Draft EIS_072312.pdf - Middle Fork American River Project ...

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20120723-4002 FERC PDF (Unofficial) 07/23/2012 1.3.1.2 Section 4(e) Conditions Section 4(e) of the FPA provides that any license issued by the Commission for a project within a federal reservation will be subject to and contain such conditions as the Secretary of the responsible federal land management agency deems necessary for the adequate protection and use of the reservation. The Forest Service filed conditions on August 5, 2011, pursuant to section 4(e) of the FPA. These conditions are described under section 2.2.5, Modifications to Applicant’s Proposal—Mandatory Conditions. 1.3.1.3 Section 10(j) Recommendations Under section 10(j) of the FPA, each hydroelectric license issued by the Commission must include conditions based on recommendations provided by federal and state fish and wildlife agencies for the protection, mitigation, or enhancement of fish and wildlife resources affected by the project. The Commission is required to include these conditions unless it determines that they are inconsistent with the purposes and requirements of the FPA or other applicable law. Before rejecting or modifying an agency recommendation, the Commission is required to attempt to resolve any such inconsistency with the agency, giving due weight to the recommendations, expertise, and statutory responsibilities of such agency. NMFS and California Department of Fish and Game timely filed, on August 1 and August 4, 2011, respectively, recommendations under section 10(j), as summarized in table 5-8, in section 5.4.1, Recommendations of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The U.S. Department of the Interior-Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) did not file any recommendations under section 10(j). In section 5.4, we discuss how we address the agency recommendations and comply with section 10(j). 1.3.2 Clean Water Act Under section 401 of the Clean Water Act, a license applicant must obtain certification from the appropriate state pollution control agency verifying compliance with the Clean Water Act. On July 15, 2011, PCWA applied to the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) for 401 water quality certification for the Middle Fork American River Project. The Water Board received this request on July 18, 2011. The Water Board has until July 18, 2012, to act on the request. 1.3.3 Endangered Species Act Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal agencies to ensure that their actions are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of the critical habitat of such species. Although no federally listed species are known to occur in the project vicinity, three federally listed species have the potential to occur: the threatened Layne’s ragwort (Senecia layneae), the threatened valley elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmorcerus californicus dimorphus); and the threatened California red-legged frog 6
20120723-4002 FERC PDF (Unofficial) 07/23/2012 (Rana draytonii). Our analyses of project impacts on threatened and endangered species are presented in section 3.3.4, Threatened and Endangered Species, and our recommendations in section 5.2, Comprehensive Development and Recommended Alternative. We conclude that the relicensing of the Middle Fork American River Project, as proposed with staff-recommended measures, is not likely to adversely affect the Layne’s ragwort and would have no effect on the valley elderberry longhorn beetle or California red-legged frog. We will request FWS concurrence with our conclusions. 1.3.4 Coastal Zone Management Act Under section 307(c)(3)(A) of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), 16 U.S.C. § 1456(3)(A), the Commission cannot issue a license for a project within or affecting a state’s coastal zone unless the state CZMA agency concurs with the license applicant’s certification of consistency with the state’s CZMA program, or the agency’s concurrence is conclusively presumed by its failure to act within 180 days of its receipt of the applicant’s certification. The project is not located within the state-designated coastal zone (http://ceres.ca.gov), and relicensing the project would not affect California’s coastal resources. Therefore, the project is not subject to California coastal zone program review, and no consistency certification is needed for the action. We will seek concurrence with our conclusion from the California Coastal Commission. 1.3.5 National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires that every federal agency “take into account” how each of its undertakings could affect historic properties. Historic properties are districts, sites, buildings, structures, traditional cultural properties, and objects significant in American history, architecture, engineering, and culture that are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register). To meet the requirements of section 106, the Commission staff intends to execute a Programmatic Agreement (PA) that would have PCWA implement a revised Historic Properties Management Plan (HPMP) based upon Commission staff’s recommendations made in this draft EIS. Commission staff intends to issue a draft PA concurrent with this draft EIS that would direct PCWA to revise the HPMP, accordingly. Commission staff would then issue a final PA for signatures with the revised HPMP concurrent with issuance of the final EIS. 1.3.6 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Section 7(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act requires federal agencies to make a determination as to whether the operation of the project under a new license would invade the area or unreasonably diminish the scenic, recreational, and fish and wildlife 7
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69 Table 3.3.2-3. Hydrology for sel
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71 Exceedances and Summary Statisti
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91 Figure 3.3.2-6. Fish passage bar
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105 Location American River below M
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135 Species Name Status a Butte Cou
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145 Table 3.3.3-5. Special-status w
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147 Species Name Status Habitat Occ
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195 Figure 3.3.5-1. French Meadows
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197 Figure 3.3.5-3. Long Canyon, re
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253 Table 3.3.6-1. Archaeological a
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255 Resource Number Type a Descript
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275 Table 4-2. Summary of annual co
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279 Enhancement/Mitigation Measures
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303 c Base 2010 costs were provided
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307 Resource No-Action Alternative
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319 Table 5-2. Staff-recommended mi
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321 Location Middle Fork American R
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