Notice of Availability: Revised Draft Hanford Remedial Action Environmental Impact Statement and Comprehensive Land-Use Plan

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Availability: Revised Draft Hanford Remedial Action

Environmental Impact Statement and Comprehensive Land-Use Plan

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability

of the Revised Draft Hanford Remedial Action Environmental Impact

Statement and Comprehensive Land-Use Plan (HRA-EIS), DOE/EIS-0222D, for

public review. The proposed action is to establish a comprehensive land

use plan for the next 50 years for the Hanford Site near Richland,

Washington. This EIS identifies alternative future land uses for the

Hanford Site and discusses the potential associated environmental

impacts. Because DOE has significantly revised the scope of the HRA-EIS

and alternatives considered in response to comments received on the

draft EIS published in August 1996, it is appropriate to issue this

revised draft HRA-EIS. Since land use was an objective of the previous

draft EIS, no further scoping meetings are required. The 1996 Draft

HRA-EIS focused on developing an overall strategy for remediating the

Hanford Site and included a proposed land use plan as an appendix; the

revised Draft HRA-EIS focuses only on land use planning. To reflect

this reduction in scope, DOE is soliciting comments on changing the

name of this EIS to the Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use EIS as well as

on the contents of the Revised Draft HRA-EIS. The draft HRA-EIS

evaluates five ``action alternatives,'' each of which represents a

Federal, State, local agency, or Tribe's preferred land-use

alternative, and also evaluates a ``no-action alternative'' of

continuing current land use practices. DOE's preferred alternative for

future uses of the Hanford Site includes consolidating waste management

operations in the Central Plateau; allowing industrial development in

the eastern and southern portions of the site; increasing recreational

access to the Columbia River; and expanding the Saddle Mountain

National Wildlife Refuge to include all of the Wahluke Slope.

DATES: The public comment period begins today and concludes on June 7,

1999. DOE invites Federal agencies, Native American Tribes, State and

local governments, and the public to comment on the Revised Draft HRA-

EIS. DOE will consider all timely comments in preparing the Final EIS,

and will consider comments provided after the close of the comment

period to the extent practicable.

Public information meetings and hearings will be held during the

comment period.

May 18, 1999: State Office Building, 800 NE Oregon Street,

Portland, Oregon. DOE will conduct informal information session from 6

to 7 p.m., followed by a public hearing beginning at 7 p.m.

May 20, 1999: Shilo Inn, 50 Comstock Road, Richland, Washington.

DOE will conduct informal information session from 3 to 5 p.m. and from

6 to 7 p.m., followed by a public hearing beginning at 7 p.m.

June 3, 1999: Ridpath Hotel, West 515 Sprague Avenue, Spokane,

Washington. DOE will conduct informal information session from 6 to 7

p.m., followed by a public hearing beginning at 7 p.m.

In addition, during the comment period DOE will participate in

public involvement activities sponsored by the other cooperating

agencies, at times and locations to be determined.

[[Page 19984]]

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the Revised Draft HRA-EIS may be mailed

to Mr. Thomas W. Ferns, DOE National Environmental Policy Act Document

Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, PO Box

550, MSIN HO-12, Richland, Washington 99352-0550. Comments also may be

transmitted by fax to 509-376-4360 or by electronic mail to

Thomas__W__F[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request information about the HRA-

EIS and the public meetings and hearings, or to request copies of the

document, use any of the methods listed in ADDRESSES above. (The

Revised Draft HRA-EIS will also be made available on the DOE NEPA Web

at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/nepa/ under DOE NEPA Analyses and at http://

www.hanford.gov/eis/hraeis/hraeis.htm on the DOE Hanford Web Site.)

When requesting copies of the document, please specify whether you wish

to receive only the summary (about 100 pages), or the entire document

including appendices. For general information about the DOE National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, contact: Carol Borgstrom,

Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Assistance (EH-42), U.S. Department

of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585-0119.

Phone: 202-586-4600, or leave a message at: 800-472-2756. Fax: 202-586-

7031.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

DOE published a notice of intent to prepare the HRA-EIS in 1992 (57

FR 37959; August 21, 1992). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), and DOE, in

cooperation with other interested parties, initiated a process to

involve stakeholders in the development of a vision for the future of

the Hanford Site. A committee consisting of representatives of labor,

environmental, governmental, agricultural, economic development,

citizen-interest groups, and Tribal governments was established and

became known as the Hanford Future Site Uses Working Group (Working

Group). The result of the Working Group's efforts, a report titled The

Future for Hanford: Uses and Cleanup; The Final Report of the Hanford

Future Site Uses Working Group was issued in December 1992, and was

submitted to DOE as a formal scoping comment for the HRA-EIS.

