Environmental statements; availability, etc.: Union County, MS; multipurpose reservoir,

[Federal Register: December 2, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 231)]

[Notices]

[Page 66622-66623]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr02de98-116]

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

Environmental Impact Statement: Union County, Mississippi, Multipurpose Reservoir/Other Water Supply Alternatives

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on a multipurpose reservoir in Union County, Mississippi, located in northeast Mississippi. The primary purpose of the reservoir is to provide an adequate and reliable water supply for the Union County area. This EIS will also consider other alternative means of meeting the area's water supply needs. Alternatives to be considered will include one or a combination of the following: construction of a surface impoundment on a tributary of the Little Tallahatchie River; installation of one or more water pipelines from existing public water supplies; development of new groundwater sources; and the no action alternative. With this notice, TVA invites comments on the scope of this EIS.

DATES: Comments on the scope of the EIS must be received on or before January 8, 1999. TVA will conduct a public meeting in New Albany, Mississippi to discuss the project and obtain comments on the scope of the EIS. The location and time of this meeting are described below in the Scoping Process section.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Charles P. Nicholson, National Environmental Policy Act Specialist, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 8C, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499. Comments may also be e-mailed to cpnicholson@tva.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel H. Ferry, Tennessee Valley Authority, WT 10D-K, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499, e-mail: dhferry@tva.gov; or Gary D. Hickman, Tennessee Valley Authority, ABL 1A-N, Norris, Tennessee 37828, e-mail: gdhickman@tva.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: TVA has been asked by Union County, Mississippi, and the City of New Albany to assist in the evaluation of a proposed reservoir and other means of supplying the area's water supply needs. In addition, TVA has been asked to relocate one of its electrical transmission lines that lies within the proposed reservoir pool if the County and City decide to pursue that alternative.

[[Page 66623]]

Water needs in Union County, Mississippi, are currently supplied by wells operated by municipal water systems, rural water associations, and institutional and industrial users. The average daily water use from the public water systems in 1996 was 2.365 million gallons per day (MGD) and the peak daily use was 4.040 MGD. Two-thirds of the county water needs are supplied by wells in the Eutaw-McShan aquifer, and most of these wells are near the City of New Albany. Pumping from these wells has lowered groundwater levels. New wells drilled in this area have generally been unproductive.

In order to meet projected future water supply needs, Union County and the City of New Albany combined efforts to develop an alternate water supply and have proposed constructing a multipurpose reservoir on a tributary of the Little Tallahatchie River. In order to obtain public input on this proposal and to fully evaluate a range of alternatives, TVA has decided to prepare an EIS.

Alternatives

Alternatives presently under consideration include: (1) No action; (2) construction of a multipurpose reservoir on a tributary to the Little Tallahatchie River; (3) construction of one or more pipelines from an existing water supply system with sufficient capacity to meet the needs of Union County; and (4) construction of new groundwater sources by tapping into additional aquifers. Reasonable alternative actions available to TVA are to relocate the transmission line, and the no action alternative. Some of the water supply alternatives would also involve actions by other federal agencies. TVA has identified two alternative routes for its tramsnission line if it is relocated. TVA invites the public to comment on these alternatives or to suggest other possible alternatives.

Proposed Issues To Be Addressed

The EIS will evaluate the water supply needs of Union County through the year 2050, and potential effects of alternative means of meeting the water supply needs. Potentially important issues for discussion in the EIS include:

1. Effects on stream discharge, water quality, and availability;

2. Impacts on terrestrial and aquatic ecology, including endangered and threatened species;

3. Impacts on floodplains, wetlands, recreation, and existing land uses; and

4. Socioeconomic, historic, archaeological, and cultural effects associated with the alternative actions.

This list is not intended to be all inclusive, nor is it intended to be a predetermination of impacts. As scoping and preparation of the EIS proceed, other issues may be revealed which will necessitate further analyses.

Scoping Process

Scoping, which is integral to the EIS process, is a procedure that solicits public input to the EIS process to ensure that: (1) Issues are identified early and properly studied; (2) issues of little significance do not consume substantial time and effort; (3) the EIS is thorough and balanced; and (4) delays caused by an inadequate EIS are avoided. TVA's procedures implementing the National Environmental Policy Act require that the scoping process commence after a decision has been reached to prepare an EIS in order to provide an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying the significant issues related to a proposed action. The scope of issues to be addressed in an EIS will be determined, in part, from written comments submitted by mail, and comments presented orally or in writing at a public scoping meeting. The preliminary identification of reasonable alternatives and environmental issues provided in this notice is not meant to be exhaustive or final. TVA considers the scoping process to be open and dynamic in the sense that alternatives other than those given above may warrant study and new matters may be identified for potential evaluation.

The scoping process will include both interagency and public scoping. The agencies expected to participate in interagency scoping include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and various State of Mississippi agencies including the Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, the Department of Economic and Community Development, State Historic Preservation Office of the Department of Archives and History, and other federal, state and local agencies as appropriate. TVA anticipates that some of these agencies, because of their jurisdiction and/or expertise, will be cooperators in the development of the EIS.

The public is invited to submit written comments or e-mail comments on the scope of this EIS no later than the date given under the DATES section of this notice and/or attend the public scoping meeting. TVA will conduct a public meeting on the scope of the EIS in New Albany, Mississippi on Thursday, December 10, 1998. The meeting will be held at the Union County Courthouse, which is located at 116 East Bankhead. Registration for the meeting will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. with the meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin with brief presentations by representatives of the Union County Development Association, the City of New Albany, and TVA explaining the proposed project and the EIS process. Following this presentation, attendees will be given the opportunity to express issues and concerns that should be considered in the EIS.

Upon consideration of the scoping comments, TVA will develop alternatives and identify important environmental issues to be addressed in the EIS. Following analysis of the water supply needs and of the environmental consequences of each alternative, TVA will prepare a draft EIS for public review and comment. A notice of availability of the draft EIS will be published in the Federal Register and area newspapers. TVA expects to have this draft EIS completed in early 2000.

Dated: November 24, 1998. Kathryn J. Jackson, Executive Vice President, Resource Group.

[FR Doc. 98-32055Filed12-1-98; 8:45 am]

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