[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 24 (Monday, February 5, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8947-8949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2911]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Defense Logistics Agency


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Long Term Management of the National Defense 
Stockpile Inventory of Excess Mercury

AGENCY: Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a draft programmatic environmental 
impact statement.

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SUMMARY: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508) and 
the DLAR 1000.22, Environmental Considerations in DLA Actions in the 
United States, implementing the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA). DNSC, part of DLA within DoD, will prepare an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) that will evaluate alternatives for managing the 
DNSC inventory of excess mercury. DNSC is a mandatory source of supply 
for raw materials for all Federal Agencies as required by the Federal 
Acquisition Regulation, Part 8.002 Use of Other Government supply 
sources. The mercury in the Stockpile has been declared excess to 
national defense needs and DNSC must decide on long term management of 
the excess mercury. For the purposes of this EIS, the term ``long term 
management'' shall include any potential action to sell or dispose of 
such material. DNSC is responsible for the safe, secure, and 
environmentally sound stewardship for all commodities, such as lead, 
zinc, aluminum oxide, tin and bauxite, in the DNSC inventory, including 
the inventory of excess mercury. The mercury inventory is currently 
stored in enclosed warehouses at four different locations: New Haven, 
IN; Oak Ridge, TN; Somerville, NJ; and Warren, OH. DNSC will use the 
EIS process to inform the public of how the inventory of excess mercury 
is currently managed and how it became part of the DNSC. DNSC will also 
ensure that the public has an opportunity to comment on what could be 
done regarding its long term management. Public comments are invited 
and encouraged concerning both the scope of environmental and 
socioeconomic issues and the long term management alternatives that 
should be addressed in the EIS. DOE is a cooperating agency for the 
preparation of this EIS because some of DoD's excess mercury is 
currently stored at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Y-12 National 
Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

DATES: Comments on the scope of the issues and alternatives to be 
addressed in the EIS must be postmarked or e-mailed no later than 30 
June 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Project Manager, Mercury 
Management EIS; DNSC-E; Defense Logistics Agency; Defense National 
Stockpile Center, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 4616, Fort Belvoir, 
Va. 22060-6223. Comments may also be posted to the Mercury Management 
EIS website at ``www.mercuryeis.com'' or faxed to (888) 306-8818.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Call and leave a voice mail (1-888-
306-6682) or fax message (1-888-306-8818) at the Mercury Management EIS 
toll free number; e-mail your request to ``[email protected]''; 
or access the Mercury Management EIS website at ``www.mercuryeis.com''. 
For information concerning DOE's NEPA process, contact Ms. Carol 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington DC, 
20585. Telephone: 202-586-4610, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756, 
or access tis.eh.doe.gov/NEPA.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: the Defense National Stockpile program was established 
by Congress in the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act of 
1939, as amended, to minimize the United States' dependence on foreign 
sources of essential materials in times of national emergency. Between 
1949 and 1988, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were responsible for the 
program. In 1988, the responsibility for the program was delegated to 
the Secretary of Defense, who assigned the program to DLA. DNSC was 
established within DLA to manage the program, and is headquartered at 
Fort Belvoir, VA and operates storage depots nationwide. The stockpile 
currently includes approximately 68 commodities, including lead, tin, 
zinc, aluminum oxide, cobalt, bauxite, and mercury.
    DNSC is responsible for all activities necessary to provide safe, 
secure, and environmentally sound stewardship of all commodities in the 
inventory. Over the past several years as new technologies have evolved 
and the global economics emerged, Congress had declared most of the 
DNSC materials to be in excess of national defense needs and has 
authorized their disposition, generally by sale. Mercury is one of 
these commodities determined

[[Page 8948]]

