News Release Archive

Reclamation Issues a Scoping Report for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-term Experimental Plan EIS

Media Contact: Stacey Carroll, (801) 524-3813, 03/30/2007 21:08

For Release: March 30, 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation announced today that it has completed the Scoping Report for the Glen Canyon Dam Long-term Experimental Plan Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Scoping Report summarizes comments received from the public about resource issues that may be examined in the EIS.

"The scoping report provides important public input which Reclamation and cooperating agencies will use in defining a broad range of alternatives for the long-term experimental plan," said Regional Director Rick Gold. "We are well on our way to ensuring a continued, structured application of adaptive management to scientifically inform management decisions and protect important downstream resources in the Glen Canyon National Recreation area and Grand Canyon National Park in a manner fully consistent with and subject to existing law as required by the Grand Canyon Protection Act."

The report describes the scoping process and the scoping meetings, summarizes comments submitted by the public, and provides an overview of the relevant issues that will be analyzed in the EIS. Scoping is the process mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the early stages of developing an EIS to determine the issues related to a proposed action, in this case, the development and implementation of a long-term experimental plan for dam operations and other management actions.

In November 2006, Reclamation announced its intent to undertake an a new NEPA evaluation at Glen Canyon Dam concerning the development of a Long-term Experimental Plan (LTEP) related to flows from the dam. The proposed plan would implement a structured, long-term program of experimentation (potentially including dam operations, modifications to Glen Canyon Dam intake structures, and other management actions such as removal of non-native fish species) in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. The LTEP will build on a decade of scientific experimentation and monitoring that has taken place as part of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (AMP), and will build on the knowledge gained by experiments, operations, and management actions taken under the AMP.

Reclamation will now begin developing alternatives for the draft EIS, integrating the public scoping comments. The draft EIS is expected to be published in April 2008 and the final EIS in November 2008. A Record of Decision is planned in December 2008. Copies of the scoping report and all comments received during the scoping period are available on the web at www.usbr.gov/uc/rm/gcdltep/index.html. A printed copy of the Scoping Report is available for review at the Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Regional Office, 125 South State Street, Room 7220, Salt Lake City, Utah.

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