Record of Decision Colorado River Interim Surplus Guidelines Final Environmental Impact Statement

This document constitutes the Record of Decision (ROD) of the Department of the Interior, regarding the preferred alternative for Colorado River Interim Surplus Guidelines (Guidelines). The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) is vested with the responsibility of managing the mainstream waters of the lower Colorado River pursuant to federal law. This responsibility is carried out consistent with applicable federal law. Reclamation, as the agency that is designated to act on the Secretary’s behalf with respect to these matters, is the lead Federal agency for the purposes of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance for the development and implementation of the proposed interim surplus guidelines. The FEIS was prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500 through 1508), Department of Interior Policies, and Reclamation’s NEPA Handbook. Colorado River Interim Surplus Criteria is the subject of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), filed with the Environmental Protection Agency (FES-00-52) on December 8, 2000 and noticed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Reclamation in the Federal Register on December 15, 2000