ML13253A294
| ML13253A294 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Columbia  |
| Issue date: | 06/10/2011 |
| From: | Balsam B Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Dan Doyle Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| References | |
| FOIA/PA-2013-0265 | |
| Download: ML13253A294 (8) | |
Text
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From: Balsam, Briana To: Doyle, Daniel
Subject:
RE: Columbia aquatic letters for concurrence Date: Friday, June 10, 2011 1:33:00 PM Attachments: CGS DSEIS Itr to FWS balsam.docx Dan, I attached letter #1--the one for the biological assessment. I put a number of comments in there, so let me know if you have questions. The main changes I made were to be very specific that we are requesting informal section 7 consultation under the ESAI and that we want FWS's concurrence within 30 days per the ESA regs. In the past we have been a little ambiguous with this in our letters and it leads to trouble down the road. It's better to have a clear record indicating that we know how the consultation process works from the beginning so that we can defend our actions later if need be.
The other big thing to note is that the ESA regs require that we get an updated list of species if we take more than 180 days to prepare the biological assessment. As of right now, today is day 214. See the first comment in the letter. It would be best to send your FWS a quick email saying that we are close to issuing the BA and to ask if the bull trout is still the only species in the area. We can add that email to ADAMS, and then we have that aspect covered.
I will review the second letter now and send it over to you when I am finishedL Briana From: Doyle, Daniel Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 12:47 PM To: Balsam, Briana
Subject:
FW: Columbia aquatic letters for concurrence Briana, Please see the comments from PNNL and revisions to the Columbia DSEIS letter to NMFS.
Please let me know if you have any comments on Becky's changes or anythilIg else. I'm just looking for a sanity check from someone who is familiar with how our consultation with NMFS is supposed to work.
Thanks, Dan Doyle Project Manager Division of License Renewal U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission daniel.doyle@nrc.gov (301) 415-3748
From: Krieg, Rebekah [1]
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 11:10 AM To: Doyle, Daniel Cc: Logan, Dennis; Mcdowell, Bruce K
Subject:
RE: Columbia aquatic letters for concurrence
- Dan, The FWS letter is fine- I only had once change ("no affect" rather than "no effect", see attached letter). I did not see mention of any of the terrestrial species, but I am assuming that was dealt with by another communication so that he knows that NRC had determined that none of the terrestrial species mentioned in his letter were in the vicinity.
I did provide more extensive suggestions for the NMFS letter (also attached). I know that past letters from NRC have said that the NRC staff identified the EFH species, and there may be a reason for this that I do not understand, however, we actually got the list of species from NMFS in their June 23, 2010 letter. I thought it would be appropriate to state that. I am, however, checking I with one of our aquatic resource coordinators (Ann Miracle) to see if her experience is different. Also, I was under the impression that the May 3, 2010 letter you sent was the initiation of the consultation, and Ann concurred that was her understanding of how the process worked also.
This review triggered a finding of an error in the BA/EFH. This error is not included in the EIS. The error is in Table 3-2, where we had included steelhead (0. mykiss) instead of the appropriate coho (0. kisutch). The remainder of the discussion and analysis in the BA/EFH is correct, it 'isjust in the table that the error occurs. My apologies for not catching this earlier.
Table 3-2. Aquatic Fish Species with Essential Fish Habitat in the Vicinity of the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in the Vicinity of the Columbia Generating Station Scientific Name Common Name Oncorhynchus tshawytscha Upper Columbia River Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch coho salmon Sources: NMFS 2010a Becky From: Doyle, Daniel [mailto: Daniel. Doyle@nrc.gov]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 12:11 PM To: Krieg, Rebekah Cc: Logan, Dennis; Mcdowell, Bruce K
Subject:
Columbia aquatic letters for concurrence
- Becky, In preparation for issuing the Columbia draft SEIS, I prepared the attached letters to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NMFS.
Please review them and let me know if you have any revisions or commentsi
- Thanks, Dan Doyle Project Manager Division of License Renewal U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission daniel.doyle@nrc.gov (301) 415-3748
IMs. Robyn Thorson, Regional Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Region 911 NE 11th Ave Portland, OR 97232 Comment [BABI]: Dan - ifwe take more than 1180 days to prepare a biological assessment, we are supposed to confirm the accuracy of the
SUBJECT:
BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT FOR INFORMAL SECTION 7 species list with the FWS per 50 CFR 402.12(i)
CONSULTATION RELATED TO THE LICENSE RENEWAL and (e). It would be a good idea to email the person that sent you a list letting him know that
-OF We are planning to send out the biological COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION assessment soon, and we want to know if the iist is still accurate (even though it is only one
Dear Ms. Thorson:
species). Inen aocumem mis email in ,AUAMS I Mnd refer to it in the letter.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has completed the enclosed draft Supplement XX to NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants," to evaluate the proposed renewal of the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) operating license for a period of an additional 20 years. In accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, the NRC's kBiological aAssessment or Comment [BAB2]: We aren't using this license renewal of CGS is included in Appendix D-1 of the enclosed draft sSupplemental a i c t --n ( .
acronym anymore since it iseasy enough to
,writeout "biological assessment" and FWS and e_-nvironmental i~mpact _sStatement (SEIS). INMFS don't use the acronym.
CGS is located in Benton County, Washington, 12.5 miles northwest of Richland. CGS is equipped with a closed-cycle heat dissipation system that withdraws makeup water from, and discharges that waterit to, the Columbia River fromeo six mechanical draft cooling towers. The plant is operated by Energy Northwest.
