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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 3 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Affected Environment PAGE 3-248 plums, but by 1910 apple orchards dominated the Yakima and Kittitas valley landscapes (Miller and Highsmith 1949). Military Presence The most significant modern military buildup in the region occurred during and just after World War II with the construction of the Yakima Anti-Aircraft Artillery Range and Hanford Works Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Reservation. In 1951, the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) purchased 261,000 acres that would become the home of the Yakima Firing Center (YFC). The mission of the YFC included both reserve training and testing of field artillery throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1992, the military expanded the boundaries of the YFC again when it acquired an additional 62,000 acres to the north bringing the total acreage to 327,000 acres or approximately 511 square miles (Morey 2008). Today, the range is known as the JBLM YTC and is used for weapons delivery training including, tank, artillery, and infantry gunnery training (GlobalSecurity.org 2011). The Hanford Works AEC Reservation was built in stages between 1943 and 1982. In 1943, the Army acquired a 670-square mile area upstream from the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers to construct a large nuclear reactor complex. DuPont was contracted to construct the reactors and the first plutonium was delivered to Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1945, providing the fuel for the Trinity Test and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. During the Korean War and the Cold War, Hanford continued to develop its nuclear capabilities. Increased plutonium production resulted in increased radioactive waste stored in million-gallon underground tanks at the reservation. The last operating Hanford reactor, N Reactor, was closed in 2009 and clean up of radioactive waste continues today (U.S. Department of Energy 2009). Hydropower Development In October 1954, the Federal Power Commission, now the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, issued a permit to the Grant County PUD to begin construction on the Priest Rapids Project. The project was to include the construction of two dams on the Columbia River within the Project study area: Priest Rapids Dam and Wanapum Dam. Priest Rapids Dam was the first to be constructed and is the slightly larger of the two. Construction on the dam began in July 1956. It is 24 miles south of Vantage, Washington and 200 miles downstream from Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydropower producer in the United States (Reclamation 2010; Grant County PUD n.d.[a]). Power generation from the Priest Rapids Dam began in October 1959. Construction on Wanapum Dam began in 1959. Wanapum Dam is six miles south of Vantage. Commercial power generation began in July 1963 (Grant County PUD n.d.[b]). 3.11.3 Section 106 Compliance To ensure compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations at 36 Code of Federal Regulations Part 800, Pacific Power will implement stipulations of a Programmatic Agreement (PA) prepared and signed by the BLM, the lead federal agency for Section 106 compliance, JBLM YTC, Reclamation, BPA, Washington State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and other parties. The PA will define the Area of Potential Effects (APE) and will stipulate procedures for: • Identifying cultural resources within the APE. • Evaluating their significance. • Assessing effects. • Avoiding or mitigating adverse effects.