    [Federal Register Volume 85, Number 168 (Friday, August 28, 2020)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 53386-53390]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 2020-18926]

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    DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

    National Institutes of Health

    NIH Bethesda Surgery, Radiology and Laboratory Medicine Record of
    Decision

    AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

    ACTION: Notice.

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    SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services, the National
    Institutes of Health (NIH), has decided, after completion of a Final
    Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and a thorough consideration of
    the public comments on the Draft EIS, to implement the Proposed Action,
    referred to as the Proposed Action in the Final EIS. The Surgery,
    Radiology and Laboratory Medicine (SRLM) action is for construction of
    an additional 527,100 gross square feet (gsf) to the exiting Building
    10. In addition to 527,100 gsf of space in the new building, the
    Proposed Action will include renovation of 102,600 gsf of existing
    space within the West Laboratory Wing of the Clinical Research Center.
    The footprint of the SRLM will occupy 55,500 gsf. A proposed patient
    parking garage is also included in the proposed action. The proposed
    garage will be a multi-level, self-park garage, accommodating
    approximately 780 cars.

    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Valerie Nottingham, Deputy Director,
    DEP, ORF, NIH, Building 13, Room 2S11, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda,
    MD 20892, Phone 301-496-7775, nihnepa@mail.nih.gov. RESPONSIBLE
    OFFICIAL: Daniel G. Wheeland, Director, Office of Research Facilities
    (ORF) Development and Operations, NIH.

    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Decision

        After careful review of the environmental consequences in the Final
    Environmental Impact Statement for the SRLM, National Institutes of
    Health Bethesda Campus, and consideration of public comment throughout
    the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) process, NIH has
    decided to implement the Proposed Action described below as the
    Selected Alternative.

    Selected Alternative

        The Selected Alternative is intended to further the NIH mission: To
    seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living
    systems and the application of that knowledge to

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    enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
        The Selected Alternative will meet the purpose and need of the
    project in several ways. First, the spatial deficiencies would be
    addressed by moving the current operations to surgical, radiological,
    laboratory, and office spaces that consolidate and organize activities
    in an efficient manner. Next, the SRLM Building will be designed with
    the flexibility to address future growth and change, including floor-
    to-ceiling heights and other features capable of accommodating
    equipment associated with newer technologies. The SRLM Building will
    also incorporate upgraded, up-to-date infrastructure systems which will
    be more reliable, and will ensure the ability to control temperature
    and humidity. The SRLM Building will address unacceptable vibration
    levels by using more robust construction materials and methods. The
    Selected Alternative will be constructed to meet progressive collapse
    requirements and blast criteria.
        Security and safety issues associated with the current Building 10
    parking garage will be addressed by eliminating exposure to
    deteriorated and spalling concrete in the existing garage. The Utility
    Vault portion of the project will enable NIH to replace critical
    electrical equipment that is beyond its service life.

    Alternatives Considered

        The Proposed Action Alternative and No Action Alternative were the
    two alternatives analyzed in the Final EIS. Other alternatives were
    considered but not carried forward due to their inability to meet the
    purpose and need of the project.

