Columbia River Crossing to release Draft EIS May 2

[Chief]

vIA e-MAIL.

i told you they were watching...


Draft EIS Release eUpdate

April 23, 2008

Columbia River Crossing to release Draft EIS May 2


On Friday, May 2, the Columbia River Crossing project will release its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public review and comment.

The document will be available online at the project Web site www.ColumbiaRiverCrossing.org. Also on May 2, the Web site will provide information on where to view a printed copy of the Draft EIS and how to submit comments during the 60-day public comment period. The public comment period is May 2 through July 1, 2008.

The Draft EIS will contain an analysis of the potential environmental and community effects associated with the five alternatives and allow community members to make comparisons and provide feedback. The project accepts comments at anytime. Comments received during the formal public comment period will be formally responded to in the Final EIS. All comments received will be considered by project sponsors to aid in their selection of one alternative this summer.

During the comment period, public hearings and open houses will be held on May 28 in Vancouver and May 29 in Portland. We hope you are able to attend one of these events to discuss the Draft EIS with project staff. Oral and written comments will be received at both events. Additional information for both events is available on the project Web site.

The Draft EIS will be available on CD at no charge. Printed copies may be purchased for a fee. Contact the CRC project office at 866-396-2726 or feedback@columbiarivercrossing.org to request a copy of the document.

[Waterbuffalo]

Chief......

Shall we be getting our long letters and typed speeches ready?? Letters to the editor should also be considered.

Wonder how many will be flooding the local news media and editorial boards??

[Chief]

Yes, it's time to get to work on the preliminaries, but we have to get copies of the DEIS first, along with some time to read and digest what it says.

I think I'll spring for a paper copy and a disk too. There are bound to be parts that we need to quote.

What bothers me though, if you read the material they released, it states that the final decision will be made by the Task Force, and they won't meet until after the comment period closes.

So what exactly are we supposed to be commenting upon, anyway??

8)

[Waterbuffalo]

Frm my memory of this process, they were going to have comment periods and all of that data was going to be forwarded to the Task Force.

Do you not remember the discussion that happened about six or 8 weeks ago when it was said that the Task Force was only *advisory* to the people who were going to sign off on this?

So what happens if we do comment and its taken under consideration? Will this whole thing be just a farce if its only just an advisory commission to both Dots, FHWA, FTA and cities/Counties?

I might spring for the same thing as well. How much do you think it would cost to do a run of 1,000 to 1,200 pages? (looking at the prospect that the final page amount has not been set just yet.)

Any one have an idea the CRC cost for this? (may be we can pre-order copies..)

I think I can take a CD copy of it. Want to be fully aware and prepared to comment personally and publicly myself. Not many people have heard much from my own mouth on the subject. May be its time I said some thing, though I'll probably suggest Chief that I'll disagree with you in my comments.

May be you and I should have a small dinner and talk over the DEIS?

[Waterbuffalo]

Could not edit in my one line comments.

Was wondering if anyone knew the cost that the CRCP for the DEIS in paper form?