Master Water Control Manual Update Environmental Impact Statement for the Apalachicola – Chattahoochee – Flint River Basin
Public Involvement Opportunities
Scoping Process
On November 19, 2009, the USACE issued a Federal Register Notice of Intent to reopen public scoping for 45-days to account for a July 17, 2009 Federal District Court ruling. The scoping report is available online.
In January 2008 Secretary of the Army Pete Geren directed the Corps to update the Master Manual. The current Master Manual was completed in 1958, and while reservoir regulation manuals for the later-constructed projects of West Point Dam, Walter F. George Lock and Dam, and George W. Andrews Lock and Dam were subsequently appended, and some reservoir manuals were updated, the Master Manual has not been comprehensively revised since 1958. An updated Master Manual that includes water control plans for all the projects in the ACF River Basin is required by ER 1110-2-240. The Master Manual must prescribe plans of operation for congressionally authorized and general statutory project purposes in the basin, while taking into account private, community, social, and economic needs and sound environmental stewardship. The purpose of the proposed action is to update the water control plans and manuals for the ACF Basin to conform with changing "requirements resulting from developments in the project area and downstream, improvements in technology, new legislation, and other relevant factors, provided such revisions comply with existing Federal regulations and established Corps of Engineers policy." 33 C.F.R. § 222.5(f)(3). In the ACF Basin, such factors include changes in basin hydrology and water usage, new or rehabilitated structural features, and environmental issues.
On the basis of the stakeholder comments received during scoping, it is clear that the issues of greatest concern are the potential for significant impacts on socioeconomics, water resources, and biological resources. These three topics should be emphasized in the EIS and should be considered in development of the recommended alternative in the Master Manual.
Stakeholders also recommended a number of alternative scenarios for various projects in the ACF River Basin that do not fall under the current authority of this proposed action (including the Corps' authority as it has recently been interpreted by the Court). However, all the actions taken by the Corps in updating the Master Manual must meet the congressionally authorized project purposes at all the reservoirs except where doing so is legally or physically impracticable.
However, the Corps' actions must also be consistent with the Court's July 17, 2009 order in the case In re Tri-State Water Rights Litigation, which will require a reduction in water supply withdrawals "[a]t the end of three years, absent Congressional authorization or some other resolution of this dispute," or unless the order is overruled on appeal or otherwise modified. While that order is currently on appeal, the Corps is revising the scope of the EIS and Master Manual updates in the following respects to address the Court's order:
- The Court held that the Corps lacks the authority to continue to support the present levels of water supply withdrawals at Lake Lanier or to reallocate storage to accommodate those or additional withdrawals. Based on that ruling, the Court has ordered that such operations and most withdrawals from Lake Lanier must cease in July 2012. Thus, while the Corps had previously announced its intention to update the plans and manuals "to reflect current operations," the Corps must now also prepare to update its plans and manuals to implement the operations necessary to comply with the Court's order (in the event that the order is not overruled on appeal or otherwise modified, and in the absence of further action by Congress).
- To conform with the Court's order, the updated manuals would reflect, as of July 17, 2012, water supply withdrawals from Lake Lanier limited to the amounts authorized by relocation agreements with the Cities of Gainesville and Buford, Georgia. Those agreements, which were executed at the time of the reservoir's construction, authorize withdrawals of 8 million gallons per day (mgd) for Gainesville and 2 mgd for Buford, a combined 10 mgd.
- The Court's order would also require the updated manuals, as of July 17, 2012, to reflect that "the required off-peak flow [at Buford Dam] will be 600 cfs." Currently, peak hydropower demand at Buford Dam typically occurs on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. between October 1 and March 31, and on weekdays from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. between April 1 and September 30. Thus, under the revisions to the manuals necessary to comply with the Court's order, the Corps will not release more than 600 cfs from Buford Dam to support water supply withdrawals when it is not generating hydropower to meet this peak demand.
- If the Court's order stands, the Corps will be required to update its plans and manuals to conform with the Court's order (as described above) and will begin implementing those operations in July 2012. The Corps will continue to consider its present operations as an alternative during this process, however, because the Court's order states that "current water-supply withdrawal levels" may continue for three years after July 17, 2009; because current operations provide an environmental baseline as the no-action alternative under NEPA; and because the Court's order may be overruled on appeal or otherwise modified. Should the states and other interested parties to In re Tri-State Water Rights Litigation reach an agreement that involves reallocation of storage for water supply, the Corps would be prepared to submit that agreement to the Army and higher executive branch authorities for consideration and possible referral to Congress. Should Congress enact legislation authorizing additional water supply at Lake Lanier, the Corps would update its operations, plans, and manuals accordingly.
1: In re Tri-State Water Rights Litigation, No. 07-md-01, slip op. at 93 (M.D. Fla. July 17, 2009)