Notice2023-03870
Bonneville Power Administration Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Termination
Primary source
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Published
February 24, 2023
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentBonneville Power Administration
Abstract
This notice advises the public that BPA is terminating the preparation of the Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades EIS and instead will prepare an EA. This EIS would have considered BPA's decision whether to fund the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation's (Yakama Nation) proposal to upgrade facilities at the Klickitat Hatchery to facilitate a possible increase in production of spring Chinook salmon in the Klickitat River Basin. The change in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis is due to a refinement of project scope and design that would minimize resource effects and extensive agency coordination that has shown existing permits are sufficient to address the proposed changes.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 37 (Friday, February 24, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11905-11906]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03870]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Bonneville Power Administration
[BPA File No. Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades (DOE/EIS 0535)]
Bonneville Power Administration Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Termination
AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy
(DOE).
ACTION: Notice of intent to terminate the preparation of an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and intent to prepare an
Environmental Assessment (EA).
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that BPA is terminating the
preparation of the Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades EIS and instead will
prepare an EA. This EIS would have considered BPA's decision whether to
fund the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation's (Yakama
Nation) proposal to upgrade facilities at the Klickitat Hatchery to
facilitate a possible increase in production of spring Chinook salmon
in the Klickitat River Basin. The change in National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) analysis is due to a refinement of project scope and
design that would minimize resource effects and extensive agency
coordination that has shown existing permits are sufficient to address
the proposed changes.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Sharp, Environmental
Protection Specialist, Bonneville Power Administration--ECF-4, P.O. Box
3621, Portland, Oregon 97208-3621; toll-free telephone 1-800-622-4519;
direct telephone 503-230-5206; or email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b6d5d7c5ded7c4c6f6d4c6d798d1d9c0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2c1c3d1cac3d0d2e2c0d2c38cc5cdd4">[email protected]</span></a> or Mary Todd
Haight, Project Manager, Bonneville Power Administration--EWM-4, P.O.
Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; toll-free telephone number 1-
800-622-4519; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#177a637f767e707f635775677639707861"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2548514d444c424d51654755440b424a53">[email protected]</span></a>. Additional information can be
found at the project website: <a href="http://www.bpa.gov/nepa/klickitat-hatchery-upgrades">www.bpa.gov/nepa/klickitat-hatchery-upgrades</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Notice of Intent (NOI) was published in
the Federal Register on October 6, 2017 (82 FR 46804), to begin
preparing an EIS for the Klickitat Hatchery Upgrades. The facility
improvements would allow the Yakama Nation to increase spring Chinook
production from 600,000 to 800,000 smolts, and move from a segregated
to an integrated spring Chinook production program. Other cost-
dependent options include additional on-site housing for hatchery
facility staff and upgrades to the hatchery administrative building.
At the time of issuance, the 2017 NOI identified the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) as a cooperating agency for the
project. Since then, NMFS has determined their Mitchell Act Record of
Decision (ROD) and Biological Opinion (BO) adequately cover their NEPA
and Endangered Species Act (ESA) obligations for increased operations
and maintenance funding for the increase in spring Chinook production
and integrated programming at the Klickitat Hatchery. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) had also elected to be a
cooperating agency based on an assumption that the proposed project
would be determined to be a new source under 40 CFR 122.2 and 122.29.
After reviewing more fully developed project designs, USEPA was able to
determine that the proposed action would no longer meet the definition
of a new source under 40 CFR 122.29, and USEPA thereby rescinded their
status as cooperating agency on June 2, 2022. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers also issued a determination on August 5, 2022, that no permit
would be required under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act.
These efforts to minimize resource effects and coordination with
permitting agencies to confirm that existing permits would address the
proposed changes have allowed BPA to determine that an EA and FONSI are
more appropriate for this project. BPA will complete an EA, consistent
with NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality's and the Department
of Energy's NEPA implementing regulations to decide whether to fund the
proposed action. The document will be used by BPA as the funding
entity, Yakama Nation as operator of the facility that is located on
the Yakama Nation Reservation, and Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife as current landowner and co-manager of the fishery resources
in the Klickitat River basin for their respective environmental
compliance needs.
The proposal would include funding capital improvements at the
Klickitat Hatchery that would enable the Yakama Nation to implement a
multi-year transition from a segregated production program of 600,000
spring Chinook smolts to an integrated spring Chinook production
program totaling 800,000 smolts. All fish production (spring and fall
Chinook and coho salmon) operations and facility maintenance at the
hatchery has been funded through NMFS under the Mitchell Act since the
hatchery was built in 1954. BPA is not proposing to fund fish
production or to assume responsibility for any Mitchell Act funding for
the Klickitat Hatchery. BPA funds would be limited to the proposed
capital improvements to support spring Chinook production.
To facilitate this transition, capital improvements to the existing
Klickitat Hatchery facility would include:
<bullet> Upgraded water supply and discharge systems
<bullet> Rehabilitation and consolidation of spring water intake and
pipeline
<bullet> Rehabilitation of river water intake pumps and filtration
system
<bullet> Replacement of the existing pollution abatement settling pond
with a new in-line system
<bullet> Updates to the existing fish ladder
<bullet> New adult holding raceways and spawning infrastructure
<bullet> Installation of a new circular tank aquaculture system to
support spring Chinook integrated programming
<bullet> Addition of a chemical storage building
<bullet> Upgrades to the hatchery security and alarm systems
Optional, cost-dependent upgrades include:
<bullet> Updates to the existing hatchery administrative space
<bullet> Construction of two on-site residences for hatchery staff
<bullet> Installation of predator control netting over the spring
Chinook raceways
For the reasons previously explained in this notice, the EIS is
being terminated in accordance with 40 CFR 1506.6 and 40 CFR 1506.10.
Signing Authority: This document of the Department of Energy was
signed on February 9, 2023 by John Hairston, Administrator and Chief
Executive Officer of the Bonneville Power Administration, pursuant to
delegated
[[Page 11906]]
authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original
signature and date is maintained by the Department of Energy. For
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned Department of
Energy Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and
submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an
official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon
publication in the Federal Register.
Signed in Washington, DC, on February 21, 2023.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2023-03870 Filed 2-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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