The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires agencies proposing major Federal actions with the potential for significant environmental impacts to evaluate and report to decisionmakers and the public the effects of proposed actions and a range of reasonable alternatives. To comply with NEPA, the Department of the Interior developed a programmatic final environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the Proposed Program and alternatives.
NEPA requires:
- Full evaluation and reporting of the environmental impacts of proposed Federal actions.
- Opportunities for states, local agencies, and the public to participate in the process.
- That reasonable alternatives to the Proposed Program be explored and evaluated so that the decisionmaker can make a fully informed decision about the alternative adopted.
The following are reports from the EIS Office, developed as part of the NEPA analysis. As independent analyses by the NEPA Team, these reports have not been reviewed or adopted by the Governance Committee.
The Platte River Channel: History and Restoration, Murphy and Randle, January 2001
Central Platte River 1998 Land Cover/Use Mapping Project Executive Summary, Friesen and Schrott, September 2000 (entire report available on CD or hard copy; contact Dan Fritz, Bureau of Reclamation, GP-4200, P.O. Box 36900, Billings, MT 59107; or by email (dfritz@gp.usbr.gov), or by phone at 406-247-7638.
Physical History of the Platte River in Nebraska: Focusing Upon Flow, Sediment Transport, Geomorphology, and Vegetation, Simons and Associates, August 2000
Identification and Evaluation of Potential Third Party Impacts Related to the Habitat Component of the Proposed Platte River Recovery, Hazen and Sawyer, June 2000
Third Party Impacts Executive Summary, Hazen and Sawyer, June 2000
The Feasibility of Operational Cloud Seeding in the North Platte River Basin Headwaters to Increase Mountain Snowfall, Medina, May 2000
Estimating Additional Water Yield From Changes in Managment of National Forests in the North Platte Basin, Troendle and Nankervis, May 2000
North Platte River Fish Survey; Casper to the Nebraska State Line, Susan Broderick, March 2000 (Available on CD or hard copy; contact Dan Fritz, Bureau of Reclamation, GP-4200, P.O. Box 36900, Billings, MT 59107; or by email (dfritz@gp.usbr.gov), or by phone at 406-247-7638.
Final Summary of Scoping Input - Platte River Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, July 1998
An important part of the NEPA analysis is early public input concerning the scope of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). A series of meetings have been held throughout the States of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado to provide information to the public and obtain comments and suggestions.
The purpose of scoping is to obtain the suggestions of the public regarding:
- Alternative approaches to meeting the needs and purposes of the Federal action. For example, are there more effective or feasible ways to improve or protect the habitat of the four target species? Suggestions could address individual elements of a plan, such as ways to conserve water or to improve habitat management, or could provide broader options, such as reoperation of the Federal reservoirs in the Platte River Basin.
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Impacts of the proposed program and alternatives that should be evaluated and reported. For example, in addition to the effects of the alternatives on the habitat of the target species, what are likely to be significant consequences of the various options that should be considered and reported?
These comments and suggestions have been compiled into the Final Scoping Summary - Platte River Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, July 1998, and helped shape the FEIS.
For further information about the Partnership,
contact any Governance Committee member.For comments and questions about this website, please email Buck Feist or call 406-247-7607