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New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project Final Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration • September 2015 New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project Final Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration • September 2015 Lead Agency: SMUD–Environmental Management 6201 S Street, MS B203 Sacramento, CA 95817-1899 or P.O. Box 15830 MS B203 Sacramento, CA 95852-1830 Attn: Jose Bodipo-Memba (916) 732-6493 or [email protected] Prepared by: AECOM 2020 L Street, Suite 400 Sacramento, CA 95811 Contact: Petra Unger [email protected] New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project September 2015 Introduction This draft initial study (IS) and mitigated negative declaration (MND) have been prepared to evaluate Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD’s) New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flows Release Valve (proposed project) for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). SMUD is the lead agency responsible for complying with CEQA. In addition to this Initial Study, the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project were addressed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). On April 29, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a NEPA EA evaluating the environmental effects of the proposed project. The following CEQA evaluation incorporates FERC’s environmental analysis and provides additional information specific to the CEQA checklist questions. This Initial Study also incorporates information provided by FERC/U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the 2008 Upper American River Project (UARP) 2008 EIS and SMUD’s 2008 CEQA Supplemental Analysis for the UARP. Project Description SMUD proposes to construct and operate the proposed project as part of the existing Upper American River Project (UARP) hydroelectric facilities in El Dorado County, California. The boating flow release structure would ensure compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license conditions related to minimum and boating releases. The proposed project would require site preparation, construction of a connection to White Rock Tunnel, a new powerhouse, an electrical connection, and a boating flow release valve on the southern banks of the South Fork American River (SFAR). During operations, boating flows would be released from the new valve, rather than from spilling water over Slab Creek Dam. The proposed project also would include reconfiguring the mouth of Iowa Canyon Creek and completing habitat improvements along the SFAR (i.e., moving boulders in the riverbed to create a low flow channel in a ¼ mile stretch of SFAR immediately downstream from Slab Creek Dam and placing gravel into SFAR to enhance habitat for fish). A detailed description of the proposed project is in Chapter 2, “Project Description.” Findings As the CEQA lead agency, SMUD finds that the proposed project would be implemented without causing a significant adverse impact on the environment. Mitigation measures would be implemented to reduce potentially significant impacts to less than significant. Cumulative Impacts CEQA requires that SMUD assess whether its proposed project’s incremental effects would be significant when viewed in connection with the effects of other projects. Based on the analysis presented in the IS/MND, the proposed project would not contribute incrementally to considerable environmental changes when considered in combination with other projects in the area. Therefore, the potential cumulative environmental effects of the proposed project were Page 1 of 178 New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project September 2015 determined to be less than cumulatively considerable. All identified potentially significant impacts would be mitigated to less than significant. The project would be a component of the UARP, which currently consists of seven hydroelectric power generation developments. The cumulative effects evaluation considers (1) whether this project, combined with the continued operation of the existing UARP facilities and the Iowa Hill Pumped Storage Development, which has been authorized by FERC as an addition to the UARP and which SMUD is considering whether to build, collectively may result in a significant impact, and (2) if that cumulative impact were significant, whether the proposed project’s incremental contribution to that effect would be cumulatively considerable. The 2008 CEQA Supplemental Analysis completed by SMUD for the UARP relicensing addressed the environmental impacts of the UARP considered together with the Iowa Hill Development and the Chili Bar Project immediately downstream. All environmental impacts but three were determined to be less than significant with implementation of adopted mitigation measures and FERC license requirements. The three potentially significant impacts were from the loss of 141 acres of upland habitat of special-status wildlife species, impacts on cultural resources from ground- disturbing activities, and blasting-related noise from construction of the Iowa Hill Development tunnel system. Because there are no other existing or planned projects in the vicinity and because the proposed project does not include substantial removal of habitat, or blasting or noise impacts beyond typical construction levels, these impacts would not be cumulatively considerable. There are no known cultural resources within the project footprint or in the project area and therefore the proposed project’s potential impacts on cultural resources would be less than cumulatively considerable. Growth-Inducing Impacts The proposed project would include power generation. However, the new generation combined with the generation from the existing UARP would be less than the historical level of power generated from the UARP; therefore there would be no net increase in generation from the UARP compared with operations prior to SMUD receiving the new FERC license in July 2014 and thus there would be no potential to foster economic or population growth. Moreover, power generated by the new powerhouse would be fed into the existing power grid; this small amount of new power (2.68 megawatts) would be distributed regionally consistent with SMUD’s established strategic direction which includes meeting customers’ electrical energy needs, increasing energy efficiency, reducing global warming, and lowering costs. The small amount of power that would be generated by the new powerhouse would not foster economic or population growth in the surrounding area and would not remove an obstacle to growth, considering the overall power generation to be provided by the UARP. In addition to complying with the FERC license condition requiring boating flow releases, the proposed project would increase SMUD’s power generation from renewable sources and would contribute to SMUD’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supplying 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020. These goals are consistent with California’s Renewable Energy Resources Act of 2011. Page 2 of 178 New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project September 2015 Determination On the basis of this evaluation, SMUD concludes: • The proposed project would not have the potential to degrade the quality of the environment, substantially reduce the habitat of a fish or wildlife species, cause a fish or wildlife population to drop below self-sustaining levels, threaten to eliminate a plant or animal community, substantially reduce the number or restrict the range of a rare or endangered species, or eliminate important examples of the major periods of California history or prehistory. • The proposed project would not achieve short-term environmental goals to the disadvantage of long-term environmental goals. • The proposed project would not have impacts that would be individually limited but cumulatively considerable. • The proposed project would not have environmental effects that would cause substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly. • No substantial evidence exists to demonstrate that the proposed project would have a substantive negative effect on the environment. The IS/MND has been prepared to provide an opportunity for interested agencies and the public to provide comment. Pending public review and the SMUD Board of Directors approval, this MND will be filed pursuant to Section 15075 of the State CEQA Guidelines. Written comments should be submitted to SMUD at the address previously identified by 5:00 p.m. on August 10, 2015. 7/9/15 Signature Date Jose Bodipo-Memba Environmental Management Supervisor Page 3 of 178 New Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Release Valve Project September 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND OTHER ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................. 6 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 11 1.1 Project Overview ............................................................................................................. 11 1.2 Purpose of this Document ............................................................................................... 11 1.3 Public Review Process .................................................................................................... 13 1.4 SMUD Board Approval Process ...................................................................................... 13 1.5 Organization of the Initial