[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 30, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-21320]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 30, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Corps of Engineers

 

Intent to Prepare Draft Restoration Plan and Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement, Commencement Bay Restoration Plan, 
Pierce County, WA

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DOD.

JOINT LEAD AGENCIES: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(U.S. Department of Commerce), Fish and Wildlife Service (U.S. 
Department of the Interior).
ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4321-4370d (NEPA), the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (Service) announce their intent to prepare a draft Restoration 
Plan (RP) and a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for 
the Commencement Bay Natural Resource Damage Assessment (CB/NRDA). NOAA 
and the Service will be joint lead agencies for this RP/EIS.

DATES: The lead and cooperating agencies and tribes invite and 
encourage agencies and the public to provide written comments on the 
proposed RP/EIS throughout the scoping process to ensure that all 
relevant environmental issues are considered. Persons or organizations 
wishing to submit scoping comments should do so not later than October 
14, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of the RP/EIS, questions about 
the RP/EIS, requests for inclusion on the RP/EIS mailing list and 
requests for copies of any documents associated with the draft RP/EIS 
should be directed to: Commencement Bay EIS, CENPS-EN-PL-ER, U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 3755, Seattle, Washington, 98124-2255, 
ATTN: Patrick Cagney.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Patrick Cagney, Seattle District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
telephone (206) 764-3642; telafax: (206)764-4470.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The CB/NRDA is being conducted by Federal and State agencies and 
tribal governments identified as Natural Resource Trustees for the 
Commencement Bay environment pursuant to the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. 9601, 
et seq. (CERCLA), the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. 2701-2761 
(OPA), and other applicable law. The Trustees will be developing a RP/
EIS to help guide restoration actions associated with the CB/NRDA. The 
RP/EIS will develop a set of preferred restoration alternatives and a 
restoration management plan and will evaluate the environmental impacts 
of the proposed plan. The Programmatic EIS will also incorporate and 
build upon existing information developed in the Commencement Bay 
Cumulative Impact Study (CG/CIS) (published 6/93) and information and 
policies developed through the CB/NRDA restoration planning process. 
While this RP/EIS will be a document prepared under NEPA guidelines, it 
is anticipated that the RP/EIS will also meet the requirements of the 
Washington State Environmental Policy Act, Chapter 43.21C RCW (SEPA).
    The goal of the RP/EIS is to develop a restoration management plan 
that will benefit the natural resources of Commencement Bay that have 
been injured as a result of the release of hazardous substances or the 
discharge of oil. There are two objectives associated with this goal 
that will help address the injured trust resources. The first is to 
provide within the immediate Commencement Bay environment a diversity 
of sustainable habitat types using a landscape perspective to directly 
benefit the injured resources. The second objective, within the larger 
study area, is to provide additional alternative resource and habitat 
restoration or replacement opportunities, or to acquire the equivalent 
of the affected resources or habitats for those injured resources that 
will require additional efforts to achieve or promote restoration. 
Because the planning, selection, design, construction, monitoring and 
funding of specific restoration measures will unfold over a period of 
many years, a tiered EIS process has been selected for environmental 
compliance.

Alternatives

    A preliminary list of alternatives is being developed and will be 
described in initial scoping documents sent to all agencies, 
organizations, and individuals on the RP/EIS mailing list, along with a 
listing of significant issues identified by agencies and public 
comment. The scoping document will include a brief discussion regarding 
the basis for the study, information concerning the alternative areas 
evaluated for restoration, restoration alternative strategies, and the 
programmatic nature of the study at each of the alternative areas. This 
information would be supplemented with graphics delineating the areas 
of interest and alternative configurations.

EIS Content

    The draft RP/EIS will document restoration planning at a 
programmatic level consistent with the results of scoping. Restoration 
planning will focus upon the ``key resources'' identified through the 
CG/NRDA process as having been injured due to releases of hazardous 
substances or discharges of oil. Beginning with the information 
developed through the CB/NRDA restoration planning process and the CB/
CIS, the draft RP/EIS will identify habitat types and functions 
significant for important life stages of one or more groups of key 
resources or of representative individual key resource species.
    The RP/EIS will effectively serve as a menu of restoration 
alternatives to function as a framework for managing the Commencement 
Bay NRDA Restoration Program.
    The Alternative section will be based on the following:

--Alternatives (includes discussion and establishment of the baseline 
condition, and not action).
--Types of restoration.
--Alternative sites (characteristics/constraints).
--Alternative restoration scenarios (putting alternative types together 
with alternative sites).

    The RP/EIS will also include other elements and address other 
concerns as needed to complete a fully responsive NEPA and SEPA 
document. The format recommended by CEQ regulations (40 CFR 1502.10 et 
seq. and SEPA Rules (WAC 197-11-430) will be followed as appropriate.

Cooperating Agencies

    Several agencies have been identified as cooperating agencies. They 
are: The Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the 
Washington Department of Ecology, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and 
the Environmental Protection Agency. The Seattle District Corps of 
Engineers has been designated by the lead agencies as the primary agent 
for preparing the RP/EIS.

Study Area

    The study area for the RP/EIS includes Commencement Bay (that 
portion of Puget Sound enclosed within a line extending from Brown's 
Point to Point Defiance); the watershed of Commencement Bay and its 
main tributaries (the Puyallup/Carbon River, the White River, Hylebos 
Creek, Wapato Creek, Puget Creek); and Puget Sound coastal areas 
adjacent to Commencement Bay (southern Vashon and Maury Islands, Dumas 
Bay). Within the study area, the RP/EIS will focus on those areas that 
serve as habitat for or otherwise support the natural resources of 
Commencement Bay potentially injured as a result of releases of CERCLA 
hazardous substances and discharges of oil.

Request for Comments

    Your views as to the scope and content of the environmental 
information needed for the RP/EIS are important to the preparation of 
the study report. To be most helpful, the scoping comments should 
clearly describe specific environmental issues or topics which the 
commenter believes the document should address. This Notice of Intent 
will be mailed to Federal, state, and local agencies, organizations, 
groups and individuals identified during the CB/NRDA process.
    Scoping meetings will be scheduled to provide the public with an 
opportunity to engage in discussions regarding the RP/EIS. The times 
and locations of the scoping meetings will be announced at a later 
date. Notices will be sent to all agencies, organizations, and 
individuals on the RP/EIS mailing list.
    The lead agencies expect to complete preparation of the draft RP/
EIS and have review copies of it available by March 1995.
Kenneth L. Denton,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 94-21320 Filed 8-29-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-92-M