water. The lands that 

the distribution system would serve 

were analyzed in the 2012 FEIS study 

area; however, a portion of the pipeline 

alignment for the distribution system is 

proposed to cross lands that were not 

analyzed in the 2012 FEIS. The SEIS 

Study Area includes a mix of 

undeveloped and agricultural lands 

within the Odessa Groundwater 

Management Subarea and the Odessa 

Subarea Special Study Area boundaries 

in Grant County. Ownership of lands in 

the project area consists of private, State 

and Federal landholders. 

Summary of Expected Impacts 

If the proposed action is chosen as the 

preferred alternative in the 

supplemental EIS, it will become a 

component of Alternative 4A. 

The SEIS will be prepared as required 

by section 102(2)(C) of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA, (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C))); the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 

1508); and NRCS regulations that 

implement NEPA in 7 CFR part 650. 

Resource concerns for the scope of 

resource effects analysis for the SEIS 

will be similar to that documented in 

the 2012 FEIS. The SEIS will analyze 

construction and operational impacts on 

the previously unanalyzed area that the 

EL 11.8 distribution system will cross, 

and the effects of blasting (noise and 

vibration) in the blast effect zone that 

will be used to construct the 

distribution system. Additionally, NRCS 

solicited comments from the public and 

coordinated with agency and tribal 

interested parties during the 2024 FEIS 

adoption process to ascertain relevant 

resource concerns. Environmental 

resources in the project area consist of 

the natural and human-made 

environment. Resource concerns to be 

identified and addressed in the SEIS 

include: the presence of Endangered 

Species Act (ESA)-listed species 

including candidate species; biological 

resources such as shrub-steppe habitat; 

geology and soils; noise and vibration 

related to potential blasting during 

construction; and cultural resources. 

Anticipated Permits and Authorizations 

The following permits, authorizations, 

or consultation processes are 

anticipated to be required or have 

previously been fully addressed as 

noted below: 

• ESA. Consultation with the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service would be 

conducted as required by ESA. 

• ESA. Based on coordination with 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS) for the 2024 adoption of the 

FEIS by NRCS, NMFS decided that 

additional consultation or reinitiation of 

ESA under its jurisdiction was not 

needed since no additional withdrawals 

of CBP water would occur under the 

proposed action. 

• Clean Water Act and National 

Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 

(NPDES). The project would require 

permitting under section 402 of the 

NPDES for stormwater discharge from a 

construction site. 

• National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA) Section 106. Consultation with 

Tribal Nations and interested parties 

would be conducted as required by the 

NHPA. 

• Washington State Environmental 

Policy Act (SEPA). Coordination for 

SEPA approval would be required for 

construction and operation of EL 11.8 

within non-Federal lands. As a 

cooperating agency, it is anticipated that 

Ecology will adopt the supplemental 

EIS for SEPA needs in accordance with 

Washington Administrative Code 197– 

11–610. 


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7656 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 13 / Wednesday, January 22, 2025 / Notices 

1See https://sam.gov/content/assistance-listings. 

• Washington Department of Fish and 

Wildlife (WDFW) Hydraulic Project 

Approval (HPA). Consultation with 

WDFW and potential HPA permits 

would be required for projects in or near 

State waters. 

• Local Grading and Storm Permit. 

Consultation for potential grading and 

storm permits would be required with 

Grant County for all construction work 

within non-Federal lands. 

Schedule of Decision-Making Process 

A draft SEIS (DSEIS) will be prepared 

and circulated for review and comment 

by agencies, Tribes, consulting parties, 

and the public for 45 days as required 

by the regulations in 40 CFR 1503.1, 

1502.20, 1506.11, and 1502.17, and 7 

CFR 650.13. The DSEIS is anticipated to 

be published in the Federal Register, 

approximately 12 months after 

publication of this NOI. A Final SEIS is 

anticipated to be published within 6 

months of completion of the public 

comment period for the DSEIS. 

NRCS will decide whether to 

implement or withdraw the proposed 

action alternatives as evaluated in the 

SEIS. A DSEIS will be completed and 

will be publicly available for comments. 

The Responsible Federal Official (RFO) 

and decision-maker for NRCS is the 

Washington State Conservationist. 