    Factors Involved in the Decision

        Several factors were involved during the decision-making process;
    these include spatial deficiencies, inability to house new
    technologies, security and safety, and an aging switching station.
        Spatial deficiencies severely impact the operating rooms, radiology
    suite and clinical laboratory. Both patients and staff lack sufficient
    support space as they undergo care and conduct treatment protocols. The
    distribution systems for electrical, duct work, and piping are
    degrading and require replacement, but this work cannot be done while
    the space is occupied. The building's floor-to-floor heights are
    deficient by today's utility requirements and cannot contain the
    necessary utility distribution systems. A lack of utility capacity and
    control results in work environments that suffer from poor temperature
    and humidity control. These environmental factors can also negatively
    impact the patient samples that are being processed and tested.
        Since the clinical research facility opened more than 34 years ago,
    biomedical research and its supporting clinical programs have rapidly
    evolved influencing the criteria for space and infrastructure systems.
    The rapid evolution of equipment (changing every three to five years)
    has had a direct impact on both space requirements and utility systems
    that support them. Hospital surgical suites are typically replaced
    every 20 years to keep up with the latest technological advancements,
    operating room equipment, and techniques. The existing facility has not
    kept pace with modern surgical, imaging, and clinical laboratory
    facility requirements, and cannot accommodate evolving requirements.
        Currently, patient, visitor, and staff parking is partially
    accommodated in an underground parking garage located below the
    Ambulatory Care Research Facility tower. More specifically, existing
    parking is located directly below surgery, radiology, and laboratory
    areas of the complex, which makes repairs to the garage expensive, due
    to patient occupancy on floors above. The current garage has serious
    structural deficiencies due to corrosion of the concrete and underlying
    (exposed) rebar, despite on-going maintenance. The concrete and rebar
    corrosion is from years of salt and chemicals brought into the garage
    by the vehicle traffic. This condition poses a safety threat to users
    of the facility, and a liability threat to the government, due to the
    potential for falling pieces of concrete.
        The equipment in Buildings 59 and 59A is aging and will soon need
    replacement due to space constraints, the inability to acquire
    replacement parts, and failure of the current system to meet
    requirements of the Life Safety Code (National Fire Protection
    Association 101) and Environment of Care standards of the Joint
    Commission.

    Resources Impacted

        The Final EIS describes potential environmental effects of the
    Selected Alternative. These potential effects are documented in Chapter
    3 of the Final EIS. Any potential adverse environmental effects will be
    avoided or mitigated through design elements, procedures, and
    compliance with regulatory and NIH requirements. Potential impacts on
    air quality are all within government standards (federal, state, and
    local). NIH does not expect significant negative effects on the
    environment or on the citizens of Bethesda from construction and
    operation at NIH.

    Summary of Impacts

        The following is a summary of potential impacts resulting from the
    Selected Alternative that NIH considered when making its decision. No
    adverse cumulative effects have been identified during the NEPA
    process. Likewise, no unavoidable or adverse impacts from
    implementation of the Selected Alternative have been identified. The
    Selected Alternative will be beneficial to the long-term productivity
    of the national and international biomedical research communities. As a
    result of the Selected Alternative, biomedical research conducted at
    the NIH facilities on the campus will experience an enhanced potential
    of advance techniques in disease prevention and cures, development of
    infectious disease vaccinations, and preparation of defenses against
    naturally emerging and re-emerging diseases and against bioweapons.
    Additionally, the local community will benefit from increased
    employment, housing, and investment

    Housing

        Under the Selected Alternative, the action will result in temporary
    minor impacts on the population and the availability of housing, due to
    construction workers who might temporarily relocate to the area. The
    Proposed Action will result in no permanent impacts to these resources
    as there is no projected change in staff. Temporary impacts on
    population and housing associated with construction activities are
    expected to be minor as Bethesda is a densely populated urban area and
    therefore the small temporary increase in population would be very
    small on a percentage basis.

    Education

        The Selected Alternative does not involve any projected change in
    staff or campus census. If any new employees are hired, the numbers
    will be modest, and the current public school capacity in Bethesda or
    Montgomery County and surrounding school districts is adequate to
    accommodate the expected minimal growth caused by the Selected
    Alternative.

    Transportation

        Implementation of the Selected Alternative will result in minor
    temporary impacts to off-Campus roads, transit, and traffic due to
    construction activities. This will include additional traffic due to
    construction vehicles, as

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    well as shifts in employee and patient traffic patterns.
        Construction vehicles, estimated at well less than 100 vehicles per
    day will be screened at the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Station
    (CVIF) on Rockville Pike, and then enter via Wilson Drive. As reported
    in the 2015 Chilled Water EIS, peak morning traffic at Rockville Pike
    and Wilson Drive, which is just south of the CVIF, is 2,800 cars
    southbound on Rockville Pike and 1,100 cars northbound on Rockville
    Pike. It is assumed peak traffic on those roads is similar to or higher
    than was reported in 2015. Therefore, the overall impact to off-Campus
    roads will be minor as the number of construction vehicles would be
    minimal (<100 vehicles per day) relative to existing traffic counts.

