FEIS Executive Summary

The complete final EIS is a large document. The Executive Summary (8mb pdf) provides an overview of the National Environmental Policy Act process, the alternatives’ analysis, the co-lead agencies’ Preferred Alternative, and a discussion of the common themes and responses from public comments. This summary will help readers identify portions of the entire document they may want to focus on and read more about.

Download the CRSO EIS Scoping Summary Report

The CRSO EIS co-lead agencies (the USACE, BPA, and Reclamation) implemented a robust public scoping process to provide ample opportunity for the public to understand how the System currently operates and identify issues of concern to be addressed in the EIS. The agencies invited the public to provide assistance to help define the issues, concerns, and the scope of alternatives to be addressed. The Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS provided a summary of the intent of the EIS, established a schedule of public meetings, and provided points of contact for each of the co-lead agencies.

The co-lead agencies held 16 public meetings and two webinars across the region during public scoping to allow the public to ask questions in person and contribute their comments and ideas on what should be included in the EIS. The co-lead agencies received over 400,000 comments.

The three agencies acknowledge the effort extended by the public across the region, country, and internationally to provide the thoughtful and deliberate input summarized in this report. Each comment letter was read by the study team, discussed, and broken into categories based on if it was a proposed action to take, resource to consider, method to use in the evaluation, or issue to address in the scope of the analysis. Comments were then categorized within this Scoping Summary to reflect the types of comments received. Each letter submitted was helpful and used to inform the scope of the study and the nature of the analysis.

Comment Period is Closed

Thank you for your comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the Preferred Alternative for the operations, maintenance and configuration of the Columbia River System.

The review and comment period opened on February 28, 2020 with the publication of the NEPA Notice of Availability in the Federal Register and remained open through April 13, 2020. The agencies now are reviewing almost 59,000 comment letters and will respond to substantive draft EIS comments in the final EIS to be released this summer.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration developed the draft EIS in response to the need to review and update management of the System, including evaluating impacts to resources in the context of new information and changed conditions in the Columbia River basin and in response to a court order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

The Preferred Alternative detailed in the draft EIS is a suite of operational, maintenance and structural measures to allow the agencies to meet their congressionally authorized purposes, the Purpose and Need statement and EIS objectives, including those to benefit species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Public comment teleconferences were held on the dates below.
Click on the date to view the transcript.

• March 17
• March 18 
• March 19 
• March 25 
• March 26  
• March 31