[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 2, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18573-18575]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-07366]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5782-N-01]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) and Notice of Public Scoping Meeting for the Crystal Beach 
Wastewater Collection System, Galveston County, Texas

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS and to conduct Public 
Scoping Meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gives 
notice that Galveston County (County), as the Responsible Entity in 
accordance with 24 CFR 58.2(a)(7), and the Texas General Land Office 
(GLO) intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
development of a wastewater collection system and treatment facility in 
the unincorporated community of Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula, 
Galveston County, Texas. Pursuant to the authority granted by section 
104(g) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (HCD Act) 
in connection with the Community Development Block Grant Disaster 
Recovery (CDBG-DR) program, Galveston County has assumed responsibility 
for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
will perform the environmental review. This notice is in accordance 
with regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality at 40 CFR 
parts 1500-1508.
    A Draft EIS will be prepared for the proposed action described 
herein. Comments relating to the Draft EIS are requested and will be 
accepted by the contact person listed below. When the Draft EIS is 
completed, a notice will be sent to individuals and groups known to 
have an interest in the Draft EIS and particularly in the environmental 
impact issues identified therein. Any person or agency interested in 
receiving a notice and making comment on the Draft EIS should contact 
the person listed below up to 30 days following publication of this 
notice.
    The EIS will be a NEPA document intended to satisfy requirements of 
federal environmental statutes. In accordance with specific statutory 
authority of Section 104(g) of the HCD Act and HUD's regulations at 24 
CFR part 58 (Environmental Review Procedures for Entities Assuming HUD 
Environmental Responsibilities) HUD has provided for assumption of its 
NEPA authority and NEPA lead agency responsibility by the County.
    The proposed project requires the preparation of an EIS (under 24 
CFR 58.37) because the project would provide sewer capacity to support 
2,500 or more housing units. Responses to this notice will be used to: 
(1) Determine significant environmental issues, (2) identify data that 
the EIS should address, and (3) identify agencies and other parties 
that will participate in the EIS process and the basis for their 
involvement.

ADDRESSES: Comments relating to the scope of the EIS are requested and 
will be accepted by the contact person listed below until July 10, 
2014. Comments will also be accepted at the scoping

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meeting on June 26, 2014 described below. All interested Federal, 
state, and local agencies, Indian tribes, groups, and the public are 
invited to submit written comments on the project named in this notice 
and on the scope of the EIS to the contact person shown in this notice. 
The office of the contact person should receive comments and all 
comments so received will be considered prior to the preparation and 
distribution of the Draft EIS. Particularly solicited is information on 
reports or other environmental studies planned or completed in the 
project area, major issues that the EIS should consider, recommended 
mitigation measures, and alternatives associated with the proposed 
action. Federal agencies having jurisdiction by law, special expertise, 
or other special interests should report their interest and indicate 
their readiness to aid in the EIS effort as a ``Cooperating Agency.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicholas Foster, CDBG Project 
Coordinator, Galveston County, 722 Moody, 3rd Floor, Galveston, TX 
77550; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    Galveston County, acting under the authority of Section 104(g) of 
the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(g)) 
and HUD's regulations at 24 CFR part 58, in cooperation with other 
interested agencies, will prepare an EIS under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321) to analyze potential impacts 
of the Crystal Beach Wastewater Collection System Project.
    Current wastewater treatment services in Crystal Beach on Bolivar 
Peninsula in Galveston County are primarily individual, private, and 
on-site septic systems. While there is a small privately owned 
wastewater treatment facility on the Peninsula, no public sanitary 
sewer is provided. The Galveston County Health District has processes 
in place for permitting new and replacement private septic systems, but 
no inspections or processes are in place for determining system 
failures.
    As a result of Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008, Galveston 
County experienced vast infrastructure failure; specific to this 
project was the failure of wastewater facilities due to salt water 
contamination and inundation. The failure of these facilities 
threatened public health, safety and welfare due to the build-up of 
untreated sewage. Galveston County has received special funding under 
the 2008 Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster 
Recovery Program to address failures associated with Hurricane Ike and/
or Hurricane Dolly. According to a 2008 study commissioned by the 
Bolivar Peninsula Special Utility District (BPSUD), most of the private 
septic systems in use on the Peninsula are over 20 years old while the 
average life-span of a system is 15 to 20 years. Additional concerns 
relating to the capacity of private septic systems have arisen. 
Typically private septic systems are sized according to soil conditions 
and the number of residents in a household. While most of the 
residences on the Peninsula are vacation homes, the number of people 
inhabiting the residence may exceed the number of people used to design 
the capacity of the system. This over use causes untreated sewage to be 
discharged into the groundwater as overflow from the treatment tank, 
contributing to the nonpoint source pollution in the watershed.
    Bolivar Peninsula is located on one of the most cyclonically active 
parts of the globe where some of the most destructive hurricanes in 
history have occurred. The most infamous hurricane to affect the region 
was the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 in which an estimated 8,000 
people residing on Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula died. 
Following a similar path, Hurricane Ike destroyed an estimated 80 
percent of the homes on Bolivar Peninsula, and caused the deaths of 34 
people. Most of the coastline of the Bolivar Peninsula experienced 
shoreline erosion, and consequently, entire neighborhoods were left 
with nothing remaining other than piles and foundation slabs. Experts 
have concluded that Hurricane Ike ranks as one of the most severe 
natural disasters in the recorded history of the Bolivar Peninsula.
    Bolivar Peninsula is located within coastal areas with a one 
percent or greater chance of flooding and an additional hazard 
associated with storm waves. Several parts of the peninsula are 
designated as Coastal Barrier Resource Areas. Fifty percent of the land 
area of Bolivar Peninsula is covered with wetlands and other sensitive 
ecosystems. The following species protected under Section 7 of the 
Endangered Species Act as listed in Galveston County and potential 
habitat may be on Bolivar Peninsula: Attwater's greater prairie-
chicken, Eskimo curlew, West Indian manatee, Hawksbill sea turtle, 
Leatherback sea turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Piping Plover, Green 
sea turtle, and the Loggerhead sea turtle. Bolivar Peninsula is home of 
various wildlife sanctuaries west of the proposed project area on the 
east side of the Peninsula.
    The proposed action includes analyzing wastewater collection system 
alternatives, wastewater treatment plant alternatives and wastewater 
treatment plant location (site) alternatives to service Crystal Beach 
residents. Currently 180 customer accounts are connected to the 
existing system. The maximum number of customer accounts that 
potentially could be connected to a new system is approximately 5,000. 
The proposed project area is approximately 8,100 acres in size. The 
west project area boundary is the western property line of parcels 
adjacent to Monkhouse Drive. The east project area boundary is the 
eastern property line of parcels along Pompano Drive (north of Highway 
87) and eastern property line of parcels along Sailfish Drive (south of 
Highway 87). The north project area is bound by the Gulf Intercoastal 
Waterway and the south project area boundary is the southern property 
line of parcels adjacent to the shoreline of Gulf of Mexico.

B. Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Alternatives to the proposed action will be analyzed in the EIS. 
Typically the alternatives section in an EIS examines development 
options that would tend to reduce project-related impacts. The full 
range of alternatives for the wastewater collection system 
alternatives, wastewater treatment plant alternatives, and wastewater 
treatment plant site alternatives will be defined when the full extent 
of the proposed project's impacts is identified, but at this time, it 
is anticipated that they will include the following:

1. Wastewater Collection System Alternatives

Alternative 1--No Action Alternative
    The No Action Alternative would analyze the continuation of use of 
individual on-site septic systems and existing limited pressure system; 
therefore, existing private septic and existing limited systems would 
remain within the project area and no new system or additional system 
would be implemented.
Alternative 2--Pressure System
    Alternative 2 would evaluate the construction of a pressure 
collection system at proposed location in Crystal Beach. A pressure 
collection system includes use of an individual grinder pump at each 
facility connection to pressurize the wastewater through a pressurized 
pipe grid. The wastewater

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would be pumped through the network with the aid of strategically 
located small lift stations to the wastewater treatment plant. 
Typically, pipes installed for a pressure system can be located 
shallower in the ground (2 to 4 feet below surface) because slope is 
not as important to the function of the system.
Alternative 3--Gravity System
    Alternative 3 would evaluate the construction of a gravity 
collection system at proposed location in Crystal Beach. In this 
system, wastewater would flow by gravity through most of the network. 
Pipes would need to be installed deeper to allow for the necessary 
slope to maintain flow. Lift stations would still be required to pump 
wastewater short distances.
Alternative 4--Vacuum System
    Alternative 4 would evaluate the construction of a vacuum system at 
proposed location in Crystal Beach. A vacuum system conveys waste from 
homes to a vacuum valve pit then to a vacuum station. The piping for 
this type of system is similar to a pressure system and constructed in 
shallow trenches.

2. Wastewater Treatment Plant Alternatives

    Two types of wastewater treatment plants would be considered for 
the Crystal Beach facility, including a packaged treatment plant and a 
conventionally constructed wastewater treatment plant. Packaged 
wastewater treatment plants are pre-fabricated and modular and built 
off-site to be later installed at site. The conventional wastewater 
treatment plant consists of modular construction and concrete walls/
basins and built on-site.

3. Wastewater Treatment Plant Site Alternatives

    Six potential site locations were preliminarily reviewed during 
initial planning of preliminary engineering. Four sites (Site 
Alternatives C, D, E and F) will be carried forward and evaluated in 
this EIS for the location of the wastewater treatment plant in Crystal 
Beach. The site alternatives are located north of State Highway 87 
between Whispering Palms to the west and Guppy Drive to the east. It is 
anticipated that the footprint of the wastewater treatment plant would 
be about 2 acres and be elevated above the 500-year floodplain.

C. Scoping

    A public EIS scoping meeting will be held on June 26, 2014 at 7:00 
p.m. at the Galveston County Annex, 946 Noble Carl Drive, Crystal 
Beach, Texas. The EIS scoping meeting will provide an opportunity for 
the public to learn more about the project and provide input to the 
environmental process. At the meeting, an overview of the project will 
be presented and members of the public will be invited to comment on 
the proposed project and the scope of work for the environmental 
analyses in the EIS. Written comments and testimony concerning the 
scope of the EIS will be accepted at this meeting. In accordance with 
40 CFR 1501.7, affected Federal, state, and local agencies, any 
affected Indian tribe, and other interested parties will be sent a 
scoping notice. In accordance with 24 CFR 58.59, the scoping hearing 
will be preceded by a notice of public hearing published in the local 
news media at least 15 days before the hearing date. Information about 
the proposed project will be provided at the scoping meeting. 
Additional information for the scoping meeting may be obtained by 
contacting, Nicholas Foster, CDBG Project Coordinator, Galveston 
County, 722 Moody, 3rd Floor, Galveston, TX 77550; email: 
[email protected].

D. Probable Environmental Effects

    The EIS will analyze impacts to the following resources that may be 
associated with this proposed project, but not limited to:
     Floodplains
     Wetlands
     Endangered Species
     Migratory Birds
     Coastal Management Zones
     Pollution of Water Resources
     Cultural Resources
     Public health
     Community Impacts
     Indirect and Cumulative Impacts
     Sustainability
    Questions may be directed to the individual named in this notice 
under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Dated: March 27, 2014.
Mark Johnston,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and, Development (Acting).
[FR Doc. 2014-07366 Filed 4-1-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P