[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 211 (Tuesday, October 31, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64990-64991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27839]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Justice Assistance

[OJP(BJA)-1296]


Notice of Availability of the Finding of No Significant Impact 
and the Environmental Assessment for BJA's Methamphetamine Law 
Enforcement Program

AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), 
Justice.

ACTION: Notice of availability of FONSI and EA.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Assessment, which is available to the 
public, concludes that the methamphetamine investigation and 
clandestine laboratory closure activities of the Methamphetamine/Drug 
Hot Spots Program will not have a significant impact on the quality of 
the human environment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For copies of the Environmental 
Assessment, please contact: Pat Kim, BJA Environmental Coordinator, 
Bureau of Justice Assistance, 810 7th Street, NW., Room 7252, 
Washington, DC 20531; Phone: (202) 514-9677; E-mail: 
[email protected]. Copies of the Environmental Assessment are also 
available on BJA's Website at

[[Page 64991]]

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bja/methenviron.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Program Description

    The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), 42 U.S.C. 3741, as required 
by the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations, 40 CFR parts 
1500 through 1508, has prepared an Environmental Assessment for 
methamphetamine law enforcement programs, and with specific application 
for the Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program. The Methamphetamine/
Drug Hot Spots Program addresses a broad array of law enforcement 
initiatives pertaining to the investigation of methamphetamine 
trafficking in many heavily impacted areas of the country. For the 
purposes of this program, law enforcement may include training of law 
enforcement officers in methamphetamine-related issues; collection and 
maintenance of intelligence and information relative to methamphetamine 
trafficking and traffickers; investigation, arrest and prosecution of 
producers, traffickers and users of methamphetamine; interdiction and 
removal of laboratories, finished products, and precursor chemicals and 
other elements necessary to produce methamphetamine; and preventive 
efforts to reduce the spread and use of methamphetamine. Individual 
projects will reflect a concentration on program areas consistent with 
the Congressional appropriations language.
    Among the many challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in the 
Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program, will be discovery, 
interdiction, and dismantling of clandestine drug laboratories. These 
lab sites, as well as other methamphetamine crime venues must be 
comprehensively dealt with in compliance with a variety of health, 
safety and environmental regulations. The Bureau of Justice Assistance 
anticipates that law enforcement efforts funded under this program, 
when encountering illegal drug laboratories, will use grant funds to 
effect the proper removal and disposal of hazardous materials located 
at those laboratories and directly associated sites. Where grant funds 
are not used to effect clean-up of hazardous waste sites, grantees must 
document in their applications how they will remediate clandestine drug 
laboratories that are seized as a result of grant-related activities.

Environmental Assessment

    BJA will award 16 grants to State and local criminal justice 
agencies consistent with congressional earmarks for the FY 2000 COPS 
Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program. The Environmental Assessment 
concludes that the funding of this program will not have a significant 
impact on the quality of the human environment. Therefore, an 
Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared for the funding of 
this program.

Nancy E. Gist,
Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance.
[FR Doc. 00-27839 Filed 10-30-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P