The public comment period regarding the Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP) project in southern Utah was opened December 6, 2019 and ended January 10, 2019. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
Reclamation requested public scoping comments to identify significant issues or other alternatives to be addressed in the EIS. They were seeking comments related to “anticipated impacts” of the pipeline, such as environmental data gaps, information needs, new data or information that would be pertinent to the project.
Scoping was the first step in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for developing the EIS and this is the phase we just finished Jan 10.
Scoping is the gathering stage, when Reclamation asks the public to help them identify significant issues that need to be analyzed by consultants, scientists and technical experts in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that will be published later this spring or summer. “The public scoping process is an important step in informing interested parties of the proposed action and gathering their issues and concerns,” Wayne Pullan, Reclamation’s Provo area office manager, said in a press release. “Their input will help (the U.S. Department of the) Interior define the scope of the EIS and identify significant issues to be analyzed in depth.” CSU will let you know what issues Reclamation decided would be analysed in the DEIS.
Background Information on the proposed Environmental Impact Statement Process. READ MORE