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III IIIIIIIII'III III ~' »T .act Sto.~¢w~9e f I/b/,,,.-ce / e , ~~ ~ ~/ ~n v; so .-t ,,., e-~~-t`a 1 sss ~ndP'iER OUR Responses to Pu611c and I~gency Comments Letter and Comment No. Response the Colorado River, Crystal River, Castle Creek, Roaring Fork, Parachute Creek, and the East, Middle and West Forks of Pazachute Creek. The water quality of these sources would not be affected by transfer of existing water rights. P-3.104 Although on-site evaporation measurements aze not available, Class A Pan Evaporation is estimated to be 45 to 50 inches per year at the project site, which receives only 12 to 14 inches of precipitation each yeaz. P-3.105 The data presented in Tables 3-5.3 and 3-5.4 of the Draft EIS indicate that existing air quality levels in the Project Area are well within applicable standazds. In addition, CDPHE-Air Pollution Control Division has determined that based on the information available to them, which includes these monitoring data, the azea in the vicinity of the Pazachute and Piceance sites is considered to be in attainment with all National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). As reported in the Glenwood Springs Final Supplemental EIS (BLM 1999) on pages 3-1 and 3-2, "Based on data provided by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division (CDPHE-APCD; Chick 1998), particulate matter less than ]0 microns in effective diameter (PM~o) concentrations measured at Rifle (32 µg/m' annual and 72 µg/m' second 24-hour maximum) are well below the Colorado and National Ambient Air Quality Standazds of 50 mg/m' annual and 150 µg/m' 24-hour. Rural values are likely to be considerably lower. Similarly,, gaseous pollutant concentrations at Rifle are assumed to be well below applicable air quality standazds (cazbon monoxide: 10 ppm (11,430 µg/m') second 1-hour maximum, 6 ppm (6,667 µg/m') second 8-hour maximum; nitrogen dioxide: 0.002 ppm (4 µg/m') annual; ozone: 0.088 ppm (172 µg/m') annual; and sulfiu dioxide: 0.012 ppm (31 µg/m') second 3-hour maximum, 0.006 ppm (16 µg/m') second 24-hour maximum, and 0.002 ppm (5 µg/m') annual) „ P-3.106 An interagency organization of state and federal agencies (including the USFS) has established a monitoring program to measure and assess visibility conditions in Mandatory PSD Class I azeas, where Congress has expressly indicated the protection of the visibility is an important AQRV. This Program, referred to as the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Envvonments (IMPROVE) collects and presents scene, optical and speciated fine particulate matter data defining the visual quality at selected locations throughout the United States. This information has been used to determine background visibility conditions for this project. This EIS uses the best scientific methods available to estimate both the background visibility conditions (based on IMPROVE data) and the potential visibility impacts from the Proposed Action and Alternatives (1WAQM visibility 4-51