The public plays an important role in the Bureau of Reclamation’s planning process.

Soliciting public input is an important part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The purpose of the public participation process is to actively inform and engage interested stakeholders including other Federal, state, and local agencies; elected officials; Native American Tribes; and the general public about the proposed action and to receive public input that informs the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation)’s analysis and decision making. 

The planned public involvement process for this project is described below.

Scoping Period

Opportunity for public input was provided for the initial environmental assessment prepared for the project during both public scoping and during a comment period for the draft environmental assessment.

Reclamation has initiated public scoping as we begin to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project as directed by the court in their August 2024 order.

• The 30-day public scoping period started with the publication of the Notice of Intent to prepare the environmental impact statement on September 15, 2025.

  • During the scoping period Reclamation will hold two live web-based Teams event public meetings to solicit comments and input that will inform the scope of their analysis in the EIS. The meetings will be held on October 1, 2025,

  • the first at 12pm and the second at 6pm Mountain Standard Time to accommodate a variety of schedules.

  • *Instructions to access Microsoft Teams here.

  • There are other opportunities to provide scoping comments, including through the project website, by email, or traditional mail. These opportunities are provided on Virtual Open House Poster 6 and elsewhere on the project’s website.

• During the scoping period we ask you to provide us with

  • any issues you think should be considered in the EIS,

  • potential effects of the federal action, and/or

  • other potential alternatives you believe should be considered.

• Reclamation also requests that you provide us with any relevant information, studies, or analyses that you believe would inform our evaluation.

• Please know that for a scoping comment to be considered it must be accompanied by a valid email address or regular mail address and your name. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available and will be part of the public record for this EIS. While you may request to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

  Reclamation will consider all of the scoping comments provided in the context of our legal and regulatory obligations to inform our analysis and decision.

  See Posters 6 and 7 in the Virtual Open House for more detail on public involvement and how to provide an effective comment