166 



PREFACE 

 SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE SYSTEM OPERATION REVIEW 



What is the SOR and Why is it Being Conducted? 



The Columbia River System is a vast and complex combination of Federal and non- 

 Federal facilities upon which Northwest residents and visitors have become dependent 

 for power production, irrigation, navigation, flood control, recreation, fish and wildlife 

 habitat, and municipal and industrial water supplies. Each of these and other river uses 

 compete for limited water resources in the Columbia River Basin. To date, 

 responsibility for managing these river uses has been shared by a number of Federal, 

 state, and local agencies. Operation of the Federal Columbia River System is the 

 responsibility of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), U.S. Army Corps of 

 Engineers (Corps) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The System Operation 

 Review (SOR) is a study and environmental compliance process being used by the three 

 Federal agencies to analyze future operations of the system and river use issues. The 

 goal of the SOR is to achieve a coordinated river system operation that better meets the 

 needs of all river users. The SOR began in early 1990, prior to the filing of petitions for 

 endangered status for several salmon species. 



The comprehensive review of Columbia River operations encompassed by the SOR was 

 prompted by the need for Federal decisions to (1) develop a coordinated system 

 operating strategy (SOS) for managing the multiple uses of the system into the 21st 

 century, (2) provide interested parties with a continuing long-term role in system 

 planning, (3) renegotiate and renew the Pacific Northwest Coordination Agreement (a 

 contractual arrangement among the region's major hydroelectric-generating utilities 

 and affected Federal agencies to provide for coordinated power generation on the 

 Columbia River System), and (4) renew or develop new Canadian Entitlement 

 Allocation Agreements (contracts that divide Canada's share of Coliunbia River Treaty 

 power benefits and obligations among three participating public utility districts and 

 BPA). The review includes the environmental analysis required by the National 

 Environmental Pohcy Act (NEPA). While this technical appendix addresses only the 

 effects of alternative SOSs for managing the Columbia River System for one river use or 

 functional analysis area, the environmental impact statement (EIS) itself and some of the 

 other appendices present analyses of the alternative approaches to the other three 

 decisions considered as part of the SOR. [Note: This sentence will need to be revised 

 for non-resource appendices] 



Who is Conducting the SOR? 



The SOR is a joint project of Reclamation, the Corps, and BPA-the three Federal 

 agencies that share responsibility and legal authority for managing the Columbia River 

 System. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 (FWS), U.S. Forest Service (FS), and National Park Service (NPS), as agencies with both 



Final Draft - September 15, 1993 



