2011-05-12_PERMIT FILE - M2011028 (2)

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CHAPTER 5 PURPOSE AND NEED, RECOMMENDATIONS AND COMMITMENTS 5.4 ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS This section discusses the environmental commitments that have been made by Interior or Reclamation during the development of Refined Alternative 4 (Reclamation's Preferred Alternative). Reclamation would share responsibility for implementing measures that would avoid or reduce potential environmental impacts of the ALP Project. This responsibility would be shared with other federal agencies, the Colorado Ute Tribes, and other ALP Project beneficiaries, as well as third-party entities which could include Colorado and New Mexico state agencies, local governments, and private developers. The commitments in this chapter summarize commitments made during the planning process and incorporated into ALP Project plan as discussed in Chapter 2 of this Final Supplemental Environmental Impact State (FSEIS), and mitigation measures proposed in Chapter 3 to reduce or avoid impacts that would otherwise occur as a result of the implementation of the Preferred Alternative. These commitments supersede commitments made by Reclamation in previous ALP Project National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents. As discussed below, the commitments described herein would be implemented by Interior, or Interior would require their implementation by construction contractors, management authorities, or third-party developers. Commitments for pre-construction activities would generally be completed by Reclamation or by contractors during the final design process and prior to construction activities. Wildlife, wetland, cultural resources and other mitigation would be completed by Reclamation as described in the following paragraphs. Some commitments, such as monitoring or additional studies, would continue beyond completion of construction of structural facilities. The non-structural component of the Preferred Alternative (i.e., the $40 million water acquisition fund) would be administered by Interior through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). It was assumed that the use of this fund would be for acquisition of irrigated agricultural lands and that these lands would remain in irrigated production. In the event that the Colorado Ute Tribes were to elect to fund alternative activities with the water acquisition fund or were to apply for water rights transfers, it would be the responsibility of the water acquisition fund's administering agency to determine appropriate environmental protection measures. It is possible that additional NEPA compliance may be required for such alternative uses. The use of ALP Project water by either the Colorado Ute Tribes or other ALP Project beneficiaries would result in environmental impacts that would require the implementation of avoidance design specifications and mitigation measures. To the extent that Reclamation can require developers of ALP Project water end uses to implement environmental protection elements into design, Reclamation commits to requiring certain measures as discussed in the following sections. However, all compliance responsibilities and costs associated with end use development would be the responsibility of the third- party developers. As discussed previously, additional NEPA compliance would likely be required for the development of end use facilities to occur. At such time, the lead agency would be responsible for identifying additional environmental commitments specific to the proposed end uses. 5.4.1 General Commitments Throughout the planning process for the project, efforts have been made to avoid impacts where practicable. If avoidance was not possible, then mitigation measures have been developed to reduce the ] , 5.4 ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS 5-10 P.O. Box A, ` 1 o,,kja rs CO 81K24 ,lei ? r c as cot AotF1t'_. c-_,QA,%j EL ?'}c.(htt?tT Ft_- Pmt l{' 73