DOE issued the Draft HRA-EIS in August 1996. DOE received more than

2,000 comments from approximately 230 commenters on the August 1996

Draft HRA-EIS. These comments, as well as transcripts from the public

hearing, are included in the Comment and Response Volume of the Revised

Draft HRA-EIS. A summary of the Comment-Response Volume is provided as

Appendix F of the Revised Draft HRA-EIS, and the entire Comment-

Response Volume is being provided for public review in local and

regional information repositories. Several commenters, including the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, urged DOE to change the scope of

the EIS to eliminate consideration of remedial action alternatives. DOE

revised the 1996 draft EIS in accordance with this recommendation.

Revised Draft HRA-EIS

During the public comment period on the August 1996 Draft HRA-EIS,

several Federal, State, and local agencies and American Indian Tribes

expressed an interest in working with DOE to establish alternative

visions for future land uses. In response, DOE invited representatives

of other Federal Agencies, American Indian Tribes, and State and local

governments to participate in ongoing planning efforts. These groups

became cooperating agencies and consulting Tribal governments in the

preparation of a Revised Draft HRA-EIS.

Cooperating Agencies and Consulting Tribal Governments

The cooperating agencies and consulting Tribal governments helping

to prepare the Revised Draft HRA-EIS are: Benton, Franklin, and Grant

counties; the City of Richland; and the U.S. Department of Interior

(Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service). Consulting Tribal governments are the

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez

Perce Tribe, Department of Environmental Restoration and Waste

Management.

Since March 1997, DOE has worked with these cooperating agencies

and consulting Tribal governments to establish a framework for the

environmental analyses presented in this Revised Draft HRA-EIS.

Substantial agreement was reached among the cooperating agencies and

consulting Tribal governments on the development of nine land-use

designations and definitions, and on the format for determining the

potential environmental impacts associated with the land uses carried

forward in this EIS. The nine land-use designations are: Industrial-

Exclusive, Industrial, Agricultural, Research and Development, High-

Intensity Recreation, Low-Intensity Recreation, Conservation (Mining

and Grazing), Conservation (Mining), and Preservation.

The cooperating agencies and consulting Tribal governments also

worked together to develop the proposed policies and procedures in

Chapter 6 if the revised draft HRA-EIS for implementing the

Comprehensive Land-Use Plan. These policies would manage competing land

use and resource use goals and objectives; provide for amendments to

the comprehensive land-use plan where necessary; and identify area- and

resource-management plans to be developed as part of the land-use plan

implementation.

Revised Draft HRA-EIS Alternatives

The Revised Draft HRA-EIS presents a set of land-use policies and

procedures specific to the Hanford Site. It evaluates six alternatives,

including a no-action alternative of continuing current land use

practices, DOE's preferred alternative, and four other alternatives,

each of which represents a Federal, State, Tribal, or local agency's

preferred set of land uses. DOE's preferred alternative for future uses

of the Hanford Site includes consolidating waste management operations

in the Central Plateau; allowing industrial development in the eastern

and southern portions of the site; increasing recreational access to

the Columbia River; and expanding the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife

Refuge to include all of the Wahluke Slope.

Public Involvement Opportunities

DOE has scheduled information meetings and public hearings [see

DATES] during the comment period that ends on June 7, 1999. Persons

interested in speaking at the hearings may register at the hearings and

will be called on to speak on a first-come, first-served basis. Written

comments will also be accepted at the hearings, and speakers are

encouraged to provide written versions of their oral comments for the

record. Oral and written comments will be considered equally in

preparing the Final EIS. DOE intends to complete the Final HRA-EIS and

issue a Record of Decision in November 1999.

DOE Public Reading Rooms and Information Repositories

The Revised Draft HRA-EIS and associated reference materials can be

found in the following DOE Public Reading Rooms and Information

Repositories:

[[Page 19985]]

Suzzallo Library, University of Washington, Government

Publications Room, Mail Stop FM-25, Seattle, Washington 98195-2900,

phone 206-543-4664;

Foley Center, Gonzaga University, E 502 Boone Avenue,

Spokane, Washington 99258, phone 509-328-4220, ext. 3844;

U.S. Department of Energy Public Reading Room, Washington

State University, Tri-Cities Campus, 100 Sprout Road, Room 130 West,

Richland, Washington 99352, (509) 376-8583;

Branford Price Millar Library, Science and Engineering

Floor, Portland State University, SW Harrison and Park, Portland,

Oregon 97207, phone 503-725-3690;

U.S. Department of Energy Freedom of Information Reading

Room, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC

20585, phone 202-586-5000.

Issued this 19th day of April 1999.

James J. Fiore,

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Restoration.

[FR Doc. 99-10193 Filed 4-22-99; 8:45 am]

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