[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80298-80300]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25505]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL OP-OFA-095]
Notice of Adoption of a Bureau of Indian Affairs Categorical
Exclusion Under the National Environmental Policy Act
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of adoption of categorical exclusion.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a Bureau
of Indian Affairs' (BIA) categorical exclusion (CE) for waste
management activities involving remediation of hazardous waste sites
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for use by the EPA's
Contaminated Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Lands
Assistance Program. This notice describes the categories of proposed
actions for which EPA intends to use BIA's CE and describes the
consultation between the agencies.
DATES: This action is effective upon publication.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Winters, Manager, Pollution
Prevention and Communities Branch, Land, Chemicals, and Redevelopment
Division, EPA Region 10, by phone at
[[Page 80299]]
206-553-5180, or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
NEPA and CEs
The National Environmental Policy Act, as amended at, 42 U.S.C.
4321-4347 (NEPA), requires all Federal agencies to assess the
environmental impact of their actions. Congress enacted NEPA in order
to encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between humans and the
environment, recognizing the profound impact of human activity and the
critical importance of restoring and maintaining environmental quality
to the overall welfare of humankind. 42 U.S.C. 4321, 4331. NEPA's twin
aims are to ensure agencies consider the environmental effects of their
proposed actions in their decision-making processes and inform and
involve the public in that process. 42 U.S.C. 4331. NEPA created the
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which promulgated NEPA
implementing regulations, 40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508 (CEQ
regulations).
To comply with NEPA, agencies determine the appropriate level of
review--an environmental impact statement (EIS), environmental
assessment (EA), or CE. 42 U.S.C. 4336. If a proposed action is likely
to have significant environmental effects, the agency must prepare an
EIS and document its decision in a record of decision. 42 U.S.C. 4336.
If the proposed action is not likely to have significant environmental
effects or the effects are unknown, the agency may instead prepare an
EA, which involves a more concise analysis and process than an EIS. 42
U.S.C. 4336. Following the EA, the agency may conclude the process with
a finding of no significant impact if the analysis shows that the
action will have no significant effects. If the analysis in the EA
finds that the action is likely to have significant effects, however,
then an EIS is required.
Under NEPA and the CEQ regulations, a Federal agency also can
establish CEs--categories of actions that the agency has determined
normally do not significantly affect the quality of the human
environment--in their agency NEPA procedures. 42 U.S.C. 4336(e)(1); 40
CFR 1501.4, 1507.3(e)(2)(ii), 1508.1(d). If an agency determines that a
CE covers a proposed action, it then evaluates the proposed action for
extraordinary circumstances in which a normally excluded action may
have a significant effect. 40 CFR 1501.4(b). If no extraordinary
circumstances are present or if further analysis determines that the
extraordinary circumstances do not involve the potential for
significant environmental impacts, the agency may apply the CE to the
proposed action without preparing an EA or EIS. 42 U.S.C. 4336(a)(2),
40 CFR 1501.4. If the extraordinary circumstances have the potential to
result in significant effects, the agency is required to prepare an EA
or EIS.
Section 109 of NEPA, enacted as part of the Fiscal Responsibility
Act of 2023, allows a Federal agency to ``adopt'' or use another
agency's CEs for a category of proposed agency actions. 42 U.S.C.
4336(c). To use another agency's CEs under section 109, an agency must
identify the relevant CEs listed in another agency's (``establishing
agency'') NEPA procedures that cover its category of proposed actions
or related actions; consult with the establishing agency to ensure that
the proposed adoption of the CE to a category of actions is
appropriate; identify to the public the CE that the agency plans to use
for its proposed actions; and document adoption of the CE. Id. This
notice describes EPA's adoption of BIA's CE under section 109 of NEPA
to use in EPA's program and funding opportunities administered by EPA.
EPA's Program
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was enacted in 1971
to settle aboriginal claims to public lands through the conveyance of
46 million acres of land to Alaska Native regional and village
corporations and the transfer of one billion dollars from the state and
federal governments as compensation for remaining claims. Some of the
lands promised and conveyed to corporations pursuant to the settlement
in ANCSA were contaminated. The contaminants on some of these lands--
which include arsenic, asbestos, lead, mercury, pesticides,
polychlorinated biphenyls, and petroleum products--pose health and
other concerns to Indigenous Alaskans and communities and are present
in quantities above state and federal clean-up levels, negatively
impacting subsistence resources and hampering cultural, social, and
economic activities.
In the fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill, Congress appropriated $20
million for EPA to establish and implement a grant program to assist
Alaska tribal entities with addressing contamination on ANCSA lands
that were contaminated at the time of conveyance. EPA has initiated a
new Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program to assist Alaska tribal
and Alaska Native Corporation entities with addressing contamination on
ANCSA lands.
The Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program addresses
contamination left by Federal departments and agencies on land that was
subsequently conveyed to Alaska Native Corporations under the ANCSA.
The activities to be funded involve remediation of hazardous materials
sites in compliance with applicable Federal laws. Eligible entities
include federally recognized Indian Tribal Governments (Tribes) in
Alaska, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, Alaskan Native Village
Corporations, Alaska Native Nonprofit Organizations, Alaska Native
Nonprofit Associations, and Intertribal consortia. The objectives of
the EPA program are to provide funding to eligible entities to carry
out cleanup activities at ANCSA sites that were contaminated at the
time of conveyance.
II. BIA Categorical Exclusion
EPA has identified the following BIA CE listed in the Department of
the Interior's Departmental Manual (516 DM 10.5(K)(2)).
K. Waste Management.
(2) Activities involving remediation of hazardous waste sites if
done in compliance with applicable federal laws, such as the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (Pub. L. 94-580), Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Pub. L. 96-
516) or Toxic Substances Control Act (Pub. L. 94-469).
EPA intends to apply this CE for EPA's grants awarded under its
Contaminated ANSCA Lands Assistance Program when applicable.
III. Consultation With BIA and Determination of Appropriateness
EPA consulted with BIA on the appropriateness of EPA's adoption of
the CE in September 2023. EPA and BIA's consultation included a review
of BIA's experience developing and applying the CE, as well as the
types of actions for which EPA plans to utilize the CE. The EPA actions
under the Contaminated ANCSA Lands Assistance Program are very similar
to the type of projects that BIA funds and therefore the impacts of EPA
projects will be very similar to the impacts of BIA projects, which are
not significant, absent the existence of extraordinary circumstances
that could involve potentially significant impacts. Therefore, EPA has
determined that its proposed use of the CE as described in this notice
is appropriate.
[[Page 80300]]
IV. Consideration of Extraordinary Circumstances
When applying this CE, EPA will consider whether the proposed
action has the potential to result in significant effects as described
in EPA's extraordinary circumstances listed at 40 CFR 6.204(b). EPA
defines extraordinary circumstances as circumstances that may cause a
significant environmental effect such that a proposed action that
otherwise meets the requirements of a CE may not be categorically
excluded. 40 CFR 6.102(b)(6). In addition, in consultation with BIA,
the EPA determined that it will also apply two applicable Department of
the Interior extraordinary circumstances regarding Indian sacred sites
and invasive species (43 CFR. 46.215(k) and (l)) when evaluating a
proposed action.
V. Notice to the Public and Documentation of Adoption
This notice serves to identify to the public and document EPA's
adoption of BIA's CE. The notice identifies the types of actions to
which EPA will apply the CE, as well as the considerations that EPA
will use in determining whether an action is within the scope of the
CE.
Dated: November 14, 2023.
Timothy Hamlin,
Director, Land, Chemicals, and Redevelopment Division, EPA Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2023-25505 Filed 11-16-23; 8:45 am]
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