In a letter dated IMarch 22, 20101, the NRC requested that your office of the U.S. Fish and Comment [BAB3]: I added the references as Wildlife Service (FWS) provide the NRC with information onlists-ef Federally-Iisted endangered footnotes because it is just generally a good practice to include the full reference for the or threatened, proposed, and candidate spesieo andd info-rm*at.i. n on pr.pe.od and candidatc \ recipient to refer to if needed. Plus, it's nice for species, as well as any designated critical habitat that may be in the vicinity of CGS and its ..s to have when we have to back-track on projects to answer questions that come up.
associated transmission line rights-of-way. This letter initiated informal section 7 consultation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The FWS responded in an e-mail Formatted: Superscript dated November 8, 2010.2, and identified a single aquatic species-the bull trout (Salvelinus *{ Formatted: Superscript I confluentus)-under its jurisdiction that is Federally_-listed as threatened and has been reported in the Hanford Reach in the vicinity of the CGS facility. Further, the FWS indicated that critical habitat for the bull trout occurred within the action area, as previously defined. 1Because the NRC did not prepare its biological assessment within the 180-day timeframe specified at 50 CFR 402.12(0). the NRC confirmed the accuracy of the species list in an e-mail to FWS on 1
[NRC'.1 Ii ~ Niic~h'~ar Rpniji~tnrv Cnmmieeinn ~fl1fl I ptter frnm Ph~m R Rranrh flhi~f tri Thrirerin P Pacific Regional Director, FWS.
Subject:
Request for list of species for Columbia Generating Station Formatted: Superscript I license renewal application review. March 22, 2010. ADAMS No. ML100710046.
Formatted: Font: 10 pt I 2
FWSI U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2010. E-mail from Kurz GL, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, to Doyle D, Proiect Manager, NRC. Subiect: Columbia Generating Station license renewal. November 8, 2010.
Formatted: Superscript }
ADAMS No. ML103120486.
DATE. The FWS responded on DATE confirming that the bull trout was the only listed species in the area under the NRC's review.i Comment [BAB4]: See first comment.
Comment [BABS]: See first comment.
The NRC'siG biological assessment8A provides an evaluation of the potential impact of renewing the CGS operating license for an additional 20 years of operation on the bull trout and its critical habitat. T4e-In the biological assessment, the NRC concludes that continued operation of CGS will have jno aeeffect On the bull trout. Comment [BABS]: Becky's correction was actually wrong here. Effect is a noun, which is iwhat the word should be.
I also bolded it because we want that to stand out and we often bold the conclusions in biological assessments.
[Formatted: Font: Bold
R. Thorson We are requesting your concurrence with our determination within 30 days per 50 CFR 402.12(i). In reaching our conclusion, the NRC staff relied on information iprovided your officel, information provided by the applicant, and on research performed by NRC staff. Please Comment [BAB6]: I added this because we mentioned getting information from them earlier in note that the comment period ends on MONTH DAY, 2011. If you have any questions the letter.I regarding this issue or the staff=s request, please contact Daniel Doyle at 301-415-3748 or by e-mail at Daniel. Doyleanrc..ov.i Comment [BAB7]: Last comment-promise!
In recent letters specifically having to do with section 7 or EFH consultations, we have Sincerely, provided 2 contacts-the biologist for biology-
'related questions and the PM for project-related questions. So here, you and Dennis would be inentioned. This is helpful to keep RERB in the loop the whole way through, plus makes more sense once the consultation is transferred over to RERB in the event that the final SEIS is Bo M. Pham, Chief issued and the consultation is still open (which Projects Branch 1 has happened with Indian Point, Salem, and Division of License Renewal Hope Creek).
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-397
Enclosure:
As stated cc w/encl: Listserv
R. Thorson bull trout was the only listed species in the area under the NRC's review.
The NRC's biological assessment provides an evaluation of the potential impact of renewing the CGS operating license for an additional 20 years of operation on the bull trout and its critical habitat. In the biological assessment, the NRC concludes that continued operation of CGS will have Ino effect bon the bull trout. Comment [BAB9]: Becky's correction was actually wrong here. Effect is a noun, which is
,what the word should be.
We are requesting your concurrence with our determination. In reaching our conclusion, the I also bolded it because we want that to stand NRC staff relied on information provided by the applicant and on research performed by NRC out and we often bold the conclusions in biological assessments.
staff. Please note that the comment period ends on MONTH DAY, 2011. If you have any questions regarding this issue or the staff=s request, please contact Daniel Doyle at 301-415-3748 or by e-mail at Daniel.Doyle*,nrc.gov.
Sincerely, Bo M. Pham, Chief Projects Branch 1 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-397
Enclosure:
As stated cc w/encl: Listserv DISTRIBUTION:
HARD COPY: BPham DLR R/F ACunanan DDoyle E-MAIL: MThadani PUBLIC ICouret, OPA RidsNrrDIr Resource LSubin, OGC RidsNrrDirRpbl Resource NOKeefe, RIV RidsNrrDIrRpb2 Resource GPick, RIV RidsNrrDIrRarb Resource WWalker, RIV RidsNrrDIrRasb Resource RCohen, RIV RidsNrrDIrRapb Resource MHayes, RIV RidsNrrDIrRerb Resource BMaier, RIV RidsNrrDIrRpob Resource VDricks, RIV RidsOgcMailCenter Resource ADAMS Accession Nos.:
MLxxx (Pkg.) MLxxx (Ltr.) MLxxx (SupXX) ML11091A028 (FRN)
R. Thorson OFFICE LA: DLR PM:DLR/RPB1I GS:DLR/RERB GS:DLR/RERB OGC IBC:DLR/RPB1 NAME DDoyle ATravers DLogan LSubin I BPham DATE OFFICIAL RECORD COPY