WSP00396

• File Number: 8065
• Description: Section D General Statewide Issues - Endangered Species Act - Fisheries
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 6/3/1986
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Fish and Wildlife Service-NOAA - Interagency Cooperation - Endangered Species Act of 1973 - As Amended - Final Rule - Federal Register - Volume 51-Number 106 - Rules and Regulations
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

002374

Federal R8jI.ler / Vol. 51. No. 106 / Tuesdey. lune 3. 1986 / Rule. end Regulation.

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cumlllativo offocto of Stato and privato
actiona which a", ",uonably c.rtoln 10
occur In tho action a",., ar. IIk.ly to
Joopardlz. tho continued .xlotonce of
that opeel... Bu.d on thlo analy.lo. tho
Foderal agoncy detennlnao whothor tI
can proceod without exceedlll8 tha
Jeoparoy .tandard. If the Jeoparoy
otandard 10 oxceeded. the propooed
F.d.ral action cannot proceed without
an exemption. Thl. 1. B substantive
prohtbillon that appll.a to the Federal
acllon Involved In tho conoultetion. In
contrut. NEPA I. procedural In nature.
rath.r than oubotantive. whtch would
. ! I walTant . more expanded review of
cumlllallve effecto. Otherwtoe. In a
. :' ,I, particular oltuation, the Jropardy
prohlbltion could operate 10 block
"nonJeopardy" BcUon. because future.
opeculallve effecto occurring after the
Federal action 10 over might. on a
cumlllative bOIls, jeopardlz. a listed
opeel... Congreos did not Intend that
Federal actiono be p",c1uded by auch
IpeculaUve actions.
Future Federal actions propooed for
the lame area would have 10 be
separately evaluated under section 1
and could nol occur unless lhey were
able. In their own right. to avoid
ieopardlzlng the continued exlstence of
the affected Ipecie. or deslroying or
, advenely modlfyill8 critical habitat.
t, Since aU future Fed.ral actiono will at
'. t'~.:. lome point be lubJect to the section 7
conJullatton procel5 pursuant to these
.', ,U'Ogulations. their errects on a particular
!/,!,eleo will be conoldered at that time
"and Will not be Included In the
cumulative effect. analy.il. However,
thole future State or private actions (i.e..
'no Fedenl .gency Involvem.nt) that are
;'reasonably certain to occur" must be
, factored Into .ection 7(a)(2) evaluations.
The Servlca agre.. that cumulative
errects thai ere reuonably certain to
occur will ba con.ldered In detannlnlll8
the Illcelthood of Jaoparoy. The final rule
10 amended accordlngly, to clarify the
duty 10 conoldar cumulative .rrecls.
On. commanter thousht thai tho
"rea.onably certain to occur" standard
wa. far too narrow and that It ohould be
amended to cover action. where
propo.al. have been mad., and
Impl.mentatlon JCb.dul.. hIVe baen
.0tabU.h.d. ThIs 'lI88e.tion would open
tho door for .peculaUv. acUons to b.
factored Into tho "cumulotivo effects"
anaIy.t.. .ddlng ne.d1... complexlty
Inlo tho coooultallon proc... and
thre.teolng pot.nUal Fed.ral action.
whlch pooe minimal advon. Impacto of
their own with po..lblo "joopardy"
oploiooo duo to .peculaUv., Stat. or
private proJects that may nev.r be
Impl.mented. For Stale ood privot~

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(Ol9(OOX31-NA Y -16- tla.4a.4)

