June 1, 2018
The Icicle Work Group has released a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DPEIS) covering its comprehensive and controversial proposals in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
After several long delays, Chelan County and the State Department of Ecology’s Office of Columbia River, as lead agencies for the work group, released the DPEIS on May 31. That started a 60-day public comment period extending through July 30.
The group has also scheduled a public hearing at the Leavenworth Festhalle, 1001 Front Street, Leavenworth, for June 27 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. That is the only public hearing scheduled. An informational meeting may be held in the Seattle area on or about June 25.
The DPEIS, found at http://www.co.chelan.wa.us/natural-resources/pages/environmental-review was prepared under the State Environmental Policy Act. As its name suggests, it is a programmatic review of all the various strategies and options developed by the Icicle Work Group. If they decide after this programmatic review to proceed with specific projects, such as a dam on Eightmile Lake, those projects would require an individual environmental review specific to that project.
The DPEIS lists six alternatives. These include a No-Action option, a so-called Base Package, and then four other alternatives that would build on the Base Package. The DPEIS is a large document with seven chapters and six appendices. Initially, the work group only proposed a 45 day comment period, but conservationists, led by the Alpine Lakes Protection Society (ALPS), complained about the limited amount of time. After Governor Inslee’s intervention, the state and county agreed to extend the comment period to 60 days.
ALPS, in its announcement of the DPEIS, raises concerns about the suite of proposed projects relying too heavily on taking more water than ever out of lakes within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. It claims these alternatives are at odds with the law, including the federal Wilderness Act.
ALPS has taken the lead in raising concerns about the Icicle proposals, and heads a coalition of more than 40 conservation and recreation organizations who share those concerns. For a full copy of the ALPS release, see News Releases in the Library section of this website.