[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46932-46933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22437]


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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]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P