sctlon. 10 b'e con.ld.red In tho
cumulaUve effectl analy.iI, there mUlt
exl.t more than a mere po..lblllly thai
th. action msy proteod. On th. olhor
hand. "rea.onably certain to occur"
dOBl not mean that there it B guarantee
Ihat an action will occur. The Federal
agency and the S.rvlce will con.ldar the
cumulative effect. of tho.e action. that
are IIkaly to occur, bearing in mind the
economic, odmlnl.tratlve. or I.gal
hurdl.. which r.maln to be cleared. The
Servlco docllnas to alter ita "cumulotlve
.rracls" definition to Include Stale or
privale actions that a", not likely to
occur.
On8 IBlue WB' failed :oncemlng the
applicaUon of cumulallve elfects
ansly.l. to waler projecla. A commenter
contended that Slato and private
proJectl thal pOllen lenlar w&ter rights
under State water law and that can
"reasonably be expected to occur"
concunently with the Federal action
.hould be conoldered d. cumulative
errects. The Service notes that any State
or private project (i.e" no F.deral
agency Involvement) that I. reasonably
certaln to occur mUll be considered
durill8 the anoly.ls of cumulative
effects. Further, tho Service beli.vo. that
Federalactlono. whether authorized.
funded. or carTted out by Federal
agencies. that poaaen senior water
rights should ba con.idered while
analyzing the effecta of tho action. [n
ordar to d.lennln. the errect. of the
action when 8 water project Is the
subject of consultation In a State which
followo Lbo prior appropria tlon doctrina.
the proJect'. operation plan .hould
Indicate tho priority 01 the project's
water right. under Slate law and
account for tha future affects of .enlor
conditionol water righl..
On 0 related matter, the Aasoclate
Solleltor'. opinIon on the .cope of
cumulotlv. effects clt.d In tho proposed
rule provided, In part. that only those
errects of other proJ.cts that are
reasonably certain to occur prior to the
completion of tha Fedaral action .ubject
to con.ultaUon under ..ctlon 7(a)(2)
sbould be conoldered durlll8 formal
consult.Uon. Thl. ototomant hu be.n
Int.rprelad by .om. to .xclud. from
cumulotivo effoct. anolyols tho.e future
Stat. and prlvoto acUon. thot. whtlo
"reasonably cortaln to occur." would not
be compl.ted before the completion of
the F.deral action .ubJect to
con.u1taUon. Such on Interpretotlon
placa. unduo emph..l. on th. u.e of tho
woro "prior" whll.lgnorlng tho central
concept Lbat the A..oclal. Sollcllor's
opinion Intended to proJoct: that a
propo.ed St.to or priv.t. .ctivlty be
"reasooably certain to oocur" In order 10

F4 701.FMl'. ..[111,1lO]...4-1Hl1

be lak.n Int~ a'ccounl during cumulative
lmpact analYles. If luch I State or
prlvat. prolaclsatl.I... the "r...onable
c.rtalnty" loot. th.n It should be
con.ldered In tho cumul.tlv. Impacl
anoly.I., ov.n If It would go on !Ine
som.tima aft.r completion 01 the
f.d.rally authorized. funded. ur C8lTied
out proj.ct which was the .ubject 01
consullatlon. To the extent Ihat the
A..oclate Solicitor'. opinion crealed the
oppolUelmprfllllon. the Servlce takfl.6
thl. opportunity to clarify thl. point.
Moreover. 81 IUka8,ted by lome
commenter.. and for the reuons
outlined above. the Service ha. deleted
110 r.ference to the Int.rior Departmenl
position on "cumulative effects" in 88
1.0.903 (1981) In the definition 'ectlon.
The Service disagree. wilh the
commenter who stated that the citation
to the legal opInIon In the propo.ed
defmlllon denied the public meaninglul
commenl on lhelG regulation.. The
policy was widely known. and It w..
explained In the preamble to the
propo.ed rul.. Tho A..ociate Sollcllor's
opinion on "cwnulaUve effect," I.
publl.hed in Interior Decl.lons. a
publication available to the general
public. Finally. the opinion doeo not
repre.ent a policy change lubject to
AdmlnlstraUve Procedure Act [APAl
Infonnal rulemaking proceeding.. 11
repre.ented Interior's legal
Interpretation of the scope of
"cUDlulatlve aff.cts" under .ectlon 7.
adopted and published In 1981 In
keeping with APA requlremenls. 5
U.S.C. 552(a). Therefore. no repropo.al
Is ne.dad on this I..ue.
The definition of "designated non.
Federal repre.entativ." i. adopled from
tha proposal In part. Flnt. In response to
a comment, the Servlca explains that the
non.Pederal reprelentaUve may conduct
inlonnal consultation. (1402.13) ond/or
prepare biological as....ment.
(1402.12). However, Federal agencies
cannot delegate their role In Inltiatlll8
formal consultation. 8 conference. or
early cOMultatlon. The aecond lentence
of the propooed deflnltlon has been
deleted. but a n.w I .:~2.08 hao be.n
addod to further expl.1n the rol. of the
de.lgnated non-F.d.r.1 repre.entatlve.
The propo.ad d.finitlon. of
"daotrucUon or adven. modification"
and "J.opardlze Lbe contlou.d exl.tence
of' T8CfIlved a 101 of atlenUon from
comm.nten. Both deflnltion. cuntalned.
01 did the 11178 rule. the phrue ".urvlval
and Nlcovery." Th. finol rule Nltaln. Lb.
laJl8Ull8e of tho proposed deflnlUons.
oxcapt for the change. noted below.
A100 connected with th..e t.nn. I. the
daflnltlon of "recovery." The "recovery"
of a Uoted .peclc> me.... that the .tal\lo

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