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<br />increases have been attributed to the so-called Sun Belt phenomena. However, <br />the most dramatic local population growth patterns are related to expanding <br />energy development industries. Service industries to serve the energy and <br />recreation communities also account for a significant portion of the popula- <br />tion growth. <br /> <br />B. The No Action Alternative <br /> <br />The no action alternative presents no impacts due to changes in the precipi- <br />tation regime, runoff, streamflow, or water yield in the Basin. The negative <br />effects due to failure to augment the Basin's water supplies by cloud seeding <br />mayor may not be offset by other augmentation methods. <br /> <br />C. The Cloud Seeding Alternative <br /> <br />The environmental effects of increasing precipitation by seeding clouds over <br />a short term (research mode) and over the long term (operational mode) have <br />been discussed in National Environmental Policy Act compliance documents. <br />Short-term environmental effects have been discussed in the Colorado River <br />Basin Pilot Project Final Environmental Statement [7], the Project Skywater <br />Programmatic Final Environmental Statement [2], and the Sierra Cooperative <br />Pilot Project Environmental Assessment [8]. Potential effects of widespread <br />and prolonged application of precipitation management were considered at the <br />Skywater IX Conference [9], and received preliminary evaluation in the <br />Project Skywater Final Environmental Statement [2]. The studies of the <br />effects of precipitation increases on ecological sectors in the San Juan <br />Mountains were an important part of the Colorado River Basin Pilot Project. <br />The results of these studies are found in the San Juan Ecology Report [10]. <br /> <br />15 <br />