Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
about the Colorado River Management Plan (July 2004)

Does the final EIS review phase include a comments period?

Following completion of the public review period for the draft CRMP EIS (DEIS), the following major steps will be needed to complete the CRMP revision process:

• Comments received during the draft EIS public review period will be analyzed and responses prepared.
• A final EIS (FEIS) will be prepared that will include the analysis of substantive comments and responses along with any necessary changes from the DEIS. Should public review result in substantial changes to the proposal or alternatives, preparation of a supplemental EIS may be necessary, but the decision to release a supplemental draft EIS or the final EIS will be based in part on the extent of the changes.
• After internal agency review and approval, the FEIS will be released to the public following publication of a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.
• The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Park Service policy require at least a 30-day no-action period following release of a final EIS.
• Following the no-action period, a Record of Decision will be prepared that documents the agency's choice of the final alternative, mitigation measures, and rationale for the decision . After internal agency review and approval, the Record of Decision will be released to the public and a summary published in the Federal Register.
• An implementation plan will be developed to specify how the National Park Service will implement the provisions in the plan as specified in the Record of Decision. This is an internal programming and budgetary document not subject to additional NEPA compliance.
• The final CRMP, as specified in the Record of Decision, will be published as a separate document and made available to all interested parties.

Will comments from scoping and from the DEIS be made available in their entirety, in a database for access by stakeholders?

Approximately 55,000 substantive comments were received by the park during the 2002 public scoping period from almost 14,000 separate pieces of written and electronic correspondence. We expect to receive a comparable number of comments on the DEIS. National Park Service policy is typically to summarize such comments and make the summary widely available (a summary of comments received during the public scoping is available on the CRMP website). A summary of scoping comments will be included in the draft EIS. All comments received on the draft EIS will be read and evaluated. All substantive comments are reprinted and responded to in the final EIS. Requests to view all comments received on the document will be handled according to procedures implementing the Freedom of Information Act.

Is the Park required to send everyone who requests it a printed copy of the DEIS?

To conserve paper and reduce the costs for printing and mailing, the Park hopes that most people will work with an electronic copy of the DEIS on CD-ROM or will download the document from the park's website. A limited number of paper copies will be printed and distributed, first to libraries and other central locations where the public can access them, then to agencies and offices required by law or policy to have printed copies, then to those who cannot read the electronic version, and then to additional people who request them. NPS Director's Order 12 says [§4.8 D(c)]: "It is acceptable to send an electronic copy or make an electronic copy available if the person requesting has access to such a copy. After all printed copies have been distributed, persons requesting the EIS should be directed to the nearest library or government office that has a record copy."

Will the electronic version be available on CD-ROM?

Yes. See Question #3.

Will the connection between scoping comments and DEIS be explicit in the DEIS?

The connection between summarized issues brought up in the scoping comments will be explicit in the DEIS. It can be found in Chapter 1 of the DEIS, as well as throughout the document. Note that every individual comment will not be listed in the DEIS (there were approximately 55,000 individual comments).

What will be the size of the document? Will the Park "break out" different sections into separate booklets?

The DEIS will be several hundred pages. The executive summary will be printed separately. The electronic version will have separate files for each section so that they can be downloaded and viewed or printed individually.

Is there a clear definition of "proprietary information?" Will that be in the FEIS?

Black's Law Dictionary defines proprietary rights as "Those rights which an owner of property has by virtue of his ownership." Webster's II describes proprietary as "private" or "privately owned." There is a wide range of information that people might or might not regard as proprietary. The determination of proprietary information falls under the purview of the Freedom of Information Act. This question will be researched further and a determination made about what will go into the EIS.