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Chapter 1 Purpose of and Need for Action

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Chapter 1 Purpose of and Need for Action Chapter 1 Purpose of and Need for Action Introduction The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Walker River Basin Acquisition Program (Acquisition Program). This Draft EIS examines a Proposed Project and other alternatives for the Acquisition Program. Reclamation is providing funding to the University of Nevada System of Higher Education (University) for their Acquisition Program and research. The funding is provided through Reclamation’s Desert Terminal Lakes Program, established in 2002 by Public Law (PL) 101-171. In the past several years, Congress passed three pieces of legislation related to desert terminal lakes: PL 107-171 Section 2507; PL 108-7 Section 207; and PL 109-103 Section 208. The three public laws described below, together with the deteriorated environment of Walker Lake, provide the foundation for the Purpose and Need statement for this Draft EIS. PL 107-171 Section 2507 provided $200,000,000 to Reclamation to provide water to at-risk natural desert terminal lakes with the provision that the funds not be spent to purchase or lease water rights; PL 108-7 Section 207 clarified that the money provided in PL 107-171 could only be used for Pyramid, Summit, and Walker Lakes in Nevada; and PL 109-103, Title II, Section 208(a) established the purposes for which $70 million in funds provided through Reclamation are to be used by the University: TITLE II, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Reclamation General Provisions, Department of the Interior SEC. 208. (a) (1) Using amounts made available under section 2507 of the Farm and Security Rural Investment Act of 2002 (43 U.S.C. 2211 note; Public Law 107-171), the Secretary [of the Interior] shall provide not more than $70,000,000 to the University of Nevada– (A) to acquire from willing sellers land, water appurtenant to the land, and related interests in the Walker River Basin, Nevada; and (B) to establish and administer an agricultural and natural resources center, the mission of which shall be to undertake research, restoration, and educational activities in the Walker River Basin relating to– (i) innovative agricultural water conservation; 1-1 Purpose of and Need for Action (ii) cooperative programs for environmental restoration; (iii) fish and wildlife habitat restoration; and (iv) wild horse and burro research and adoption marketing. (2) In acquiring interests under paragraph (1)(A), the University of Nevada shall make acquisitions that the University determines are the most beneficial to– (A) the establishment and operation of the agricultural and natural resources research center authorized under paragraph (1)(B); and (B) environmental restoration in the Walker River Basin. Background Walker River originates in the eastern portion of the Sierra Nevada in California, flows into eastern Nevada, and empties into Walker Lake in Nevada. Walker Lake is a terminal lake; i.e., it has no outlet. The lake is located in a watershed that supports significant agriculture activity. From 1882 to present, diversions from the river, primarily for upstream irrigated agriculture, have resulted in a 149-foot drop in the lake’s surface elevation and a corresponding reduction in volume from about 10 million acre-feet (af) to less than 2 million af of water (Figure 1-1). The river is over-allocated, meaning that not all demands on the river can be met, even in normal water years, and irrigated agriculture consumes a significant part of the river upstream. As a result, in most years there is little or no inflow into Walker Lake. Consequent changes in Walker Lake over time have resulted in generally poor water quality, with very high total dissolved solids (TDS), alkaline pH, and major ion chemistry (University of Nevada, Reno and Desert Research Institute 2009). The decline in lake elevation has caused the TDS concentration to increase from approximately 2,500 milligrams per liter (mg/l) in 1882 to nearly 16,000 mg/l in December 2008. Walker River has very low TDS and increased river flow over a sufficiently long period of time should lower Walker Lake TDS (University of Nevada, Reno and Desert Research Institute 2009). The existing high TDS levels in Walker Lake have threatened the lake’s viability as a fishery and have far reaching impacts on the health of the lake and its associated ecosystems. Public concern over the declining lake elevation and resulting declines in the water quality and ecology of the lake led to Congressional legislation intended to address the lake’s problems, as described above in the Introduction section of this chapter. Under the language of PL 109-103 Section 208 (a), Reclamation is directed by Congress to provide funding to the University for the Acquisition Program and 1-2 (parts per million) (feet above mean sea level) (feet above Lake Elevation Elevation Lake Solids Dissolved Total Source: Data gathered by USGS Year Event 1852 Irrigation Begins 1922 Topaz Reservoir Completed 1923 Bridgeport Reservoir Completed 1934 Weber Reservoir Completed 1936 C-125 issued 1948 Carp die out 1953 C-125 adopted; Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) stocked 1960 Designated groundwater 1963 Perch die out 2004 100% mortality of acclimated stocked Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT); Tui chub unable to spawn 2004 Source: Sharpe et al. 2008, 8. 