[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 121 (Friday, June 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37884-37888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13502]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

[RR03040000.22XR068080.RX.18786000.5004001]


Request for Input on Development of Post-2026 Colorado River 
Reservoir Operational Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead Under 
Historically Low Reservoir Conditions

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for input.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary of the Interior has directed the Bureau of 
Reclamation (Reclamation) to begin work to develop operating strategies 
for the continued coordinated operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. A 
number of reservoir and water management decisional documents and 
agreements that govern operation of Colorado River facilities and 
management of Colorado River water are currently scheduled to expire at 
the end of 2026. These include the December 2007 Colorado River Interim 
Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for 
Lake Powell and Lake Mead (2007 Interim Guidelines), among other 
important management documents, both within the United States, as well 
as international agreements between the United States and Mexico 
pursuant to the United States-Mexico Treaty on Utilization of Waters of 
the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande (1944 Water 
Treaty).

DATES: Submit written comments on the proposed development of Post-2026 
Colorado River Operational Strategies pursuant to this notice on or 
before September 1, 2022.
    Reclamation will host two public webinars to summarize the content 
and purpose of this Federal Register notice. The webinars will take 
place on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (MDT), and on 
Thursday, July 14, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (MDT).

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on the proposed development of Post-
2026 Colorado River Operational Strategies to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#75362737581c1b131a35000617075b121a03"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2f6c7d6d02464149406f5a5c4d5d01484059">[email protected]</span></a>.
    The virtual meeting held on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, may be accessed 
at https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YTg1ZmVmMDItNzkxMC00YjM2LTg3NmEtNmIwMWI3ZGEyNjJm%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%220693b5ba-4b18-4d7b-9341-f32f400a5494%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22388b569b-9117-49f0-b6f1-cd12ff0587b0%22%7d; or call in (audio only) at (719) 733-3211, Phone 
Conference ID: 100 899 510#.
    The virtual meeting held on Thursday, July 14, 2022, may be 
accessed at https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MWE0YmZhNDItOGQwZC00YmRiLWJiMmItZDM4ZDUwN2JlNzcx%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%220693b5ba-4b18-4d7b-9341-f32f400a5494%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22e792bef3-e313-4746-82d1-a6064d5ee897%22%7d; or call in (audio only) at (202) 640-1187, Phone 
Conference ID: 795 497 392#.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carly Jerla, Senior Water Resources 
Program Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, at (303) 517-1160; or by email 
at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#24474e4156484564515746560a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="54373e3126383514212736267a333b22">[email protected]</span></a>. 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-
of-contact in the United States.

[[Page 37885]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Through this notice, and prior to formally 
initiating a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process (or 
processes) to develop post-2026 operations for Lake Powell and Lake 
Mead (among other potential actions), Reclamation is requesting input 
on: (a) processes that can be employed to encourage and facilitate 
meaningful participation of Colorado River Basin (Basin) partners, 
stakeholders, and the general public in the anticipated upcoming NEPA 
process(es); as well as (b) potential substantive elements and 
strategies for post-2026 operations to consider in the anticipated 
upcoming NEPA process(es). Reclamation anticipates formally initiating 
the NEPA process through a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement in the Federal Register in early 2023. As noted in 
more detail below, given current conditions in the Colorado River 
Basin, Reclamation may utilize multiple NEPA efforts, or other 
appropriate processes, to address emerging low-reservoir conditions in 
the Basin.
    The Colorado River Basin provides essential water supplies to 
approximately 40 million people, nearly 5.5 million acres of 
agricultural lands, and habitat for ecological resources across the 
Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. The limited water 
supplies of the Colorado River are declining and the Colorado River 
Basin is currently experiencing a prolonged period of drought and 
record-low runoff conditions resulting in historically low reservoir 
levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The period from 2000 through 2022 
is the driest 23-year period in more than a century and one of the 
driest periods in the last 1,200 years. Absent a change in hydrologic 
conditions, water use patterns, or both, Colorado River reservoirs will 
continue to decline to critically low elevations threatening essential 
water supplies across nine states in the United States and the Republic 
of Mexico (Mexico). It is foreseeable that without appropriate 
responsive actions and under a continuation of recent hydrologic 
trends, major Colorado River reservoirs could continue to decline to 
``dead pool''--elevations at which water cannot be regularly released 
from a reservoir--in coming years. As stated in the 2019 Lower Basin 
Drought Contingency Plan:

