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Chapter 1- Purpose of and Need for Action <br />Potentially hundreds of projects and authorizations relating to water projects will require such reviews. <br />While many of these are Federal water facilities, the majority are private, municipal, or State facilities or <br />operations requiring Federal approvals (see attachment, The No Action Alternative, table 3). <br />BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT <br />Under the ESA, the action agency must assess the potential effects of a proposed Federal action (in this <br />case the implementation of a Program) on listed and proposed species and their designated and proposed <br />critical habitat. This DEIS serves as the biological assessment of the effects of the proposed action on <br />listed species and designated critical habitat, which supports development of the Biological Opinion. <br />Required effects determinations for listed species are found in chapter 5, "Environmental Consequences." <br />BIOLOGICAL OPINION <br />As part of the ESA consultation process for the Program, the Service will prepare a draft Biological <br />Opinion. Following receipt of this DEIS, the Service will develop a draft Biological Opinion for the <br />Governance Committee Alternative. The usual consultation procedure is to prepare an opinion when a <br />preferred alternative has been identified. However, the Service agreed in the Cooperative Agreement to <br />prepare a draft opinion on the Governance Committee Alternative, even though no preferred alternative <br />has been identified. <br />ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT SECTION 7 <br />CONSULTATION PROCESS WITHIN THE PROGRAM <br />The existence of the Program does not alter the legal requirement for Federal agencies to consult with the <br />Service and offset impacts to listed species and critical habitat occurring from Federal actions. <br />With the Program in place, ESA Section 7 consultations for Federal -nexus projects and their effects to <br />target species and designated critical habitat would proceed in a streamlined fashion. Subsequent NEPA <br />analyses and biological opinions for the specific Federal actions would "tier "" off the programmatic <br />Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and programmatic biological opinion. Streamlined consultations <br />only address effects to the target species and their critical habitats in the Central and Lower Platte River. <br />If other listed species are present and potentially affected, then they must be addressed separately from <br />"This process is described in the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementation of the National <br />Environmental Policy Act, section 1508.28, "Tiering." <br />December 2003 <br />