Wednesday, April 12, 2023

UPDATE: Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Near-term Colorado River Operations

 


www.usbr.gov

Colorado River Basin | Bureau of Reclamation

Bureau of Reclamation
8 - 9 minutes

Purpose and Need

The purpose of the SEIS is to supplement the 2007 Interim Guidelines to modify guidelines for operation of Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam to address historic drought, historically low reservoirs, and low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin. aww

The need for the modified operating guidelines is based on the potential that continued low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin could lead Lake Powell and Lake Mead to decline to critically low elevations, impacting operations through the remainder of the interim period (prior to January 1, 2027).

Alternatives

The draft SEIS considers three alternatives:

  • The No Action Alternative, required by the National Environmental Policy Act, describes the continued implementation of existing agreements that control operations of Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams.
  • Action Alternative 1 models operational changes to both Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam. Action Alternative 1 includes assumptions for reduced releases from Glen Canyon Dam as well as assumptions for additional Lower Colorado River Basin shortages based on the concept of priority. Action Alternative 1 models progressively larger additional shortages as Lake Mead's elevation declines and models larger additional shortages in 2025-2026 as compared with 2024. The total shortages and Drought Contingency Plan contributions in 2024, as modeled, are limited to 2.083 million-acre-feet because this is the maximum volume analyzed in the 2007 Interim Guidelines final environmental impact statement.
  • Action Alternative 2 is similar to Action Alternative 1, in how it models operational changes to both Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam. Action Alternative 2 includes assumptions for reduced releases from Glen Canyon Dam as well as assumptions for additional Lower Colorado River Basin reductions that are distributed in the same percentage across all Lower Basin water users. 
  • While both the 2007 Interim Guidelines and the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan encompass shortages and contributions that reflect the priority system, the additional shortages identified in Action Alternative 2 for the remainder of the interim period would be distributed in the same percentage across all Lower Basin water users. 
  • Action Alternative 2 models progressively larger additional shortages as Lake Mead's elevation declines and models larger Lower Basin shortages in 2025-2026 as compared with 2024. The total shortages and Drought Contingency Plan contributions in 2024, as modeled, are limited to 2.083 million-acre-feet because this is the maximum volume analyzed in the 2007 Interim Guidelines FEIS.

Public Involvement

The draft SEIS will be published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2023, starting the 45-day public comment period.

Paper copies are available for public review at the Lower Colorado Basin Regional Office, 500 Fir Street, Boulder City, Nevada 89005, and at the Upper Colorado Basin Regional Office, 125 South State Street, Room 8100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84138, as well as area offices within the Colorado River Basin. Those offices and their locations can be found on Reclamation's website.

Written comments on the SEIS should be submitted by May 30, 2023. Reclamation is particularly interested in receiving specific recommendations related to the analyses or alternatives that can be considered and potentially integrated into the SEIS.

For information in Spanish on how to attend the public meetings or provide comments, please download the instructions here. Para obtener información en español sobre cómo asistir a las reuniones públicas o presentar observaciones, descargue las instrucciones aquí.

✓ Comments may be submitted via the following methods:

  • Mail to:
    Reclamation
    2007 Interim Guidelines SEIS Project Manager
    Upper Colorado Basin Region
    125 South State Street, Suite 8100
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84138

Reclamation will hold four virtual public meetings to provide information on the draft SEIS, answer questions, and take verbal comment. To attend a virtual public meeting, click the link below that corresponds to the meeting date you would like to attend and fill out the registration form. You will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom webinar connection information once you register.

✓ An interactive webpage with information on the project background and summaries of the draft SEIS alternatives and analyses will be posted on the project website prior to the virtual public meetings. Each virtual public meeting will begin with 30 minutes for participants to explore the background information on the webpage at their own pace. The formal meeting presentation will begin 30 minutes after the scheduled meeting start time. Reclamation will take questions and public comments following the presentation. The interactive webpage materials and the virtual public meetings will be available in Spanish.

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

Questions

For further information, contact the project team by email at CRinterimops@usbr.gov or call the project telephone line at (602) 609-6739.

Last Updated: 4/11/23 



The Biden administration on Tuesday moved closer to imposing unprecedented cuts in how much water Arizona, California and Nevada could pull from the Colorado River, while raising the possibility that these reductions could be distributed in ways that contradict long-standing water rights that favor powerful farming regions.

In releasing a new environmental review of how to operate the Colorado River’s major reservoirs, the Interior Department detailed the painful dilemma facing the American West after a two-decade drought and chronic overuse.

Interior officials also defended Secretary Deb Haaland’s right to make cuts in a proportional way in times of emergency even if that goes against water rights held by farming communities from more than a century ago.

Over the past year, the seven states of the Colorado River basin have been unable to reach an agreement among themselves to make major cuts to protect the reservoirs. The federal government expects to make a decision on how reductions could be distributed by August.

Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Near-term Colorado River Operations

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