Mar. 14, 2018
Concerns about the Icicle await two big events that could certainly shape its future. Both involve environmental reviews by different agencies at different stages under different laws.
The first is the environmental assessment (EA) of a bigger valve to allow withdrawing water from Snow Lake 60 percent faster than now. Under the National Environment Policy Act two federal agencies – the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish & Wildlife Service – first released their draft EA on this proposal in October. After strong public criticism, they revised that draft and invited more public comments. That second comment period closed in January.
The next move on the Snow Lake valve is now up to the federal agencies. Theoretically, they could conclude, based on the public comments and their own analysis, that this controversial project warrants a full-blown environmental impact statement (EIS), rather than their streamlined EA. However, as one environmental consultant familiar with these procedures notes, "Agencies almost never go down this road."
Procedures vary between agencies, but their more likely move, if they follow typical agency practice, would be to prepare a Final EA, that may include mitigation measures, and what is generally called a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI - pronounced "phon see"). Legally, they would be deciding that the project does not have a significant environmental impact so no EIS is required. This would represent a final agency decision that starts the clock on any appeals.
The federal agencies have not hinted when they might act, so no one knows when this dispute might come to a head.
Unlike the Snow Lake process, which could be nearing its administrative end, the other big event is near its beginning. This is the draft programmatic environmental impact statement that the state Department of Ecology’s Office of the Columbia River, and Chelan County are preparing on behalf of the Icicle Work Group. The Snow Lake process is under federal law; this review will be under state law. As the 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 go through an individual environmental review specific to that project.
The Snow Lake proposal obviously puts this sequence backwards. The federal agencies – which are part of the Icicle Work Group – are charging ahead on an individual project that is part of the overall Icicle strategy. They are proceeding with a specific project before any decision is made about the overall strategy. Critics have raised this objection, but so far the federal agencies have ignored it.
The date for release of the draft programmatic EIS has slipped. After an initial scoping phase (which the Snow Lake proposal altogether skipped), the state agency and county initially planned to publish a draft EIS by July 2017. It has since been delayed several times, with the most recent prediction for sometime in mid-2018.
This draft EIS will be a voluminous document, with several large appendices. Conservationists complained about the limited amount of time they would have to review and comment on it. After Governor Inslee’s intervention, the state and county agreed to extend the proposed comment period from 45 to 60 days. The parties remain at loggerheads over whether to hold an official public meeting in the Seattle area in addition to the one slated for Leavenworth.
So everyone knows that two big events are going to happen in the Icicle, but for now all the public can do is wait.