00516.07 (10-08) Figure 1-1 Timeline for Walker Lake from 1882 to 2008 Purpose of and Need for Action research. Reclamation anticipated that the Acquisition Program could have significant impacts in the Walker River Basin and began preparation of an EIS with public review and comments to provide for full public disclosure of potential adverse and beneficial impacts. The scope of this Draft EIS is limited to reflect the specific direction given Reclamation in the Public Law. A range of acquisition alternatives that meet the Public Law direction were developed for analysis. As noted, the legislation directs Reclamation to provide funding to the University for the Acquisition Program. The University is currently exploring how the Acquisition Program will be implemented, including the potential involvement of other entities that have experience in developing and implementing environmental water transaction programs. (The University has already entered into agreements with other entities to assist in development of the Acquisition Program; however, an amendment to the legislation would be required if any part of the funding provided through Reclamation were to go directly to another entity.) However, the potential impacts of the Acquisition Program described in this Draft EIS are expected to be the same no matter what entity(s) implements the Acquisition Program. Accordingly, wherever the term “University” is used in this Draft EIS, it refers to the University as well as any other potential entities that may be involved in implementation efforts. Purpose and Need Statement The lead federal agency preparing an EIS must prepare a Purpose and Need statement per 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 1502.13. The requirements are that “the statement shall briefly specify the underlying purpose and need to which the agency is responding in proposing the alternatives including the proposed action.” Reclamation developed the following Purpose and Need statement for this Draft EIS responding to direction in the applicable Desert Terminal Lakes Public Laws: The purpose of the Walker River Basin Acquisition Program is to provide water to Walker Lake, an at-risk natural desert terminal lake in Nevada, by acquiring, from willing sellers, land, water appurtenant to the land, and related interests in the Walker River Basin in Nevada; and to make acquisitions that are the most beneficial to environmental restoration in the Walker River Basin. The Acquisition Program is needed to implement section 208(a) of PL. 109-103 in accordance with section 2507 of PL 101-171 (as amended) and section 207(a)(1) of PL 108-7. 1-3 Purpose of and Need for Action Draft EIS Process The primary purposes of this Draft EIS are to inform the public and the Acquisition Program implementers about the potential adverse and beneficial environmental impacts associated with the Acquisition Program and to provide a forum for public input. The steps involved in this Draft EIS process are described briefly below. Step 1: Notice of Intent—The Notice of Intent (NOI) was published in the Federal Register to inform the public and other agencies that an EIS would be prepared (Appendix 1A). Step 2: Public Scoping—During public scoping, agencies, Tribes, and the public were asked to comment on the Proposed Project, alternatives to the Proposed Project that meet the established Purpose and Need, and what elements of the environment should be analyzed in the EIS. Public scoping meetings held for this Proposed Project are described in Chapter 16, Consultation and Coordination. Step 3: Impact Analysis—The objective of the impact analysis is to estimate the nature, severity, and duration of adverse and beneficial impacts that might occur from the alternatives and to compare the impacts of each. Alternatives are actions, including the Proposed Project, that meet the identified Purpose and Need of the Acquisition Program. A No Action Alternative (i.e., not implementing the Proposed Project or other alternative) is also included for analysis and comparison of impacts. Mitigation measures for adverse impacts were not developed for the Draft EIS because the legislation does not give Reclamation express decision- making authority for design of the Acquisition Program; therefore, the impacts displayed in this Draft EIS are the impacts that would occur without any mitigation. The University has indicated they plan to implement the Acquisition Program in a manner that maximizes the potential for increasing inflow to Walker Lake while minimizing the potential for adverse impacts on agricultural communities.
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