The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration have announced their intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the Columbia River System operations and configurations for 14 federal projects in the interior Columbia Basin.
In this Columbia River System Operations EIS, the three agencies will present a reasonable range of alternatives for long-term system operations and evaluate the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts on flood risk management, irrigation, power generation, navigation, fish and wildlife, cultural resources and recreation.
Beginning today, and concluding Jan. 17, 2017, the agencies are seeking comments through a public scoping period that provides anyone who is interested an opportunity to help the agencies identify issues and concerns that could be analyzed in the EIS. As part of the comment period, the agencies will host public scoping meetings throughout the Northwest at the following locations:
| Oct. 24 Wenatchee Community Center 504 S. Chelan Ave. Wenatchee, Wash. 4-7 p.m. |
Oct. 25 Coulee Dam City Hall 300 Lincoln Ave. Coulee Dam, Wash. 4-7 p.m. |
Oct. 26 Priest River Community Center 5399 Highway 2 Priest River, Idaho 4-7 p.m. |
| Oct. 27 Kootenai River Inn Casino and Spa 7169 Plaza St. Bonners Ferry, Idaho 4-7 p.m. |
Nov. 1 Red Lion Hotel Kalispell 20 North Main St. Kalispell, Mont. 4-7 p.m. |
Nov. 2 City of Libby, City Hall Ponderosa Room 952 E. Spruce St. Libby, Mont. 4-7 p.m. |
| Nov. 3 Hilton Garden Inn Missoula 3720 N. Reserve St. Missoula, Mont. 4-7 p.m. |
Nov. 14 The Historic Davenport Hotel 10 South Post St. Spokane, Wash. 4-7 p.m. |
Nov. 16 Red Lion Lewiston Seaport Room 621 21st St. Lewiston, Idaho 4-7 p.m. |
| Nov. 17 Courtyard Walla Walla The Blues Room 550 West Rose Street Walla Walla, Wash. 4-7 p.m. |
Nov. 29 The Grove Hotel 245 S. Capitol Blvd. Boise, Idaho 4-7 p.m. |
Dec. 1 Town Hall Great Room 1119 8th Ave. Seattle, Wash. 4-7 p.m. |
| Dec. 6 The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center River Gallery Room 5000 Discovery Drive The Dalles, Ore. 4-7 p.m. |
Dec. 7 Oregon Convention Center 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Portland, Ore. 4-7 p.m. |
Dec. 8 The Loft at the Red Building 20 Basin St. Astoria, Ore. 4-7 p.m. |
Additionally, two webinars will be held Dec. 13, 2016, at 10-11:30 a.m. and 3-4:30 p.m. PST. Information and links to the webinar will be provided on the project website.
For more information about the Columbia River System Operations EIS, please visit www.crso.info. Information is also available by calling 800-290-5033, though official comments are not accepted over the phone. Written comments may be submitted at any of the public meetings or mailed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CRSO EIS, P.O. Box 2870, Portland, Oregon 97208-2870. Emailed comments should be sent to comment@crso.info.
When submitting comments, please be aware that your entire comment including your name, address and email will become part of the public record.