. . . as a result of actual operating experience subsequent to the 
adoption of the 2007 Interim Guidelines, as well as emerging 
scientific information regarding the increasing variability and 
anticipated decline in Colorado River flow volumes, the Parties 
recognize and acknowledge that entities that rely on the Colorado 
River as a water source face increased individual and collective 
risk of temporary or prolonged interruptions in water supplies, with 
associated adverse impacts on the society, environment and economy 
of the southwestern United States.

    The current unprecedented drought and low-runoff conditions are 
anticipated to persist and potentially worsen as a result of a number 
of factors, including increasing temperatures in the Basin, and other 
effects of climate change.
    As a result of the exceptionally low runoff conditions over the 
past 3 years (2020, 2021, and 2022), unprecedented drought response 
operations have been triggered at Lake Powell and Lake Mead consistent 
with the 2007 Interim Guidelines and agreements adopted pursuant to the 
2019 Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan Authorization Act (Pub. L. 
116-14) (the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) Act). The 
unprecedented risks facing the Colorado River Basin was the subject of 
a June 14, 2022 U.S. Senate hearing in which Reclamation Commissioner 
Camille Touton noted that while no one knows how dry the next few years 
could be, if recent (2018-present) dry conditions continue, Lake Powell 
and Lake Mead face extraordinary risks over the next 12-24 months, and 
that additional actions are needed to protect the reservoirs from 
rapidly declining to critically-low elevations: reductions totaling 
millions of acre-feet in reductions of use across the Basin could be 
needed to stabilize the reservoirs.

Background on Development of the 2007 Interim Guidelines.

    Initially spurred by a 5-year period in which Lake Powell and Lake 
Mead lost nearly half of the combined storage in the reservoirs as a 
result of an ongoing multi-year drought, decreasing overall system 
storage, and growing demands for Colorado River water, at the direction 
of the Secretary of the Interior, Reclamation initiated a NEPA process 
in 2005 to develop operating guidelines for the coordinated operations 
of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, along with Lower Basin shortage criteria 
(and other related actions). See 70 FR 57322 (September 30, 2005). 
Following completion of the NEPA process (and associated compliance 
activities), in December 2007 Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne 
approved the Record of Decision for the 2007 Interim Guidelines. 
Published at 73 FR 19873 (April 11, 2008). The 2007 Interim Guidelines 
provided objective operating criteria for the coordinated operations of 
Lake Powell and Lake Mead and for determining Lower Basin shortage 
conditions, as well as establishing a program to encourage water 
conservation actions in the Lower Basin.

Operational Agreements, Operating Experience and Changed Circumstances 
Since Adoption of the 2007 Interim Guidelines.

