WMOD00295 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

30 CLOUD SEEDING 2.3.4 Case Study-Environmental Impact Statement for a Prototype Project The Lake Oroville Runoff Enhancement Program was a 5-year proto- type project under way in the Feather River drainage of California's Sierra Nevada. It was designed to augment snowpack by cloud seeding from ground-based generators with liquid propane as the seeding agent. A comprehensive joint Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/ EIR) was completed in September 1990 by the Plu- mas National Forest and the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR), the lead public agencies responsible for the proposed project (USDA Forest Service and CDWR 1990, USDA 1991). The document was written to allow tiering to similar projects (should they be proposed). A wide range of potential environmental issues was assessed. These in- cluded water resources (e.g., rain-snow level, length of winter, snowpack, extent of delayed snowmelt, ground water, avalanches, runoff and floods, water use, and downwind precipitation depletion), erosion, water quality, plant communities, rare plants, wildlife, fish and aquatic life, endangered and threatened animals, cultural resources, aesthetic values, transporta- tion, and safety (e.g., floods and avalanches, hazardous material spills, and fire hazard). Within these relatively broad categories, a wide variety of specific subissues were identified, such as those associated with the installation and use of the propane ice-nucleating generators. Some results from the joint EIS/EIR elucidate the extent of the investi- gation: . Installation of temporary facilities (the propane generators) on land allocated to semiprimitive management by the Forest Service will be removed in summer, painted white to reduce aesthetic impact, and located away from the hiking trails. . . Land-disturbing activities (re: the propane dispensers and precipita- tion gauges) can be minimized by the careful replacement of the disturbed soil as near to original conditions as possible to reduce the possibility for increased erosion. . Changes in the amount and intensity of the snowpack and rainfall are expected to be well within natural variations. . The contribution of noncombustive propane seeding to the "green- house effect" is negligible in the anticipated seeding environment. . A delay in snowmelt of 0 to 3 days is estimated. . The propane seeding of cold winter storms will not have a depletable effect on precipitation downwind of the seeding area. . There should be no measurable direct effect on erosion from an augmented snowpack within the project area. . Plant species with extremely limited habitats, including narrow tol- erance to soil moisture regimes, may be affected. Since precipitation would not be altered from the normal range, sensitive plant popula- tions within the project area are not expected to change.