    Security

        The Selected Alternative will not be expected to have adverse
    impacts on security on the NIH Campus. No new security measures are
    proposed in the Selected Alternative.

    Employment

        The Selected Alternative does not involve any projected change in
    staff.

    Environmental Justice

        The Selected Alternative will not be expected to have
    disproportionately high or adverse impacts on low income or minority
    populations of the affected area.

    Visual Quality

        During construction of the Surgery Radiology and Laboratory
    Medicine (SRLM), Patient Parking Garage (PPG) and Utility Vault (UV),
    direct visual impacts will occur on Campus. Large construction
    equipment will be deployed in the project area for the duration of
    activities. It is anticipated that cranes, earth-moving equipment,
    concrete trucks and other heavy machinery will be in use for
    approximately 6 years. Due to the phased approach, the construction
    duration is extended, and this will represent a moderate, direct impact
    to visual resources at the project location. Off-Campus observers may
    also be directly impacted as some of the trees currently screening the
    Building 10 Complex from external views would be removed during
    construction. This impact will be considered minor, however, as the
    distance from the property line would reduce the scale of the
    equipment. Additional minor impacts are anticipated due to the partial
    closure of Center Drive and redirection of traffic during construction.

    Noise

        Implementation of the Selected Alternative will result in direct,
    temporary, minor noise impacts due to construction activities as well
    as direct, long-term, moderate noise impacts due to operational changes
    at the SRLM, PPG, and UV.
        Construction activities associated with the Selected Alternative
    will temporarily increase environmental noise levels in the vicinity of
    the project site, primarily due to the use of heavy equipment.
    Equipment that may be used includes backhoes, bulldozers, and
    excavators. Construction equipment noise emission levels generally
    range between 74 to 101 dBA 50 feet from the source, depending on the
    type of equipment (U.S. DOT FHWA, 2014). Residents at the Convent will
    likely experience elevated noise levels during construction activities.
    NIH will mitigate the impact of this construction noise by limiting
    most construction activity to between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    NIH will ensure that noise levels from construction activities will not
    exceed 75 dBA at neighboring properties or 85 dBA if a noise
    suppression plan is approved by the Montgomery County Department of
    Environmental Protection. Most of the construction noise will be
    temporary and will dissipate as the distance from the source increases.
    It is expected that residents in surrounding neighborhoods will not
    experience noise louder than the applicable noise limit.
        Construction personnel will take the necessary precautions (e.g.,
    hearing protection) to ensure that they will not be exposed to noise
    louder than the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard
    of 90 dBA for 8 hours. Because the construction of the SRLM, PPG, and
    UV will result in the temporary loss of some parking spaces at surface
    parking lot 10E and the Building 10 garage, some vehicular traffic will
    be redirected to other parking areas at the Campus. While these other
    destinations may see an increase in vehicular traffic, the increases
    are expected to be minor and will not be expected to substantially
    alter the noise levels anywhere at the Campus. Any added traffic noise
    will blend with ambient noise.
        The Selected Alternative will include installation of new
    equipment, including pumps and generators at the UV. NIH will mitigate
    operational noise from this equipment by enclosing the equipment inside
    utility buildings and providing sound-attenuating measures such as
    mufflers for the emergency generators. Due to this mitigation,
    operational noise from all elements of the Selected Alternative will be
    expected to be below regulatory thresholds.
        The Selected Alternative may change traffic patterns during the
    operations phase, as more services will be consolidated at the SRLM
    complex and as parking shifts from Building 10 to the PPG. However, an
    overall increase in traffic is not anticipated. General operations will
    continue to meet the Montgomery County nighttime noise ordinance of 55
    dBA at the property lines. If necessary, NIH would utilize noise
    suppression techniques in order to meet that requirement.
        Overall, construction impacts will be minimal and temporary, and
    operational impacts will be minor.