Operational Agreements

    Since their adoption, the 2007 Interim Guidelines have provided 
operating criteria for Lake Powell and Lake Mead including provisions 
designed to provide a greater degree of certainty to water users about 
timing and volumes of potential water delivery reductions, as well as 
additional operating flexibility to conserve and enhance water storage 
in Colorado River system reservoirs. In 2012, the United States and 
Mexico adopted Minute 319, a binational agreement adopted pursuant to 
the 1944 Water Treaty. Minute 319 provided interim (2012-2017) 
operating provisions that implement the provisions of the 1944 Water 
Treaty, establishing objective criteria for treaty deliveries through a 
wide range of reservoir conditions, and established mechanisms that 
provide Mexico with the flexibility to reduce water use and defer 
delivery of the reduced volumes in subsequent years. Minute 319 also 
provided U.S. funding to enhance water conservation and riparian 
habitat in the Colorado River Delta and Limitrophe region.
    Notwithstanding the elements of the 2007 Interim Guidelines (and 
Minute 319), as hydrologic conditions worsened thereby increasing the 
risk of reservoirs declining to critically-low conditions, in 2013-
2014, Reclamation and stakeholders began pursuing additional adaptive 
management actions. Among other drought response activities, the Upper 
and Lower Basin DCPs were adopted pursuant to the 2019 DCP Act. A 
further agreement with Mexico in 2017 (Minute 323) had previously 
established enhanced water reduction, water conservation, and savings 
mechanisms pursuant to the 1944 Water Treaty. Both the 2007 Interim 
Guidelines and the DCPs are anticipated to be in place for an interim 
period through 2026.\1\ Similarly, Minute 323 is anticipated to be in 
effect through 2026.
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    \1\ Except for the special provisions described in Section 
XI.G.8. of the 2007 Interim Guidelines, the 2007 Interim Guidelines 
are anticipated to remain in effect through December 31, 2025 
(through preparation of the 2026 Annual Operating Plan). With the 
exception of certain Intentionally Created Surplus recovery and 
Upper Basin demand management provisions, operations under the 
Guidelines and the DCPs are in effect through December 31, 2026.

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[[Page 37886]]

2020 Review of Operating Experience

    The interim nature of the 2007 Interim Guidelines has provided the 
opportunity to gain valuable experience in the management of Lake 
Powell and Lake Mead under the adopted operations, improving the basis 
for making future operational decisions, both during the interim period 
and after. Section XI.G.7.D. of the 2007 Interim Guidelines required 
the documentation of this experience and an evaluation of the 
effectiveness of the 2007 Interim Guidelines. In fulfillment of this 
provision, in December 2020, Reclamation published on its website its 
``Review of the Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin 
Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead'' 
(the 2020 7.D. Review).
    The purpose of the 2007 Interim Guidelines was determined in the 
early stages of the NEPA process led by Reclamation to develop the 
guidelines and consists of 3 components. As stated in Section IV of the 
2007 Interim Guidelines, the purpose is to:
    <bullet> ``improve Reclamation's management of the Colorado River 
by considering trade-offs between the frequency and magnitude of 
reductions of water deliveries, and considering the effects on water 
storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and on water supply, power 
production, recreation, and other environmental resources;
    <bullet> provide mainstream United States users of Colorado River 
water, particularly those in the Lower Division states, a greater 
degree of predictability with respect to the amount of annual water 
deliveries in future years, particularly under drought and low 
reservoir conditions; and
    <bullet> provide additional mechanisms for the storage and delivery 
of water supplies in Lake Mead to increase the flexibility of meeting 
water use needs from Lake Mead, particularly under drought and low 
reservoir conditions.''
    The 2020 7.D. Review found that the 2007 Interim Guidelines were 
largely effective as measured against this stated purpose.
    However, with respect to the 4 operational elements of the 2007 
Interim Guidelines (Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake 
Mead, Lower Basin Surplus Guidelines, Lower Basin Shortage Guidelines, 
and Storage and Delivery of Conserved Water in the Lower Basin), the 
2007 Interim Guidelines failed to provide sufficiently robust operating 
provisions to address the increasing severity of the drought and low 
runoff conditions exacerbated by climate change. By 2013-2014, as a 
result of the worsening drought, a broad consensus within the Basin 
emerged that additional actions were needed to reduce the risk of Lake 
Powell and Lake Mead reaching critically low elevations. This led to 
the adoption of the DCPs and other voluntary adaptive actions.
    The 2020 7.D. Review also documented important considerations for 
enhancing future effectiveness: (1) enhanced flexibilities and 
transparency for water users; (2) expanded participation in 
conservation and Basin-wide programs; (3) increased consideration of 
the linkage that occurs through coordinated reservoir operations, 
particularly with respect to the uncertainties inherent in model 
projections used to set operating conditions; and (4) more robust 
measures to protect reservoir levels.
    Reclamation received written input during the 2020 7.D. Review 
process from a diverse group of partners and stakeholders across the 
Colorado River Basin. One area of significant comment was with respect 
to the stakeholder engagement process used to develop the 2007 Interim 
Guidelines. Multiple commenters expressed that the process was 
inadequate to meaningfully engage a sufficiently diverse group of 
stakeholders. Given the increased partner and stakeholder participation 
in Basin decision-making processes since the adoption of the 2007 
Interim Guidelines, the Department of the Interior (Department or 
Interior) is particularly focused on developing and implementing a 
process that facilitates and encourages meaningful participation of 
Basin partners and stakeholders including other Federal agencies, the 
seven Colorado River Basin States, Native American Tribes, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), academic experts, and the general 
public. As discussed below, the Department is also committed to 
identifying processes that can complement the efforts of the 
International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to develop post-2026 
agreements that would succeed current agreements contained in Minute 
323.

