[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 155 (Friday, August 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39752-39753]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-17212]


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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

[Notice-PBS-2018-04; Docket No. 2018-0002; Sequence No. 19]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (SEIS) for the Sale of the Plum Island and an Ancillary 
Support Facility at Orient Point, New York

AGENCY:  Office of Real Property Utilization & Disposal, General 
Services Administration (GSA).

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) as the 
operational Joint Lead Agency, announces its Notice of Intent (NOI) to 
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the 
sale of Plum Island, New York and an ancillary support facility at 
Orient Point, New York (hereinafter collectively referred to as Plum 
Island). That sale is now anticipated to occur no sooner than 2023. The 
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will act as a Joint Lead 
Agency in ongoing consultation with GSA for the NEPA and associated 
regulatory compliance activities. The SEIS prepared during this process 
will supersede the Final EIS (FEIS) issued on June 25, 2013. After 
publication of the

[[Page 39753]]

SEIS, a new Record of Decision (ROD) will be issued to supersede the 
ROD issued on August 29, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John L.A. Dugan, Real Property 
Utilization & Disposal Division, General Services Administration, 10 
Causeway Street, Room 1100, Boston, MA 02222, or email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Description

    Plum Island is an 840-acre island located approximately 1.5 miles 
off the northeast tip of Orient Point, Long Island, New York. Plum 
Island is formerly the home of the U.S. Army's Fort Terry, and was 
transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 
1954 to establish a research facility for foot-and-mouth disease. In 
2003, Plum Island was transferred to DHS, and DHS now, in cooperation 
with the USDA, operates Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). In 
addition to the buildings and facilities that support the PIADC 
mission, other assets on Plum Island include natural undeveloped land, 
the Plum Island Lighthouse constructed in 1869, and buildings and 
structures associated with the former Fort Terry.

Statutory Authority

    Pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 (NEPA), and the President's Council on Environmental 
Quality Regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508), as implemented by the GSA Order 
PBS P 1095.4C, GSA and DHS will prepare the SEIS for the sale of Plum 
Island. The sale is mandated in Section 540 of the Consolidated 
Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act of 
2009, United States Public Law 110-329. United States Public Law 110-
329 requires the Secretary of the DHS to liquidate the Plum Island 
asset by directing the Administrator of the GSA to sell through public 
sale all real and related personal property and transportation assets 
which support Plum Island operations, subject to such terms and 
conditions as necessary to protect government interests and meet 
program requirements. The Public Law mandates the public sale as a 
result of the determination by DHS to construct and operate a new 
National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas and 
move its operations to the NBAF (Record of Decision dated January 16, 
2009).

Background

    The purpose of the SEIS will be to document conditions that have 
changed and new information that has become available since the 
publication of the FEIS and ROD, and will provide a thorough analysis 
of those conditions and the new information. Items to be studied and 
analyzed in the SEIS will include, but are not limited to the 
following: The biological inventory known as the ``Biodiversity and 
Ecological Potential of Plum Island, New York'', also known as the 
Four-Seasons Study; any activities undertaken by the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service on Plum Island; the zoning plan for Plum Island 
adopted by the Town of Southold in August 2013; the completion by DHS 
of a descriptive interpretation of Plum Island's environmental 
condition, known as a Conceptual Site Model; ongoing environmental 
remediation and mission closure activities by DHS; activity undertaken 
by the Army Corps of Engineers under the Formerly Used Defense Site 
program; progress by DHS under Section 110 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act; and, the availability of more definitive dates for 
the transfer of the PIADC mission off Plum Island and the sale of Plum 
Island.
    The Joint Lead Agencies anticipate scoping for the SEIS will begin 
in 2019. When the scoping process is initiated, a notice will be posted 
in the Federal Register and sent to interested parties including those 
who commented on the prior NEPA process that concluded with the 
issuance of the ROD dated August 29, 2013. The agencies anticipate that 
in addition to preparing a SEIS, the Federal Consistency Review process 
under the Coastal Zone Management Act and any applicable requirements 
of the Endangered Species Act will be addressed. After the scoping is 
completed, a SEIS will incorporate findings from the FEIS, and further 
document and analyze conditions that have changed, and new information 
that has become available, since the publication of the FEIS and ROD. 
The SEIS will identify potentially significant direct, indirect, and 
cumulative impacts on historical and biological resources, land use, 
air quality, water quality, water resources, and socioeconomics, as 
well as other environmental issues that could occur as a result of the 
proposed action. For potentially significant impacts, the SEIS may 
identify avoidance, minimization, or mitigation measures to reduce 
these impacts, where feasible. Once published, the SEIS will supersede 
the FEIS and ROD issued in 2013.

    August 6, 2018
Barbara J. Salfity,
Branch Chief, Real Property Utilization & Disposal Division, General 
Services Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-17212 Filed 8-9-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6820-51-P