to be in excess to national defense needs.
    Mercury is a dense, naturally occurring, silver-colored metallic 
element that is liquid at room temperature. Sometimes called 
``quicksilver'', liquid mercury has been used extensively in 
manufacturing processes because it conducts electricity, reacts to 
temperature changes, and alloys with other metals. Mercury is used in 
electrical switches, hospital equipment and supplies, fluorescent 
lights, conventional lights in automobile interiors, dental fillings, 
etc.
    Mercury is released into the air, water, and soil by a wide variety 
of natural processes (degassing from rocks and water) and human 
activities. Mercury that enters the atmosphere can be transported 
globally. It is removed from the atmosphere through wet and dry 
deposition upon land and surface water. Mercury in the aquatic 
environment can be transformed into methylmercury where it can then 
bioaccumulate to toxic levels in terrestrial and aquatic food chains. 
Manmade sources include coal combustion, medical and municipal waste 
incinerators; mining and smelting of mercury ores; mercury cell 
chloralkali plants; copper and lead smelters; and cement manufacturers. 
Mercury is designated as a hazardous substance under Section 307(a) of 
the Clean Water Act, Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, and Section 3001 
of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
    The DNSC excess inventory of mercury is between 99.5 and 99.9 
percent pure mercury. The material is currently stored in steel flasks 
with each flask containing about 76 pounds (34.5 kilograms) of mercury. 
The flasks are stored in wooden pallet boxes. Most of the flasks date 
from the 1940's and 1950's.
    The inventory of approximately 4,890 tons (4,440 metric tons) of 
excess mercury is currently stored in enclosed warehouses at four DNSC 
sites: Somerville, NJ; New Haven, IN; Oak Ridge, TN; and Warren, OH. 
Most of the excess inventory, about 2,882 tons (75,980 flasks) is 
stored at the Somerville Depot in Somerville, NJ. Approximately 770 
tons (20,276 flasks) is stored at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 
Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, TN; and 621 tons (16,355 
flasks) is stored at the Warren Depot in Warren, OH. The remainder, 
approximately 614 tons (16,151 flasks), is stored at the Casad Depot, 
located approximately 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) east of New Haven, IN. 
Public access to the mercury is restricted by fencing, locked 
warehouse, security guards, and other measures. DNSC regularly inspects 
the mercury stockpile to ensure that it is safe and secure.
    DNSC, as custodian of the excess inventory of mercury, must decide 
on a strategy for management of the material. As required by CEQ and 
DLA NEPA regulations, this decision must include consideration of a 
range of reasonable management alternatives and the environmental 
impacts of those alternatives. DNSC has historically sold excess 
mercury to United States and foreign companies. DNSC voluntarily 
suspended mercury sales in 1994 in response to concerns raised by the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the accumulation 
of mercury in the global environment. In 1997, DNSC initiated a draft 
Environmental Assessment (EA) to support its consideration of options 
for future management of the stockpiled mercury. DNSC later determined 
that an EIS was appropriate under NEPA and cancelled the preparation of 
the EA.
    Purpose and Need: DNSC needs to select and implement an 
environmentally safe and cost effective alternative for the long-term 
management of excess DNSC mercury.
    Proposed Alternatives: As required by CEQ regulations (40 CFR 
1502.2[e]), DNSC will evaluate a range of reasonable alternatives in 
the EIS. These alternatives will include No Action, and are likely to 
include consolidated long-term storage, processing, disposal, and sales 
alternatives. DNSC will evaluate the potential environmental and human 
health impacts of specific alternatives, together with engineering and 
socioeconomic considerations. A preferred alternative has not been 
identified at this time.
    Under the No Action alternative, the excess inventory of mercury 
would continue to be stored at the current mercury storage depots, with 
necessary surveillance and corrective action, as necessary, to maintain 
safe operations. A consolidated storage alternative could include use 
of existing flasks, new flasks, or one metric ton containers. 
Processing alternatives could employ techniques for stabilizing and 
preventing the potential for toxic exposure to mercury. These would 
likely include amalgamation and/or solidification technologies that 
employ alloying with other metals or processing to a stable solid 
compound (e.g., mercury sulfide). Only those technologies that are 
available at the time the final EIS decision is made, that are proven 
environmentally safe, provide for the long-term protection of the 
public and are cost effective will be evaluated. Stabilized mercury 
would need to be stored or disposed of in accordance with pertinent 
local, state and federal regulations, including future regulations that 
may result from a rule-making that the USEPA is planning in order to 
address stabilization of elemental mercury. Storage could be in 
warehouse or bunker-type facilities; disposal could be in near-surface 
or deeper underground engineered facilities. Sales alternatives are 
likely to include resumption of unrestricted sales; domestic and/or 
international restricted sales (i.e., either by end use, purchaser, 
and/or quantity); or sales with certain restrictions for protection of 
the environment. DNSC invites comments or suggestions on these 
alternatives or suggestions of others that should be considered.
    Preliminary Identification of Environmental Issues: The following 
issues have been tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS. The 
list is preliminary and is intended to facilitate public comment on the 
scope of this EIS. It is not intended to be all-inclusive nor does it 
imply any predetermination of potential impacts. DNSC invites 
suggestions for the addition or deletion of items on this list:
     Potential effects on the public health from exposures to 
hazardous materials during construction, normal operations, 
transportation, and credible accident scenarios.
     Impacts on surface and groundwater, floodplains and 
wetlands, and on water use and quality.
     Impacts on air quality and noise.
     Impacts on plants and animals and their habitat, including 
species that are Federal- or state-listed as threatened or endangered, 
or of special concern.
     Impacts on geology, and soil characteristics.
     Impacts on cultural resources such as historic, 
archaeological, Native American or culturally important sites.
     Socioeconomic impacts on affected communities directly 
related to the long term management of the excess mercury in the 
Stockpile.
     Environmental justice, particularly whether or not mercury 
management activities have a disproportionately high and adverse effect 
on minority and low-income populations.
     Potential impacts on land-use plans, policies and 
controls, and visual resources.
     Pollution prevention and waste management practices and 
activities.
     Economic impacts from mercury sales and resulting effects 
on mercury mining activities and impacts.

