[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 198 (Friday, October 12, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 52152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-25646]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Special Resource Study for the Battle of Homestead and Carrier 
Furnaces Sites in Western Pennsylvania

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Special Resource Study for the Battle of Homestead and Carrie 
Furnaces in Western Pennsylvania.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969, the National Park Service is preparing an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) for the Special Resource Study for the Battle of 
Homestead and Carrier Furnaces Sites in Western Pennsylvania. The 
purpose of a Special Resource Study (SRS) is to determine the degree 
and kind of federal actions for the management and protection of an 
area considered to have potential for addition to the National Park 
System. This is a SRS of the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works 
including the Battle of Homestead site and adjacent town of Homestead 
and the related Carrie Furnace area. The study area includes the 
National Register Historic District in the town of Homestead, the 
landing site and pump house, the site of Carrier Furnaces number 6 and 
7, and the Hot Metal Bridge. Additional sites in the Monongahela Valley 
will be considered as necessary during the study process. The study 
will address the significance of the site in the contexts of the 
history of steel making and labor history in the United States. All of 
the sites are located within the County of Allegheny in Pennsylvania 
adjacent to the Monongahela River.
    The area is located within the boundaries of the Rivers of Steel 
National Heritage Area, which was designated by Congress in 1996. The 
National Park Service (NPS) does not own land or assume a management 
role in the region. Instead, conservation, interpretation and other 
activities are managed by partnerships among federal, state, and local 
governments and private nonprofit organizations. The national heritage 
area is managed by the Steel Industry Heritage Corporation (SIHC). The 
National Park Service has been authorized by Congress to provide 
technical and financial assistance for a limited period (up to 10 years 
from the time of their designation in 1996) to the SIHC.
    The SRS/EIS will address a range of alternatives including 
potential roles for the NPS in preservation and interpretation of the 
labor history story associated with the study area. Alternatives to be 
considered include: no action. (continuation of existing partnerships 
among the SIHC, NPS and others) the establishment of a National 
Historic Site, or the establishment of a National Historic Trail, and 
other acts as may arise during the study process.
    In summary, the SRS will present findings on five topics:
     Determination of the national significance of the sites 
and their resource values;
     Determination of the suitability for the sites to be 
included within the National Park System in relation to other sites of 
the same theme;
     Determination of feasibility for the NPS to own, manage or 
participate in conservation and interpretation in the study area;
     Determination of the need for NPS management of the sites,
     Identification of alternatives for any potential role for 
the NPS in the future.
    The EIS will assess the impacts of the alternatives for NPS 
participation.
    A scoping meeting will be scheduled and notice will be made of the 
meeting through a broad public mailing and publication in the local 
newspaper.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Samuel, Project Leader, 
Philadelphia Support Office, National Park Service, US Custom House, 
200 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, [email protected], 215-
597-1848.
    If you correspond using the internet, please include you rename and 
return address in your e-mail message. Our practice is to make 
comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available 
for public review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address from the record, which we will honor to the extent 
allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we would 
withhold from the record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. 
If you wish us to withhold your name and/or address, you must state 
this prominently at the beginning of your comment. However, we will not 
consider anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.

    Dated: June 7, 2001.
Marie Rust,
Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 01-25646 Filed 10-11-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-30-M