    Air Quality

        In order to demonstrate that the Selected Alternative will result
    in minor increases in emissions, NIH conservatively performed a General
    Conformity Rule (GCR) and air emission calculations. This analysis
    conservatively estimates the emissions of nonattainment criteria
    pollutants during construction of the proposed facilities for the
    entire 6-year construction period. The conservative results, even
    assuming that the total emissions over approximately six construction
    years will occur only within a single year, show no exceedance of the
    applicable de minimis criteria of 100 tons per year (tpy) for
    NOX, 50 tpy of VOC, and 100 tpy of CO and PM2.5.
    Therefore, the Selected Alternative will have minimal air quality
    impacts and will not require a formal conformity determination. These
    incremental emissions will also be well below the Prevention of
    Significant Deterioration (PSD) major source threshold of 250 tpy. The
    PSD program is applicable to the attainment area. Therefore, it is
    anticipated that the attainment pollutant emissions under construction
    of the Selected Alternative will be minimal resulting in no significant
    air quality impacts.
        NIH will work with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
    to determine regulatory applicability of the New Source Performance
    Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
    Pollutants (NESHAP) to the new generators, as necessary. However, the
    Selected Alternative does not include any change in operations for any
    of the departments affected except relocation and consolidation, which
    will result in more efficient operations. There will be no associated
    change in the numbers of employees or patients, and therefore no

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    impact to traffic levels or need for parking. There will be no change
    in the need for or amounts of utilities provided to support operations.
    The new generators will replace the current generators, so will not
    result in an increase in air emissions. Therefore, the need to update
    the current facility air permits, such as the Campus Title V permit, is
    not anticipated. Thresholds specified in Code of Maryland Regulation
    (COMAR) 26.11.02.10 are not expected to be exceeded; operational
    emissions are not expected to exceed New Source Review or Prevention of
    Significant Deterioration levels. The air quality effects of criteria
    pollutants at the Campus would be insignificant under operations of the
    Selected Alternative and will not interfere with regional efforts to
    meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

