The Corps Denison Land Conveyance EIS Scoping process (regarding land along the eastern shore of Little Mineral Bay) meeting will be held 9-11-08 in Denison, TX. Additional information and Corps meeting information follow.

If you cannot attend the 9-11-08 Corps meeting in Denison, TX and submit your written comments to the Corps, please send comments and recommendations as soon as possible for the Corps Denison Land Conveyance EIS Scoping process (regarding land along the eastern shore of Little Mineral Bay) to:

Steve Nolen
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Attention: CESWT-PE-E
1645 South 101st East Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74128-4629
Phone: (918) 669-7660
Fax: (918) 669-7546
E-mail: Stephen.L.Nolen@usace.army.mil

Page by: Public Affairs Office, CESWT-PA
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Notes: The Chief Environmental Analysis, Tulsa Corps of Engineers District Office provided the following information.

• The Public meeting for the Corps EIS Scoping Notice that follows is scheduled for;
• When: Thursday 9/11/08  from 5:30 to 8:30 PM
• Where: Denison Senior Citizen Center, 531 Chesnut, Denison, Texas
• Meeting format: A large room with Corps displays and work stations around the room describing the overall EIS process and stages such as the Scoping phase.
• It will be come and go for individuals. There will be no overall briefing or Q & A by the Corps personnel. If you attended the previous Corps meeting at Durant, OK on Chloride Control projects, it will be the same meeting format.
• It is limited to one-on-one contacts with Corps representatives manning each work station in the room.
• The Corps continues to maintain that this format is more informative to citizens since individuals are encouraged to ask questions one-on-one.
• Individual public comments will be accepted at the public scoping meeting, either written on Corps forms which you can attach additional information and/or orally by a court reporter.
• Note: Verbal comments to individual Corps representatives are not normally accepted as part of the official public comments.
• The Chief of Environmental Analysis also tried to answer my questions about who is funding the EIS and what are the boundary conditions?
• City of Denison, TX is funding this particular EIS contrary to what we have been told by the Corps of Engineers for several years that the Denison land sale would require a “comprehensive” Supplemental EIS for the entire Lake Texoma Corps area due to cumulative impacts around the lake and would cost about $3 million of “Federal Funds” since the last EIS was in 1976. The Corps Lake Texoma Shoreline Management Plan (1996) and probably the Master Plan (1978) would be updated as well. The Corps stated that non-federal funding was not permitted.
• Response: The proposed scope of the EIS will be limited to the Corps managed public land to be sold to the City of Denison, TX as required by federal legislation (WRDA 2007- excerpt copy is available on the web site). The Corps new interpretation is that they will only evaluate limited cumulative impacts such as on past and new developments around the lake, and fish and wildlife habitat.
• I asked if this EIS and scoping meeting would include proposed additional land sales at Lake Texoma State Park in Kingston, OK and he replied no.
• I asked further if the cumulative impacts part of the Denison/Little Mineral EIS would be used for a probable EIS for the Lake Texoma State Park and he said probably so since it would be an evaluation around the lake.

Refer to the overall EIS process and Scoping in particular under Plans, Economy and EIS on the home page.

Now we know when the scoping meeting will be so please attend the meeting with  prepared written comments that you can request to be entered into the official public meeting record. The written comments and recommendations will be much more effective than verbal comments.

If you cannot make the meeting, they will provide an address later that you can mail your written comments to. I will send it out when they publish the meeting notice in the area newspapers.

The Corps meeting format may be more productive for the Corps but it is decidedly not productive or effective for the public to actually participate in the overall EIS and Scoping processes. The public meeting should be prefaced with an overall briefing and Q & A session. Official public comments and recommendations would still be provided in written form or orally to the court reporter.

Additional information will be provided as it comes available and we can develop and send it out.
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Federal Register, Volume 73, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 6, 2008 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers Intent to Prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement for the Conveyance of Federal Lands at Lake Texoma to the City of Denison, Grayson County, TX
AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
SUMMARY: The purpose of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is to address alternatives and environmental impacts associated with the conveyance of approximately 900 acres of Federal land at Lake Texoma, Oklahoma and Texas, to the city of Denison, TX.

ADDRESSES: Questions or comments concerning the proposed action should be addressed to Mr. Stephen L. Nolen, Chief, Environmental Analysis and Compliance Branch, Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CESWT–PE– E, 1645 S. 101st E. Ave., Tulsa, OK 74128–4629.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Stephen L. Nolen, (918) 669–7660, fax:
(918) 669–7546, e-mail: Stephen.L.Nolen@usace.army.mil.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3182 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110– 114) directed the Secretary of the Army (Secretary) to offer to convey, at fair market value to the city of Denison, TX, all right, title and interest of the United States in and to approximately 900 acres of land located in Grayson County, TX. The exact acreage and description of the real property will be determined by a survey that is satisfactory to the Secretary and the property conveyed by quitclaim deed. The real property is currently held in fee by the U.S. Government and managed by the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers as a part of Lake Texoma, a multipurpose reservoir located along the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas. The lands subject to this action are located along the eastern shore of the Little Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma in Grayson County, TX.
Upon receipt of title to the property, the City of Denison intends to develop the area, in conjunction with development of adjacent private lands, to include such features as single and multi-family residential housing, hotel and conference facilities, golf course(s), retail and commercial space, office and light industry, public boat ramp(s), beach and yacht clubs, and related commercial development facilities.
Reasonable alternatives to be considered include varying amounts of acreages to be conveyed, alternative deed restrictions on conveyed lands, varying development features and locations, alternative locations and nature of shoreline development, and no action.

Issues to be addressed in the EIS include but are not limited to: (1) Socioeconomic impacts associated with planned development, (2) matters pertaining to shoreline management and potential changes to the Lake Texoma shoreline management plan in the immediate area of the conveyance, (3) potential impacts to cultural and ecological resources, (4) public access and safety, (5) impacts to lake use and recreation, (6) aesthetics, (7) water and wastewater infrastructure, (8) lake water quality, (9) traffic patterns, (10) terrestrial and aquatic fish and wildlife habitat, (11) Federally-listed threatened and endangered species, and (12) cumulative impacts associated with past, current, and reasonably foreseeable future actions at Lake Texoma.

A public scoping meeting for the action will be conducted in early fall, 2008 in Denison, TX. News releases and notices informing the public and local, state, and Federal agencies of the proposed action and date of the public scoping meeting will be published in local newspapers. Comments received as a result of this notice, news releases, and the public scoping meeting will be used to assist the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers in identifying potential impacts to the quality of the human or natural environment. Affected Federal, state, or local agencies, affected Indian tribes, and other interested private organizations and parties are encouraged to participate in the scoping process by forwarding written comments to (see ADDRESSES) or attending the scoping meeting.

The draft EIS will be available for public review and comment. While the specific date for release of the draft EIS has yet to be determined, all interested agencies, tribes, organizations and parties expressing an interest in this action will be placed on a mailing list for receipt of the draft EIS. In order to be considered, any comments and suggestions should be forwarded to (see ADDRESSES) in accordance with dates specified upon release of the draft EIS.

Dated: July 28, 2008.
Anthony C. Funkhouser,
Colonel, U.S. Army, District Commander.
[FR Doc. E8–18017 Filed 8–5–08; 8:45 am]
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