[[Page 8949]]

     Unavoidable adverse impacts, and irreversible and 
irretrievable commitments of resources.
     Potential cumulative environmental effects of past, 
present, and future operations.
     Status of compliance with all applicable federal, state, 
and local statutes and regulations and with international agreements, 
and required federal and state environmental permits, consultations and 
notifications.
     Compliance with all applicable Executive Orders.
     Natural disasters: floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and 
seismic events.
    Focus of the Mercury Management EIS will be on minimizing releases 
of mercury. DNSC anticipates that the key areas of interest will be 
human health risks, economic impacts, and accumulation of mercury in 
the global environment. Potential human health risks from storage, 
processing, and disposal, and from transportation and facility 
accidents will be evaluated. Consideration will also be given to issues 
related to accumulation of mercury in the global environment, and will 
be evaluated at the appropriate level of detail.
    Public Participation in the EIS Process: CEQ regulations (40 CFR 
1501.7) require an early and open process for determining the scope of 
an EIS and for identifying the significant issues related to the 
proposed action. To ensure that the full range of issues related to 
this proposal are addressed, DNSC invites Federal agencies, state, 
local and tribal governments, the general public, and the international 
community to comment on the scope of the Mercury Management EIS, 
including identification of reasonable alternatives. Additional 
opportunities for public input will be provided at scoping meetings 
(see below) and when the draft EIS is issued.
    Scoping: The public scoping period begins with the publication of 
this Notice of Intent in the Federal Register and will continue until 
30 June 2001. DNSC will consider all comments received or postmarked by 
the end of the comment period in defining the scope of this EIS. 
Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent 
practicable.
    DNSC plans to conduct public scoping meetings in which Federal, 
state, local and tribal government agencies, nongovernmental 
organizations, the general public, and the international community are 
invited to participate in the open exchange of information and to 
submit comments on the proposed scope of the EIS. These meetings will 
be held in communities near the facilities where the mercury is 
currently stored and at regional locations. The dates, times, and exact 
locations of the scoping meetings will be announced in a separate 
Federal Register notice at least 15 days before a meeting, posted on 
the Mercury Management EIS web site, and published in local and 
regional newspapers.
    Issues raised at the scoping meetings will be documented in the 
Scope of Statement for the Mercury Management EIS. The objectives of 
this report are to summarize the essence of the comments received in a 
clear and concise manner and accurately portray the planned scope of 
the EIS. The Scope of Statement will be distributed to reading rooms 
near the meeting locations, posted on the EIS web site, and mailed upon 
request.
    Timing: DNSC plans to issue the draft EIS in approximately one 
year. DNSC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will separately 
announce availability of the draft EIS in the Federal Register. DNSC 
will publicize the draft EIS in other media, and will provide federal, 
state, local and tribal government agencies, nongovernmental 
organizations, the general public, and the international community with 
an opportunity to participate in additional information forums and to 
submit comments.
    Requests for Copies of Draft EIS: To receive a copy of the Draft 
Mercury Management EIS, please submit your request to the addresses 
provided in this Notice. Members of the public who request a copy of 
the draft EIS should specify whether they would like a copy of the 
entire draft EIS (which will consist of multiple bound volumes), the 
Summary (which will be a single volume), or the draft EIS and Summary 
on computer CD.
    Cooperating Agencies: DOE is a cooperating agency for the 
preparation of this EIS because some of the excess mercury to be 
considered in the Mercury Management EIS is currently stored at DOE's 
Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

    Issued in Fort Belvoir, VA, this 30th day of January, 2001.
Richard J. Connelly,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 01-2911 Filed 2-2-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3620-01-M