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CRAPTERFOUR Responses to Public and A9encY Comments Letter and Comment No. Response Sediment and erosion control methods for the pipeline are included in Section 3.4 and Attachment 6 of the Pipeline Plan of Development (Appendix E). The BMPs included in Appendix H would apply to both the Piceance and Parachute sites. F-2.24 Steps to reduce or eliminate erosion and sediment transportation would be implemented at the time of construction. After construction of the facilities and well fields aze constructed, continual monitoring for erosion or sediment transport by American Soda's environmental specialist would occur. Further monitoring by BLM and State of Colorado inspectors would occur on a timely basis. Monitoring stations have been established by the USGS upstream and downstream from the Piceance facility to measure water quality including sediment transport. If gullies occur or sediment runoff happens after a rainfall event, corrective actions would be taken immediately to correct the condition. F-2.25 American Soda has purchased the Pazachute Site facility and associated • water rights. These water rights aze decreed for industrial and imgation/augmentation purposes. During operation of its oil shale facility from 1983 to 1991, Unocal's consumptive use was approximately 3.5 cubic feet per second (cfs). Since the facility closed, a portion of the water rights has been used for irrigation purposes. The consumptive use planned for the Yankee Gulch Project is 1.6 cfs, less than half the amount formerly consumed by Unocal. The water rights purchased aze sufficient to support both the proposed industrial use and existing irrigation in the Pazachute Creek Valley. . The water would be withdrawn from the Colorado River and alluvial groundwater wells in the Parachute Creek Valley. There aze no impacts anticipated to groundwater quality from the water withdrawal. Since the alluvial groundwater is tributary to the Colorado River, the withdrawal is considered under Colorado water law to be a surface water withdrawal. Therefore, there aze no impacts anticipated to groundwater quantity from the water consumption. The consumptive use would contribute to slightly reduced flows in the Colorado River. The average daily discharge in the Colorado River neaz DeBeque (USGS station 09093700) according to the USGS flow records from 1966 to 1996 is 3,800 cfs. The 1.6 cfs proposed depletion would represent only 0.04 percent of the average daily flow in the Colorado River. As discussed in the Draft EIS on page 4-67, the proposed depletions were evaluated by the USFWS under Section 7 ofthe Endangered Species Act. Refer to Appendix L for a copy of the Biological Assessment and the Biological Opinion. 4-9