MID-COLUMBIA, Wash. and Ore. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Zayo Eastern Washington/Oregon Fiber Optic Line Project.
The Corps will issue an easement to Zayo Inc. for the construction, operation and maintenance of a fiber optic line that will be located on Corps-managed federal land on both sides of the Columbia River in Benton and Franklin counties, Washington, and Umatilla County, Oregon. Zayo Inc. plans to install approximately 200 miles of fiber optic line from Ellensburg, Washington, to Umatilla, Oregon.
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is the lead federal agency for the project and prepared the Consent to Use Permit - Fiber Optic Project Environmental Assessment (EA) and signed a FONSI on Feb. 26, 2016. The Corps, acting as a cooperating agency, performed an independent review of Reclamation's compliance documents, found them to be adequate, and has adopted Reclamation's EA (in its entirety).
The Corps solicited public comments on its draft FONSI June 20 through July 5, 2016. The Corps’ signed FONSI, and Reclamation’s EA and FONSI are available in electronic form via the Walla Walla District’s environmental compliance webpage https://nww.usace.afpims.mil/Missions/Environmental-Compliance/. For additional information or questions, please contact the Corps’ environmental coordinator at 509-527-7245.
-30-
Release no. UNRELEASED