Allocation of Water Supply and Long-Term Contract Execution, Central Arizona Project, Arizona

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the Council on Environmental Quality's Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) filed a draft EIS with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Allocation of Water Supply and Long-Term Contract Execution, CAP, on June 23, 2000. The draft EIS proposes allocation of remaining available CAP water and execution of associated contracts. Reclamation published a notice of availability for the draft EIS in the Federal Register on June 23, 2000 (65 FR 39177). EPA's notice of availability was published on June 30, 2000 (65 FR 40629). The public review period for the draft EIS was from June 23, 2000, to August 25, 2000. On July 12, 2000, a Federal Register notice was published (65 FR 43037) indicating that due to legislation passed during the public comment period prohibiting the expenditure of resources to complete the NEPA process, no public hearings would be held; however, written comments on the adequacy of the draft EIS would continue to be accepted until August 25, 2000. Due to the amount of time that has passed since the original review period closed, Reclamation is re-opening the public review period for the draft EIS, to receive comments from interested organizations and individuals on the adequacy of the draft EIS in describing environmental impacts of the proposal. All written comments received during the original public review period are part of the record and do not have to be resubmitted. At this time, Reclamation does not plan to hold any public hearings to obtain oral comments on the draft EIS; however, if substantial interest in having hearings is expressed, one or more public hearings will be scheduled and public notice will be provided in the Federal-- Register.