[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5374-5375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2099]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Withdrawal of Notice of Intent to Prepare Environmental Impact
Statement for East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project at the Oak
Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, TN
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy today withdraws its Notice of
Intent (53 FR 46648, November 18, 1988) to prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement for the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action
Project. The Department intends to rely upon the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
process, which will incorporate National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) values, to document its environmental review of actions to be
taken in connection with this project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the East
Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project, please contact:
Mr. Robert C. Sleeman, Director, Environmental Restoration Division,
Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box 2001,
Oak Ridge, TN 37831, (615) 576-0715
For information on the Department of Energy's NEPA process, please
contact:
Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Oversight, U.S.
Department of [[Page 5375]] Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20585, (202) 586-4600 or leave a message at (800) 472-
2756
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action
Project was initiated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act's (RCRA) off-site release provisions. The project was later
incorporated into the CERCLA program when the Oak Ridge Reservation was
determined to be a National Priorities List site in December 1989.
This project involves an operable unit consisting of 14.2 miles of
the lower portion of East Fork Poplar Creek (i.e., the portion of the
creek from the point it exits the Y-12 Plant until its confluence with
Poplar Creek). The operable unit includes the creek, creek sediments,
the soils in the 100-year floodplain surrounding the creek, and the Oak
Ridge Sewerline Beltway.
On November 18, 1988, the Department of Energy published in the
Federal Register a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement for the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project. At
the time of the Notice, it was the Department's policy to integrate the
CERCLA and NEPA processes, whenever practicable. Under that policy, the
Department intended to prepare an integrated CERCLA/NEPA Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study-Environmental Impact Statement for the
project. As stated in the Secretary of Energy's June 13, 1994, Policy
Statement on NEPA, however, it is now the Department's policy to
generally rely on the CERCLA process for the review of actions to be
taken under CERCLA, and to incorporate NEPA values (e.g., analysis of
cumulative, off-site, ecological, and socioeconomic impacts) in the
Department's CERCLA documents to the extent practicable.
To date, the public has been extensively involved in the East Fork
Poplar Creek Remedial Action Project. Numerous meetings have been held
with private property owners and interested citizens. A property owner
workshop and a general public workshop were held on the Remedial
Investigation report, and a volunteer 30-person Citizens Working Group
formed in June 1993, continues to meet monthly and provides input and
suggestions into the decision-making process.
Discussions have been held with the Army Corps of Engineers, the
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Citizens
Working Group, and other interested parties regarding the Department's
intent to rely on the CERCLA process to document its environmental
review of actions for this project. In addition, a notice was placed in
a local newspaper and letters were sent to approximately 300
stakeholders soliciting input on the proposed withdrawal of the Notice
of Intent; no objections were received. Thus, the Department of Energy
has decided to rely on the CERCLA process to document its environmental
review of actions to be taken under CERCLA for the East Fork Poplar
Creek Remedial Action Project, with NEPA values incorporated into the
CERCLA process to the extent practicable. Public involvement has been
and will continue to be an integral part of the decision-making process
for the project.
Copies of documents related to the East Fork Poplar Creek Remedial
Action project are on file at, and may be obtained from, the
Information Resource Center, 105 Broadway, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830.
Issued in Washington, DC, on January 23, 1995.
Thomas P. Grumbly,
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 95-2099 Filed 1-26-95; 8:45 am]
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