Colorado River Interim Guidelines for
Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations
for Lakes Powell and Mead

Reclamation is committed to providing opportunities for the public, stakeholders and other interested parties to engage in meaningful participation throughout the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. The efforts undertaken to date are detailed in Chapter 6 of the Final EIS.

Reclamation held a series of public meetings to obtain input from the public regarding the scope of this study. The initial series of public meetings was held in July 2005. The purpose of this first series of meetings was to solicit input from the public regarding the content, format, mechanism, and analysis to be considered during the development of the proposed shortage guidelines and reservoir management strategies. The outcome of this initial public input process was a decision by the Secretary of the Interior to begin a formal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and preparation of an EIS.

The second series of public meetings was held in November 2005. The purpose of this second series of meetings was to solicit comments from the public on the scope of specific shortage guidelines and other coordinated reservoir management operations, and the issues and alternatives that should be considered and analyzed in the EIS. The written and oral comments received at both sets of meetings were summarized in the Scoping Summary Report.

Opportunities for public comment occur throughout the entire EIS process. After the release of the Draft EIS for this project, Reclamation held another series of meetings in April 2007 in Henderson, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah, to provide the public an opportunity to review the draft environmental document and make formal comments. (Information associated with these meetings can be found on the Documents page under the "Public Meetings Materials" heading.)

Responses to the comments received on the Draft EIS are addressed in Volume IV of the Final EIS published in November 2007. The Secretary issued a Record of Decision in December 2007. Documents have been made available by mail, online, and at various local agencies and libraries.

Five federal agencies are participating in this EIS process as Cooperating Agencies. These agencies include the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Western Area Power Administration, and the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission. The Cooperating Agencies are meeting regularly with Reclamation and will assist with the development and evaluation of alternatives and in the preparation of the EIS.

Reclamation is also coordinating the development of the EIS with the seven Basin States, Indian tribes, Mexico, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other key stakeholders and interested parties. It is important to Reclamation to involve these entities as early in the process as possible to answer questions, discuss concerns, and address issues as they arise. Meetings with these various groups have been and will continue to occur throughout the planning process.

Webmaster: Colleen Dwyer, cdwyer@lc.usbr.gov
Updated: December 2007