[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 25, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20831-20832]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-10218]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Banks Lake Drawdown, Columbia Basin Project, Washington

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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[[Page 20832]]

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation) proposes to prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) to evaluate impacts of altering existing operations at Banks Lake 
to provide for an annual drawdown of up to 10 feet from full pool to 
enhance flows in the Columbia River during the juvenile out migration 
of salmonid stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act. The 
proposed drawdown would occur in August and the elevation of the 
surface water would remain constant from August 31st through December 
31st. This action would constitute a change in existing operations, 
although it is within existing operating authorization. The proposed 
drawdown is being evaluated in response to Action item 31 of the 
Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion issued 
by the National Marine Fisheries Service on December 21, 2000.

DATES: A scoping meeting to identify issues to be evaluated in the EIS 
will be held at:
    <bullet> Coulee City, WA: May 15, 2001, 7 to 9 p.m.
    Written comments will be accepted through May 31, 2001 for 
inclusion in the scoping summary document. Requests for sign language 
interpretation for the hearing impaired or other auxiliary aids should 
be submitted to Jim Blanchard as indicated under ADDRESSES by May 8, 
2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments and requests to be added to the mailing list may be 
submitted to Bureau of Reclamation, Ephrata Field Office, Attention: 
James Blanchard, 32 C Street, Box 815, Ephrata, WA 98823.
    The scoping meeting will be held at the following location:
    <bullet> Coulee City Middle School Gym, 312 E. Main Street, Coulee 
City, WA.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual 
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public 
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There 
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's 
identity from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish us to 
withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at 
the beginning of your comment. We will make all submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, available for public disclosure in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Blanchard, Bureau of 
Reclamation, telephone: (509) 754-0226, fax: (509) 754-0239. The 
hearing impaired may contact Mr. Blanchard at the above number via a 
toll free TTY relay: (800) 833-6388. The meeting facilities are 
physically accessible to people with disabilities. Please direct 
requests for sign language interpretation for the hearing impaired, or 
other special needs, to James Blanchard at the telephone numbers 
indicated above by May 8, 2001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Banks Lake is operated as a re-regulation reservoir for the 
Columbia Basin Project (CBP). The reservoir is approximately 27 miles 
long and contains slightly more than one million acre feet of water at 
full pool. The water supply for the reservoir is stored behind Grand 
Coulee Dam and is lifted from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Reservoir into 
Banks Lake. Water is delivered into the Main Canal at Dry Falls Dam on 
the southern end of Banks Lake and from there delivered to 
approximately 670,000 acres. This is just over \1/2\ of the authorized 
lands for the CBP. Although Reclamation is currently authorized to 
operate the reservoir down to 5 feet below full pool, for the past 5 
years it has been operated at close to full pool throughout the year to 
increase the generating capability of the pump/generators at Grand 
Coulee. Previous operations were within the top two feet of full pool 
during irrigation season and then drawing the reservoir level down five 
feet during the non-irrigation season.
    Action 31 of the FCRPS Biological Opinion calls for the assessment 
of operation of Banks Lake at up to 10 feet below full pool beginning 
in August of each year. Refill would occur from January through April. 
The reduction of pumping into Banks Lake will increase the amount of 
water available to support endangered salmonid stocks in the Columbia 
River.

Public Involvement

    Reclamation is requesting public comment to help identify the 
significant issues and reasonable alternatives to be addressed in the 
EIS. Reclamation will summarize comments received during the scoping 
meeting and from letters of comment received during the scoping period, 
identified under DATES, into a scoping summary document. This scoping 
summary will be sent to all who responded during the scoping period, 
and also will be made available to the public upon request.

    Dated: April 19, 2001.
J. Eric Glover,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 01-10218 Filed 4-24-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P