Changed Circumstances Since Adoption of the 2007 Interim Guidelines

    As Reclamation and the Department prepare to initiate a NEPA 
process for the post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operational 
Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead under historically low 
reservoir conditions, it is important to succinctly highlight a few 
areas where circumstances have changed since adoption of the 2007 
Interim Guidelines. Reclamation welcomes input on these changed 
circumstances as well as suggestions on potential strategies that would 
be appropriate to more successfully address these changed circumstances 
given the expectation that conditions will continue to change in the 
Colorado River Basin in the years and decades ahead.
    1. With respect to issues involving hydrology, risk facing the 
Basin, and advances in scientific understandings:
    Since 2000, 50 percent of these years have seen less than 11 
million acre-feet (maf) of annual natural flow at Lees Ferry and 13 
percent have seen less than 8 maf. The 21st century has been 20 percent 
drier than the 20th century, and the 5-year average has declined by 33 
percent in 23 years. Future strategies should consider these conditions 
and the likelihood of continued declines in supply.
    The 2007 Interim Guidelines were developed in response to 5 years 
of drought and precipitous reservoir declines and were based primarily 
on the modeling assumption of a stationary climate where future inflows 
were adequately represented in the observed historical record.
    Since 2007, unprecedented drought has changed our understanding of 
basin hydrology; climate science tells us that the future temperatures 
in the Colorado River Basin will continue to warm and that we can 
expect an increased likelihood of experiencing deep, prolonged 
droughts.
    The 2020 7.D. Review found that while the 2007 Interim Guidelines 
were effective at meeting their overall purpose, the increasing 
severity of the drought demonstrated that the 2007 Interim Guidelines 
were insufficiently robust to protect reservoir storage, requiring the 
adoption of the DCPs and other responsive adaptive actions.
    Nevertheless, even the additional actions adopted subsequent to the 
2007 Interim Guidelines were demonstrably insufficient to address the 
ongoing drought and low runoff conditions. With declining reservoir 
conditions, Reclamation undertook emergency and other drought response 
actions in both 2021 and 2022 to protect infrastructure and operations 
at Glen Canyon Dam.
    The latest global climate model-derived projections of climate 
change agree that temperatures will warm, but precipitation and impacts 
on basin hydrology continue to show a wide range of potential futures 
and experts cannot say with a high degree of confidence or specificity 
what is most likely to happen in a nonstationary

[[Page 37887]]

