[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 44 (Monday, March 7, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12680-12681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04775]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Amended Record of Decision for the Long-Term Management and 
Storage of Elemental Mercury

AGENCY: Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Amended record of decision.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing this Amended 
Record of Decision (AROD) to amend its previous AROD for the long-term 
management and storage of elemental mercury published in the Federal 
Register on October 6, 2020. This AROD withdraws the decision to store 
at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) certain elemental mercury to which 
DOE accepts the conveyance of title pursuant to a legal settlement or 
proceeding.

ADDRESSES: For electronic copies of this Amended Record of Decision, 
the October 6, 2020, Amended Record of Decision, the December 6, 2019, 
Record of Decision, or any of the documents prepared under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related to long-term management and 
storage of elemental mercury, please go to the following website: 
https://www.energy.gov/nepa/nepa-documents. For paper copies, please 
contact Dave Haught at DOE, Office of Environmental Management, Office 
of Waste Disposal (EM-4.22), 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 
DC 20585 or at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the 
management and storage of elemental mercury, please contact Dave Haught 
at [email protected] or visit https://www.energy.gov/em/long-term-management-and-storage-elemental-mercury. For general information 
on the Office of Environmental Management's NEPA process, please 
contact Bill Ostrum, at [email protected] and at (202) 586-
2513.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Pursuant to Section 5(a)(1)-(2) of the Mercury Export Ban Act of 
2008 (Pub. L. 110-414), and the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for 
the 21st Century Act, (Pub. L. 114-182) (herein together referred to as 
MEBA) (42 U.S.C. 6939f(a)(1)-(2)), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 
was directed to designate and have operational a facility or facilities 
of DOE for the long-term management and storage of elemental mercury 
generated within the United States. On December 6, 2019, DOE published 
a record of decision (ROD) in the Federal Register (84 FR 66890) 
announcing DOE's decision to designate the Waste Control Specialists 
(WCS) site near Andrews, Texas, as a DOE facility

[[Page 12681]]

for management and storage of up to 6,800 metric tons (7,480 tons) of 
elemental mercury pursuant to Section 5(a)(1) of MEBA. Two domestic 
generators of elemental mercury subsequently filed complaints in United 
States District Court challenging, among other things, the ROD 
designating the WCS site as a DOE facility for the long-term management 
and storage of elemental mercury (Coeur Rochester, Inc. v. Brouillette 
et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-03860-RJL (D.D.C. filed December 31, 2019); 
Nevada Gold Mines LLC v. Brouillette et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00141-RJL 
(D.D.C. filed January 17, 2020)). On August 21, 2020, DOE and Nevada 
Gold Mines, LLC (NGM) executed a settlement agreement intended to 
resolve NGM's complaint in its entirety. Under the settlement agreement 
with NGM, DOE agreed to withdraw the designation of WCS as a facility 
of DOE for the purpose of long-term management and storage of elemental 
mercury, and DOE agreed to accept title to and store 112 metric tons of 
elemental mercury that is currently in temporary storage at NGM 
facilities. On October 6, 2020, DOE published an AROD in the Federal 
Register (85 FR 63105) withdrawing the designation of the WCS site 
pursuant to MEBA as the DOE facility for long-term management and 
storage of elemental mercury. In that October 6, 2020, AROD, DOE also 
decided to store at WCS certain elemental mercury to which DOE accepts 
the conveyance of title pursuant to a legal settlement or proceeding. 
DOE did not store mercury at WCS as a result of the AROD and is not 
currently storing any mercury at the WCS site. The lease agreement 
between DOE and WCS for management and storage of elemental mercury 
expired on June 4, 2021.
    On May 24, 2021, DOE published in the Federal Register (86 FR 
27838) a notice of intent to prepare a second Long-Term Management and 
Storage of Elemental Mercury Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (Mercury Storage SEIS-II, DOE/EIS-0423-S2). This Mercury 
Storage SEIS-II would supplement both the 2011 Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Long-Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury 
(DOE/EIS-0423) and the 2013 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Long-Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury (DOE/EIS-
0423-S1) by updating these previous analyses of potential environmental 
impacts and analyzing additional alternatives, in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and will inform DOE's 
decision related to designation of a facility or facilities for the 
long-term management and storage of elemental mercury as required in 
MEBA Section 5(a)(1).
    To address the elemental mercury subject to the settlement 
agreement, on February 4, 2022, DOE issued a Request for Task Order 
Proposals seeking proposals to provide ancillary services for the 
interim long-term management and storage of up to 120 MT of elemental 
mercury. DOE will evaluate received proposals to determine how to 
proceed with the interim long-term management and storage of the 
elemental mercury for which DOE accepts title prior to designation of a 
long-term elemental mercury storage facility.

Amended Decision

    This AROD rescinds DOE's decision in the October 6, 2020, AROD to 
store at WCS certain elemental mercury to which DOE accepts the 
conveyance of title pursuant to a legal settlement or proceeding.

Signing Authority

    This document of the U.S. Department of Energy was signed on March 
1, 2022, by William I. White, Senior Advisor for Environmental 
Management, Office of Environmental Management, pursuant to delegated 
authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original 
signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes 
only, and in compliance with the requirements of the Office of the 
Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer 
has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic 
format for publication, as an official document of the U.S. Department 
of Energy. This administrative process in no way alters the legal 
effect of this document upon publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on March 2, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-04775 Filed 3-4-22; 8:45 am]
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