Reclamation, as a cooperating Federal 

agency, will make a decision to issue its 

own ROD in a similar manner. The 

decision-maker and RFO for 

Reclamation is the Regional Director, 

Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region. 

Public Scoping Process 

Public scoping is not a requirement 

for an SEIS (40 CFR 1502.9 (d)(3)). 

Public scoping was conducted for the 

2012 FEIS and is documented in the 

2012 FEIS and associated ROD. For the 

2024 adoption of the FEIS, NRCS 

solicited public comments and 

conducted agency and tribal outreach 

and coordination. Comments received, 

including the names and addresses of 

those who commented, are part of the 

public record and are documented in 

the NRCS 2024 ROD for the FEIS 

adoption. 

Identification of Potential Alternatives, 

Information, and Analyses 

NRCS invites agencies, Tribes, 

consulting parties, and individuals that 

have special expertise, legal 

jurisdiction, or interest to provide 

written comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis and identification of 

potential alternatives, information, and 

analyses relevant to the Proposed 

Action. 

The information about historic and 

cultural resources within the area 

potentially affected by the proposed 

project will assist NRCS in identifying 

and evaluating impacts to such 

resources in the context of both NEPA 

and NHPA. 

NRCS will invite Native American 

Tribes to consult on a government-togovernment basis in accordance with 

the regulations in 36 CFR 800.2 and 

800.3, Executive Order 13175, and other 

policies. Tribal concerns, including 

impacts on Indian trust assets and 

potential impacts to cultural resources 

and historic properties, will be given 

due consideration. 

Authorities 

This document is published as 

specified by the NEPA regulations 

regarding publication of an NOI to issue 

a SEIS (40 CFR 1501). Watershed 

planning is authorized under the 

Watershed Protection and Flood 

Prevention Act of 1954, as amended and 

the Flood Control Act of 1944. 

Federal Assistance Programs 

The title and number of the Federal 

Assistance Program as found in the 

Assistance Listing 1 to which this 

document applies is 10.904, Watershed 

Protection and Flood Prevention. The 

Regional Conservation Partnership 

Program is a potential funding source in 

addition to other funding opportunities 

that may arise, for which the title and 

number of the Federal Assistance 

Program is: 10.932—Regional 

Conservation Partnership Program. 

Executive Order 12372 

Executive Order 12372, 

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs,’’ requires consultation with 

State and local officials that would be 

directly affected by proposed Federal 

financial assistance. The objectives of 

the Executive Order are to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism, by relying on 

State and local processes for State and 

local government coordination and 

review of proposed Federal financial 

assistance and direct Federal 

development. This project is subject to 

the provisions of Executive Order 

12372, which requires 

intergovernmental consultation with 

State and local officials. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture NonDiscrimination Policy 

In accordance with Federal civil 

rights law and USDA civil rights 

regulations and policies, USDA, its 

agencies, offices, and employees, and 

institutions participating in or 

administering USDA programs are 

prohibited from discriminating based on 

race, color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity (including gender 

expression), sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family or 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, political 

beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior 

civil rights activity, in any program or 

activity conducted or funded by USDA 

(not all bases apply to all programs). 

Remedies and complaint filing 

deadlines vary by program or incident. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means of communication for program 

information (for example, braille, large 

print, audiotape, American Sign 

Language, etc.) should contact the 

responsible agency or USDA TARGET 

Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and 

telephone) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay Service 

(both voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any phone). 

Additionally, program information may 

be made available in languages other 

than English. 

To file a program discrimination 

complaint, complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, AD– 

3027, found online at https://

www.usda.gov/oascr/how-to-file-aprogram-discrimination-complaint and 

at any USDA office, or write a letter 

addressed to USDA and provide in the 

letter all the information requested in 

the form. To request a copy of the 

complaint form, call (866) 632–9992. 

Submit your completed form or letter to 

USDA by: (1) mail to U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; (2) fax to (202) 690– 

7442; or by (3) email to program.intake@

usda.gov. 

USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider, employer, and lender. 

Roylene Comes At Night, 

Washington State Conservationist, USDA 

Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01440 Filed 1–21–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–16–P 


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