[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5374-5375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2099]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Withdrawal of Notice of Intent to Prepare Environmental Impact 
Statement for East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project at the Oak 
Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, TN

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy today withdraws its Notice of 
Intent (53 FR 46648, November 18, 1988) to prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement for the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action 
Project. The Department intends to rely upon the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) 
process, which will incorporate National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) values, to document its environmental review of actions to be 
taken in connection with this project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the East 
Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project, please contact:

Mr. Robert C. Sleeman, Director, Environmental Restoration Division, 
Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box 2001, 
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, (615) 576-0715

    For information on the Department of Energy's NEPA process, please 
contact:

Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Oversight, U.S. 
Department of [[Page 5375]] Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20585, (202) 586-4600 or leave a message at (800) 472-
2756

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action 
Project was initiated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery 
Act's (RCRA) off-site release provisions. The project was later 
incorporated into the CERCLA program when the Oak Ridge Reservation was 
determined to be a National Priorities List site in December 1989.
    This project involves an operable unit consisting of 14.2 miles of 
the lower portion of East Fork Poplar Creek (i.e., the portion of the 
creek from the point it exits the Y-12 Plant until its confluence with 
Poplar Creek). The operable unit includes the creek, creek sediments, 
the soils in the 100-year floodplain surrounding the creek, and the Oak 
Ridge Sewerline Beltway.
    On November 18, 1988, the Department of Energy published in the 
Federal Register a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement for the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project. At 
the time of the Notice, it was the Department's policy to integrate the 
CERCLA and NEPA processes, whenever practicable. Under that policy, the 
Department intended to prepare an integrated CERCLA/NEPA Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study-Environmental Impact Statement for the 
project. As stated in the Secretary of Energy's June 13, 1994, Policy 
Statement on NEPA, however, it is now the Department's policy to 
generally rely on the CERCLA process for the review of actions to be 
taken under CERCLA, and to incorporate NEPA values (e.g., analysis of 
cumulative, off-site, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts) in the 
Department's CERCLA documents to the extent practicable.
    To date, the public has been extensively involved in the East Fork 
Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project. Numerous meetings have been held 
with private property owners and interested citizens. A property owner 
workshop and a general public workshop were held on the Remedial 
Investigation report, and a volunteer 30-person Citizens Working Group 
formed in June 1993, continues to meet monthly and provides input and 
suggestions into the decision-making process.
    Discussions have been held with the Army Corps of Engineers, the 
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Citizens 
Working Group, and other interested parties regarding the Department's 
intent to rely on the CERCLA process to document its environmental 
review of actions for this project. In addition, a notice was placed in 
a local newspaper and letters were sent to approximately 300 
stakeholders soliciting input on the proposed withdrawal of the Notice 
of Intent; no objections were received. Thus, the Department of Energy 
has decided to rely on the CERCLA process to document its environmental 
review of actions to be taken under CERCLA for the East Fork Poplar 
Creek Remedial Action Project, with NEPA values incorporated into the 
CERCLA process to the extent practicable. Public involvement has been 
and will continue to be an integral part of the decision-making process 
for the project.
    Copies of documents related to the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial 
Action project are on file at, and may be obtained from, the 
Information Resource Center, 105 Broadway, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on January 23, 1995.
Thomas P. Grumbly,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 95-2099 Filed 1-26-95; 8:45 am]
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