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<br />GOaD!! <br /> <br />C. The No Action Alternative <br /> <br />The no action alternative presents no impacts due to changes in the <br />existing variations in the area's precipitation regime, runoff, stream- <br />flow, or water yield patterns in the Basin. There would be no impacts, <br />or inconveniences, due to increases in snowfall or snowpack in mountain <br />areas, no enhancements to the ski industry recreation base. <br /> <br />According to the Colorado River Simulation System model, benefits fore- <br />gone as the result of the no action alternative would include 1,432,000 <br />acre-feet of additional water that will provide economic benefits of <br />$123.4 million annually from the following sources: $34.4 million from <br />increased hydroelectric capacity and energy production based on 20 mills <br />per kilowatt-hour, $56.6 million from salinity reduction based on an <br />average value of $513,300 for each milligram per liter reduction in <br />dissolved solids at Imperial Dam and $32.5 million from additional water <br />supplies to reduce deficits and for new uses. Additional benefits of <br />$16.0 million would be realized from the increased water supplies in <br />the adjacent basins ($30 per acre-foot). The total benefits of an oper- <br />ational program are, therefore, estimated to be $139.4 million per year. <br />However, the production costs of the increased water, estimated at from $6 <br />to $8 per acre-foot per year, would not be spent under this alternative. <br /> <br />D. The Cloud Seeding Alternative <br /> <br />The environmental effects of increasing precipitation by seeding clouds <br />over a short term (research mode) and over the long term (operational <br />mode) have been discussed in National Environmental Policy Act compliance <br />documents. Short-term environmental effects have been discussed in the <br />Colorado River Basin Pilot Project Final Environmental Statement [11J, the <br />Project Skywater Programmmatic Final Environmental Statement [4J, and the <br />Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project Environmental Assessment and Finding of <br />No Significant Impact [12J. <br /> <br />Potential effects of widespread and prolonged application of precipita- <br />tion management were considered at the Skywater IX Conference [13J, and <br />received preliminary evaluation in the Project Skywater FES [4J. The <br />studies of the effects of precipitation increases on ecological sectors <br />in the San Juan Mountains were an important part of the Colorado River <br />Basin Pilot Project. The results of these studies are found in the <br />San Juan Ecology Report [14J. <br /> <br />Cloud seeding research activities in the Rocky Mountains including the <br />Park Range and the San Juan Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Medicine Bow <br />Mountains, and the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest have been accom- <br />plished without adverse environmental consequences. <br /> <br />Many Western States have supported operational cloud seeding programs or <br />have issued permits for private sector programs. <br /> <br />The State of Utah has sponsored winter cloud seeding since 1974. The <br />State of Nevada also conducts a winter cloud seeding program. Public <br />utilities in California have carried out the Nation's longest, continuous <br /> <br />12 <br />