The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today jointly released for public comment the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program. Public comments are requested by April 2, 2004.
In 1997, the states of Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming and the Department of the Interior signed a cooperative agreement to jointly pursue a basin wide effort to improve and maintain habitat for four threatened and endangered species on the Platte River in Nebraska. The four target species are the whooping crane, interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon.
The Platte River Recovery Implementation Program is the proposed Federal action analyzed in the DEIS. The DEIS assesses the environmental consequences of the first 13 years of the proposed program. This analysis is carried out to meet requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA). When implemented, the program is intended to provide compliance with the ESA for certain existing water projects and water uses as well as certain future water uses in the Platte River Basin. In addition to the proposed program, the DEIS evaluates three other alternatives. The DEIS does not identify a preferred alternative.
The Cooperative Agreement established the Governance Committee, with representatives from the three states, water users, environmental groups, and Federal agencies, which formulated the program proposal evaluated in the DEIS. Although the Governance Committee put the proposal forward for NEPA and ESA evaluation, no final decisions have been made by the committee or its member organizations to adopt or implement the proposal. Decisions by the state governors and the Secretary of the Interior on implementation are not expected until early 2005, after completion of the NEPA and ESA review process in late 2004.
The DEIS is being released for public comment at the same time that a report is expected from the National Research Council (part of the National Academy of Science) reviewing the science related to the proposed Program.
The DEIS was prepared jointly by two Interior agencies; the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Reclamation
