Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the White River Amphitheatre, Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, King County, Washington

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the White River

Amphitheatre, Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, King County, Washington

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Draft Environmental

Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed construction and operation of

a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre within the exterior boundaries of

the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, King County, Washington, is now

available for public review and comment. The purpose of the proposed

action is to provide an economically competitive performing art center

for the greater Seattle-Tacoma concert market and a place for cultural

educational and community events and gatherings for the Muckleshoot

Indian Tribe (Tribe). Further details on the project and on the

environmental issues addressed in the DEIS follow as supplementary

information. This notice also announces a public Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS)/design hearing.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 27, 1999.

The public EIS/design hearing will be held on September 29, 1999, from

6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any

one of several methods. You may mail or hand-deliver written comments

to Stanley Speaks, Portland Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs,

911 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232-4169. You may also comment

via the Internet to [email protected] Please submit Internet

comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and

any form of encryption. Include your name and return address in your

Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system

that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly at

(503) 231-6749.

Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will

be available for public review at the above address during regular

business hours, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except

holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you

wish to withhold your name and/or address from public review or from

disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests

will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will not, however,

consider anonymous comments. All submissions from organizations or

businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be

made available for public inspection in their entirety.

The DEIS is also available for review at the above address. To

obtain a copy of the DEIS, you may contact June Boynton, Environmental

Coordinator at (503) 231-6749, or via e-mail to [email protected];

or you may contact Dean Torkko, EIS Coordinator, Washington State

Department of Transportation, at (206) 440-4527, or via e-mail to

[email protected]. Copies of the DEIS have already been sent to all

agencies and individuals who participated in the scoping process or who

previously requested copies.

The public EIS/design hearing will be held at the Auburn Performing

Arts Center, Auburn, Washington. This site is accessible to people with

disabilities. Anyone requiring written materials in alternative

formats, sign language interpreters, physical accessibility

accommodations or some other reasonable accommodation may request these

by contacting (206) 440-4528, no later than September 8, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: June Boynton, (503) 231-6749.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Three federal actions underlie the proposed

construction of a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre in the southeastern

portion of the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, between the cities of

Auburn and Enumclaw, King County, Washington. Two of these are Bureau

of Indian Affairs (BIA) actions, the taking into trust of approximately

346 acres of Indian-owned fee lands within the exterior boundaries of

the reservation and the approval of a management agreement, under 25

U.S.C. 81, between the Tribe and Bill Graham Presents (BGP), under

which the Tribe would own and BGP would manage the facility. The third

federal action is the issuance of a wetland fill permit, under section

404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), by the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers. The BIA, as lead agency, prepared the DEIS in

cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Transportation

(WSDOT). Cooperation with WSDOT enables them to use this DEIS to meet

the requirements of the State of Washington's Environmental Policy Act.

The DEIS presents a preferred alternative, the no action

alternative and three other action alternatives. The preferred

alternative calls for developing approximately 73 acres for the 20,000

seat amphitheatre, support facilities and surface parking, plus 17

acres for landscaping and buffers, including a shielding berm along the

southern boundary. The amphitheatre will consist of a main stage,

10,000 seat bowl with fixed seating, a grass berm for informal lawn

seating and an open air roof over the stage and fixed seating. Support

facilities will include a ticket and administrative office, a loading

dock, a hospitality area for performers, a restaurant, cafes,

concession stands and public rest rooms.

[[Page 46933]]

The no action alternative assumes that the proposed amphitheatre

will not be built and the proposed site not taken into trust. The

partially constructed facilities on the site (see discussion of site

restoration alternative below) will not be completed as an

amphitheatre, although they may eventually be converted to other uses.

At the gravel quarrying site proposed as an alternate location for the

amphitheatre, mining operations will continue.

The three action alternatives include (1) an alternate location,

where a 20,000 seat amphitheatre like that in the preferred alternative

would displace existing gravel quarrying operations; (2) a smaller,

10,000 seat amphitheatre with an open air roof and support facilities

similar to those for the preferred alternative, but with about one-half

the parking capacity; and (3) site restoration, where partially

completed facilities on the site of the preferred alternative will be

removed, the site restored to its condition before construction was

started, and the amphitheatre not constructed here or anywhere else.

This construction, which had occurred out of synchronization with

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321

et seq.) [NEPA] requirements, was halted in response to an April 17,

1998, order by U.S. District Judge, John C. Coughenour, that the BIA

prepare an EIS on the proposed action.

The environmental issues addressed in the DEIS include traffic,

noise, crime, water quality, wetlands, fish, wildlife and endangered

species, geo-technics, sewage disposal, air quality, cultural

resources, land use, socio-economics, public safety, range of

alternatives, and cumulative impacts. All of these issues were

identified during public scoping.

This notice is published in accordance with section 1503.1 of the

Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through

1508), implementing the procedural requirements of NEPA, and the

Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the exercise

of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by

209 DM 8.

Dated: August 25, 1999.

Kevin Gover,

Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 99-22437 Filed 8-26-99; 8:45 am]

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