Notice2022-13502
Request for Input on Development of Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operational Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead Under Historically Low Reservoir Conditions
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 24, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentReclamation Bureau
Abstract
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).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 121 (Friday, June 24, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 121 (Friday, June 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37884-37888]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[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 <a href="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">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</a>; 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 <a href="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">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</a>; 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 <a href="https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies/FEIS/AppI.pdf">https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies/FEIS/AppI.pdf</a>.
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 <a href="http://www.doi.gov/priorities/tribal-consultation">www.doi.gov/priorities/tribal-consultation</a>. 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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