climate (i.e., the question ``what will future runoff be?'' cannot be 
answered). Hydrologic uncertainty combined with uncertain future growth 
and water use compound to mean that it is impossible to assign 
probabilities to any given future and the basin is experiencing 
conditions of deep uncertainty.
    These factors lead Reclamation to observe that in developing post-
2026 guidelines in a nonstationary, drying system, a different approach 
toward addressing risk that employs planning methods that account for 
deep uncertainty must be taken. Such an approach should enhance the 
ability to identify robust policies that are better prepared to adapt 
to changing conditions.
    For planning purposes, robust policies are those that withstand a 
broad range of future conditions and are not based on a single set of 
assumptions about water supply and demand. With increasing temperatures 
across the basin, predictions of commensurate decreases in reliable 
supply, and uncertainty in future demands, Reclamation believes that 
future policies must be tested across a wide range of potential future 
conditions, including drought sequences that are longer and more severe 
than those that have been observed. Absent such an approach, policies 
are likely to be insufficiently robust, adaptable, and successful.
    2. With respect to issues regarding engagement and inclusivity in 
Colorado River decision-making:
    The domestic stakeholder process used to develop the 2007 Interim 
Guidelines was considered, at the time, to have engaged a wide range of 
stakeholders and included extensive public involvement. Central to this 
process was technical outreach and modeling support provided by 
Reclamation.
    In the intervening 15 years, there has been an increasing level of 
collaboration and communication across the Basin--indicating the 
necessity of more deeply engaging a broader range of stakeholders 
during the upcoming process(es). Meaningfully engaging and encouraging 
the participation of Colorado River Basin Tribes, representatives of 
Mexico, and NGOs was crucial to the success of the key and essential 
operational decisions that have come about since the adoption of the 
2007 Interim Guidelines.
    As we approach the initiation of efforts to develop post-2026 
guidelines, Reclamation has identified that it intends to design and 
implement a stakeholder process that is inclusive, transparent, and 
encourages meaningful engagement. In order to accomplish this 
commitment, Reclamation intends to prioritize stakeholder technical 
education, technical outreach, and timely access to relevant technical 
information. Reclamation intends to support parties in developing 
strategies and would welcome input on recommended steps to ensure 
active participation by a wide range of Basin partners, stakeholders, 
and the general public. Reclamation will continue to seek to prioritize 
the development of approaches that have broad-based support.
    a. With respect to Colorado River Basin Tribes:
    During the preparation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines, the 
Department conducted extensive engagement with Native American Tribes 
in the Colorado River Basin (Basin Tribes) regarding the potential 
adoption of operating guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead and 
related actions, including the adoption of rules regarding creation, 
accounting and delivery of Intentionally Created Surplus. See 2007 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Appendix I, at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies/FEIS/AppI.pdf.
    Notwithstanding the engagement documented in the 2007 FEIS, during 
the implementation of the 2007 Interim Guidelines, many Basin Tribes 
have expressed deeply-held concerns, viewpoints, and objections to the 
lack of full engagement and consultation, and that any engagement 
during the development (and implementation) of the 2007 Interim 
Guidelines was insufficient to address the range of interests, needs, 
and fundamental rights of the Basin Tribes. These concerns have 
significantly increased as water supply conditions in the Basin have 
been increasingly impacted by drought, low runoff, and the effects of 
climate change.
    Interior has undertaken extensive efforts across the Basin to 
facilitate Indian Water Rights Settlements, enhance Tribal utilization 
of water rights, engage with Tribal Governments, and facilitate Basin 
engagement. For example, beginning last year, Reclamation has hosted 
monthly Tribal Information Exchanges as one mechanism to share timely 
information on Colorado River Basin conditions, challenges, and 
opportunities for investment and water conservation programs. While 
these efforts have continuously increased over time, there are 
extraordinary and unique challenges facing Basin Tribes.
    Basin Tribes have expressed their concerns in direct correspondence 
to the Secretary of the Interior and have formally requested 
commitments from Interior for greater inclusion in the NEPA process to 
develop post-2026 operations, as well as increased engagement and 
consultation during the implementation of any guidelines developed 
pursuant to the upcoming NEPA process.
    Interior recognizes that each Basin Tribe possesses unique rights 
(including water rights), unique viewpoints, and concerns with respect 
to current and projected conditions in the Basin. While it is premature 
at this time for Interior to make precise decisions about the content 
of post-2026 operations, the Secretary of the Interior has and is 
committed to engage and consult with the Basin Tribes in a meaningful 
and transparent manner during the upcoming NEPA process and to fully 
consider tribal input and viewpoints through government-to-government 
consultation, consistent with the Department's Detailed Plan for 
Improving Interior's Implementation of Executive Order 13175, 
Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribes, found at www.doi.gov/priorities/tribal-consultation. Interior is interested in receiving 
specific input on the most effective processes that can be employed 
during the upcoming NEPA process(es) to ensure that these commitments 
are fully implemented.
    b. With respect to engagement with Mexico:
    The 2007 Interim Guidelines were adopted under the authority of the 
Secretary of the Interior. Accordingly, the scope of the 2007 Interim 
Guidelines was domestic, and no decisions were made regarding 
operations under the 1944 Water Treaty.
    Since 2007 an extraordinary cooperative process has been forged 
between the two nations with the participation of the Department and 
Reclamation in support of agreements developed between the United 
States and Mexico Sections of the IBWC. Since adoption of the 2007 
Interim Guidelines, significant international agreements on the 
Colorado River are memorialized in Minutes 316, 317, 318, 319, and 323.
    With Minute 323 scheduled to expire at the same time as the 2007 
Interim Guidelines and the 2019 DCP, the United States and Mexico have 
expressed a policy goal of developing a successor to Minute 323 on a 
parallel timeline as the domestic development of post-2026 operational 
approaches. This policy goal is intended to ensure that Colorado River 
reservoirs continue to be managed in a manner that ensures an

