Federal Register: January 26, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 16)
DOCID: FR Doc 04-1554
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Reclamation Bureau
INT ID: [INT-DES-04-3]
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Environmental statements; availability, etc.:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft environmental impact statement.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program
DATES: A 60-day public review period commences with the publication of this notice, or until April 2, whichever comes later. Public hearings on the DEIS will be held during the month of March. Times and locations will be announced in the Federal Register and local media.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (as amended), the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) as lead agencies have prepared a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (Program). This DEIS also serves as the Biological Assessment necessary for consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 1997, the States of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) signed a Cooperative Agreement for Platte River Research and Other Efforts Relating to Endangered Species Habitats Along the Central Platte River, Nebraska (Cooperative Agreement). In this document, the signatories agreed to pursue a basinwide, cooperative approach to improve and maintain habitat for four threatened and endangered speciesthe whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon (target species) in the Platte River in Nebraska.
SUMMARY:
Platte River Recovery Implementation Program, NE,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Reclamation and the Service have prepared this DEIS to analyze the impacts of the First Increment (13 years) of a proposed Program to benefit the target species and their habitat in the Platte River Basin and to provide compliance with the ESA for certain historic and future water uses in each State. The habitat objectives of the proposed Program include: improving flows in the Central Platte River through water reregulation and conservation/supply projects; and protecting, restoring, and maintaining at least 10,000 acres of habitat in the Central Platte River area between Lexington and Chapman, Nebraska. The DEIS analyzes the impacts of four alternatives to implement the Program.
The programmatic DEIS focuses on impacts that the Program may have on hydrology, water quality, land, target species and their habitat, other species, hydropower, recreation, economics, and social and cultural resources. Subsequent NEPA and ESA documents required for implementation of specific Program actions will be tiered off of this document.
DEIS available for public inspection at the following locations:
Libraries:
Public Disclosure Statement
Comments received in response to this notice will become part of
the administrative record for this project and are subject to public inspection. Comments, including names and home
[[Page 3601]]
addresses of respondents, will be available for public review.
Individual respondents may request that Reclamation and the Service
withhold their home address from public disclosure, which will be
honored to the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances
in which Reclamation and the Service would withhold a respondent's
identity from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish to
have your name and/or address withheld, you must state this prominently
at the beginning of your comment. Reclamation and the Service 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.
Dated: January 16, 2004.
Willie R. Taylor,
Director, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.