[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 210 (Tuesday, November 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65932-65933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21692]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Notice of Availability, Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on behalf of the 
Department of the Interior, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of 
Environmental Affairs, as Natural Resource Trustees, announces the 
release for public review of the Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment (PEA) for the Massachusetts Housatonic River Watershed 
Restoration Program. The Draft PEA presents a restoration program 
featuring a mix of restoration approaches, including aquatic 
restoration, wildlife/terrestrial restoration, enhancement of 
recreational opportunities, and education/outreach

[[Page 65933]]

initiatives. A mix of restoration approaches will allow the greatest 
degree of flexibility in the project selection process and will ensure 
the greatest environmental and socioeconomic benefits. This Draft PEA 
compares the preferred, blended restoration alternative with 
alternatives that focus on a single restoration approach, as well as 
with a no-action alternative in which no restoration is implemented 
with natural resource damages (NRD) funds. This Draft PEA is part of 
the restoration planning and implementation phase of the General 
Electric/Housatonic River Natural Resource Damage Assessment and 
Restoration (NRDAR) case.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before December 1, 
2005.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Draft PEA may be made to: U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Attention: Veronica Varela, New England 
Field Office, 70 Commercial Street, Suite 300, Concord, New Hampshire 
03301.
    Written comments or materials regarding the Draft PEA should be 
sent to the same address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Veronica Varela, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, New England Field Office, 70 Commercial Street, Suite 
300, Concord, New Hampshire 03301. Interested parties may also call 
603-223-2541 or e-mail [email protected] for further 
information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During the period between the late 1930s and 
the late 1970s, the General Electric Company (GE) facility in 
Pittsfield, Massachusetts released polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 
via the wastewater and storm systems associated with the facility, to 
the Housatonic River and Silver Lake in Pittsfield. In addition, a 
number of former oxbows were straightened and filled to alleviate 
flooding, and subsequently have been found to contain PCB-contaminated 
soils and fill. The release of PCBs adversely affected natural 
resources including fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and their 
habitats, and impacted natural resource-based recreational uses.
    On October 7, 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the 
U.S. Department of Justice; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
Department of Environmental Protection, the Office of the Attorney 
General, and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs; the 
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of 
the Attorney General; the U.S. Department of the Interior; the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the City of Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts; the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority; and GE 
reached a comprehensive agreement concerning the cleanup of GE's 
Pittsfield facility, certain off-site properties, and the Housatonic 
River, and concerning compensation for NRD. The comprehensive agreement 
was lodged with the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, Springfield, 
Massachusetts, and approved on October 27, 2000. Under this agreement, 
GE provided $15.5 million for compensatory restoration activities. Of 
this amount, $7.75 million (plus interest) will be managed to restore, 
rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of injured natural 
resources and/or the services they provide to compensate for natural 
resources adversely affected by PCBs in the Massachusetts watershed of 
the Housatonic River. The other $7.75 million will be managed under a 
separate program for compensatory restoration in the Connecticut 
watershed of the Housatonic River. This Draft PEA examines alternatives 
for implementing a compensatory restoration program in the 
Massachusetts portion of the Housatonic River watershed; implementation 
alternatives in the Connecticut portion will be examined in a later 
document.
    The proposed Preferred Alternative in the Draft PEA is a 
restoration program featuring a mix of restoration approaches, 
including aquatic restoration, wildlife/terrestrial restoration, 
enhancement of recreational opportunities, and education/outreach 
initiatives. A mix of restoration approaches will allow the greatest 
degree of flexibility in the project selection process and will ensure 
the greatest environmental and socioeconomic benefits. This Draft PEA 
compares the preferred, blended restoration alternative with 
alternatives that focus on a single restoration approach, as well as 
with a no-action alternative in which no restoration is implemented 
with NRD funds.
    Interested members of the public are invited to review and comment 
on the Draft PEA. Copies of the Draft PEA are available for review at 
public libraries in the towns of Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, 
Pittsfield, Sheffield, and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Additionally, 
the Draft PEA will be available for review at the following Web site: 
http://www.ma-housatonicrestoration.org. Written comments will be 
considered and addressed in the Final PEA as part of the restoration 
planning process.
    Author: The primary author of this notice is Veronica Varela, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, New England Field Office, 70 Commercial 
Street, Suite 300, Concord, New Hampshire 03301.

Authority: The authorities for this action are the NRDAR provisions 
under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) 
and the Clean Water Act (CWA, 33 U.S.C. 1251-1376), which allow 
natural resource trustees to bring claims against responsible 
parties to recover monies and take action to restore, replace, or 
acquire the equivalent of natural resources that have been injured 
by hazardous substances; the CERCLA NRDA regulations (43 CFR Part 
11) that guide the allocation and expenditure of NRD recoveries for 
restoration activities; and the National Environmental Policy Act 
(42 U.S.C. 4321-4347).

    Dated: October 18, 2005.
Richard O. Bennett,
Acting Regional Director, Region 5, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
U.S. Department of the Interior, DOI Authorized Official.
[FR Doc. 05-21692 Filed 10-31-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P