[[Page 37888]]

appropriate degree of operational alignment.
    While not determining in any way what processes the IBWC may choose 
to utilize, the Department would welcome input on how the Interior-led 
domestic planning processes could be implemented in a coordinated and 
complementary fashion to those of the IBWC.
    3. With respect to the current and emerging operational challenges 
and potential for significant disruptions to Colorado River water 
supplies under continued low-runoff conditions:
    While previous actions, especially the DCP, were intended to 
preserve Reclamation's ability to undertake post-2026 planning with a 
stable system and avoid crisis planning, very dry hydrology since the 
adoption of the DCP has resulted in Lake Powell and Lake Mead nearing 
critically low elevations.
    Should the conditions continue or worsen, we recognize that in 
addition to post-2026 planning under the anticipated NEPA process(es), 
Reclamation may likely need to also prioritize implementation of near-
term actions to stabilize the decline in reservoir storage and prevent 
system collapse. Reclamation has not yet determined what additional 
actions or processes may be required to address these near-term 
operational risks. It is anticipated that near-term response actions 
and development of post-2026 operations will need to proceed on 
parallel timelines.
    <bullet> Process: Reclamation seeks specific input on suggested 
mechanisms for the anticipated NEPA process(es) to ensure that a wide 
range of Basin partners, stakeholders, and the general public can 
meaningfully engage and participate in the development of post-2026 
operational strategies.
    <bullet> Substantive elements of post-2026 operations: Reclamation 
seeks input on potential substantive elements and strategies that 
should be considered for post-2026 operations and considered in the 
anticipated upcoming NEPA process(es).
    With respect to both these areas where Reclamation is seeking input 
through this Federal Register notice, Reclamation is particularly 
interested in receiving specific recommendations that can be considered 
and potentially integrated as the initiation of the NEPA process is 
being developed.
    Reclamation notes that it intends to formally initiate the NEPA 
process for development of post-2026 operations through a Notice of 
Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal 
Register in early 2023. Any input received as part of this Federal 
Register notice request for input will be fully considered by 
Reclamation but formal scoping comments will be solicited following 
initiation of the anticipated NEPA process. Decisions by entities 
whether or not to submit input regarding this Federal Register notice 
shall not limit or prejudice in any manner comments such entities may 
choose to submit during the formal scoping period following a formal 
Notice of Intent to initiate preparation of an Environmental Impact 
Statement (anticipated in early 2023).

Public Disclosure of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

Tanya Trujillo,
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
[FR Doc. 2022-13502 Filed 6-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4332-90-P


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