    Water Resources

        NIH will implement appropriate pollution prevention measures to
    avoid spills and exposure of groundwater to contamination. These
    measures could include using booms or pigs during fuel transfer,
    protecting excavations during fuel transfer and use, and implementation
    of stormwater management controls during construction.
        Implementation of the Selected Alternative could result in minor
    indirect impacts to the NIH Stream due to runoff from construction
    sites, which could enter stormwater sewer drains that lead to that
    stream. Impacts to surface waters resulting from the construction
    projects are likely to be minor due to compliance with state and
    federal regulations and mitigation measures. Mitigation measures
    include development of and adherence to sediment and erosion control
    plans, stormwater management plans, and implementation of pollution
    prevention measures to ensure that sediments, petroleum products and
    other contaminants do not migrate to the storm drains during
    construction.
        Implementation of the Proposed Action will result in minor
    temporary impacts to stormwater quantity and quality due to earth
    disturbances during construction activities. The Limits of Disturbance
    (LOD) for the Proposed Action, will be approximately 378,972 SF (8.7
    acres) of earth during construction activities.
        Potential erosion and sediment runoff impacts will be mitigated
    through implementation of stormwater management practices, including
    the development of an erosion and sediment control plan that is
    approved by MDE. The construction of the SRLM, PPG, and UV will disturb
    more than one acre and therefore will obtain coverage under the MDE
    2014 General Permit for Stormwater Associated with Construction
    Activity (MDE, 2014). As a result, construction activities under the
    Selected Alternative will have a minor impact on stormwater quality.
    Additionally, some of the existing stormwater drainage systems will
    have to be modified or moved as they are currently within the LOD. NIH
    will design and construct replacement systems so as not to impact
    existing drainage characteristics.
        Implementation of the Selected Alterative will result in minor
    long-term stormwater management impacts. The project area covers a
    total of 8.7 acres. The Selected Alternative will increase impervious
    surface at the Campus by approximately 125,196 SF (2.9 acres), which
    will increase runoff within the Rock Creek Watershed relative to
    baseline conditions. The construction of the SRLM, PPG, and UV will
    each disturb greater than 5,000 SF, and therefore site design will be
    required to meet EISA 2007 Section 438 requirements to restore each
    site to predevelopment conditions. This requirement will minimize
    hydrologic impacts resulting from increased stormwater runoff volumes,
    such as damage to storm sewer infrastructure, increased likelihood of
    flooding, and increased erosion.
        The Selected Alternative will require permanent site stormwater
    management to control runoff and provide water quality treatment per
    federal and Maryland stormwater regulations. Long-term stormwater
    management facilities will be designed and installed per an MDE
    approved stormwater management plan. Construction of the SRLM, PPG, and
    UV will incorporate bioretention areas including stormwater planter
    boxes. These vegetated areas will infiltrate runoff from impervious
    surfaces at the sites, reducing the quantity of stormwater runoff and
    improving the water quality. NIH will incorporate appropriate and
    feasible Environmental Site Design (ESD) practices into the project
    designs to restore the predevelopment hydrology to the maximum extent
    technically feasible. Overall, these practices will reduce runoff
    volume and rate, disperse flow, remove pollutants, and provide for
    groundwater recharge by facilitating infiltration into the soil. These
    measures will have the potential to benefit the ability of NIH to meet
    the Campus' Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) nutrient and sediment load
    reduction requirements, and thus comply with the Campus' Municipal
    Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) TMDL.

    Historic Resources

        Pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,
    NIH initiated consultation with the Maryland State Historic
    Preservation Officer (MD SHPO) to obtain their concurrence with this
    finding. The MD SHPO requested additional information regarding the
    project on 29 May 2019.
        NIH provided the additional information to the MD SHPO and on July
    21, 2020, a representative from the Maryland Historical trust concurred
    with NIH on their findings of no adverse effect associated with the
    Selected Alternative.

    Practicable Means To Avoid or Minimize Potential Environmental Harm
    From the Selected Alternative

        All practicable means to avoid or minimize adverse environmental
    effects from the Selected Action have been identified and incorporated
    into the action. The proposed construction will be subject to the
    existing NIH pollution prevention, waste management, and safety,
    security, and emergency response policies and procedures as well as
    existing environmental permits. Best management practices, spill
    prevention and control, and stormwater management plans will be
    followed to appropriately address the construction and operation
    envisioned in the Selected Alternative and comply with applicable
    regulatory and NIH requirements. No additional mitigation measures have
    been identified.

    Pollution Prevention

        Air quality permit standards will be met, as will all federal,
    state, and local requirements to protect the environment and public
    health.

    Conclusion

        Based upon review and careful consideration, NIH has decided to
    implement the Selected Alternative for the construction of the SRLM,
    Patient Parking garage, and associated Utility Vault on the Bethesda
    NIH Campus located in Bethesda, Maryland. The decision accounts for the
    need of NIH to further the fundamental mission of clinical research by
    providing facilities that support the NIH mission. The decision was
    based upon review and careful consideration of the impacts identified
    in the Final EIS and public comments received throughout the NEPA
    process.
        Separate NEPA reviews, when required, will be done on projects that
    may come about during the planning

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    and design process. Proper NEPA documentation will be completed based
    on the outcome of that review.

        Dated: August 22, 2020.
    Lawrence A. Tabak,
    Principal Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health.
    [FR Doc. 2020-18926 Filed 8-27-20; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 4140-01-P