Photos by Mary Alice Murphy
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
David Batts of EMPSI (Environmental Management and Planning Solutions, Inc.) explained the process going forward with the NEPA process for the New Mexico Unit.
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
A poster of the resource topics for analysis in NEPA
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Jan Embree-Bever examining a poster and its information
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Jeff Ray looking over one of the maps
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Shelby Hallmark checking out another map
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Julie Remp of EMPSI answers Jacque Cusack and Scott Zager's questions.
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Bill Stewart of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation points out an item of interest on a map
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Kevin Doyle of EMPSI explains the NEPA process
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Ty Bays and Topper Thorpe of Grant County chat with Sean Heath and Jeff Riley of Reclamation
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Anthony Gutierrez, NM CAP Entity executive director, answers one of Peter Russell's questions
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Rep. Rebecca Down and several others listen to Gutierrez's explanation
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Colleen Cunningham of the Interstate Stream Commission talks about the plan with Martin Miller
AWSA NEPA scoping meeting in Silver City 070918
Rolf Schmidt-Petersen of the ISC, center, talks to Dean Jarosh and Sharon Bookwalter.
One of the multiple National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping meetings took place in Silver City. Representatives from the Interstate Stream Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the joint leads for the process of analyzing the proposed action by the New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity to construct a New Mexico Unit under the Arizona Water Settlements Act, also attended. Members of Environmental Management and Planning Solutions Inc. (EMPSI), which is contracting with Reclamation to do the NEPA process explained the process to visitors wishing to comment, as part of the public process.
The scoping meeting did not offer speeches, but rather poster presentations, with people standing by each to explain the process, the maps and other questions posed to them.
Comments can continue to be made as part of the scoping process to NMUnitEIS@empsi.com or for more information, visit www.NMUnitEIS.com. Or they may be written and mailed to the Phoenix Area Office, Bureau of Reclamation, (ATTN: NM Unit EIS), 6159 West Thunderbird Road, Glendale, AZ 85306.
According to a recent rule from Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, a NEPA process should be completed within one year of its beginning. That fits well with the timeline for the joint leads, working with the advice of the NM CAP Entity, to make a decision to proceed or not to the SOI by the deadline of December 2019, according to the AWSA.