[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 238 (Thursday, December 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65253-65254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32439]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Notice of Availability of Scope of Statement for Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement: Treatment of Non-Stockpile Chemical
Warfare Materiel
AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Scope of Statement (SoS) for the Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on the treatment of non-stockpile
chemical warfare material (CWM) is available. The SoS is an important
component of the PEIS process providing direction for the PEIS
preparers.
ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the SoS, contact Ms. Louise Dyson,
Public Outreach and Information Officer, Office of the Project Manager
for Non-Stockpile Chemical Material, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
21010-5401 or by phone at 410-671-3445 or fax at 410-612-8737.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Louise Dyson at the above address
and phone number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the
PEIS was published in the Federal Register on October 18, 1996 (FR 61
54421-54424), with a correction to that notice being published on
November 13, 1996 (FR 61 58281). In the NOI, the Army invited
interested agencies and the public to assist in determining the scope
of the PEIS by providing comments by February 28, 1997, on the
alternative strategies and important issues affecting the environment
that should be addressed. The SoS describes the scoping process and the
determinations reached by the Army's Non-Stockpile Chemical Material
Program (NSCMP) as a result of the scoping process. The following items
are included on the SoS:
1. Description and discussion of the proposed action and
alternative strategies to be evaluated in the Draft PEIS;
2. Description and discussion of the major socioeconomic and
environmental issues to be addressed in the Draft PEIS;
3. Preliminary schedule for the PEIS, including the approximate
time frame in which the Draft PEIS and Final PEIS are expected to be
made available to the public;
4. Discussion of the roles and responsibilities of different
organizations involved in preparing, reviewing and approving the Draft
PEIS;
5. Preliminary outline of the Draft PEIS that will be used in
guiding its preparation;
6. Description of the actions undertaken by the NSCMP to involve
interested organizations and the public in the PEIS scoping process;
and
7, A summary of the comments received during the public scoping
process and the NSCMP's consideration of those comments.
Changes to the proposed action and prelimary alternative strategies
identified in the NOI have been made as a result of the public scoping
process and these changes are reflected in the SoS.
The PEIS proposed action that will be evaluated is to select one or
more strategies for the treatment of non-stockpile CWM utilizing
transportable chemical treatment systems. The decision to be made by
the Army, and for which the PEIS analysis will address environmentally,
is whether transportable chemical treatment systems should be further
developed and made available for deployment.
The preliminary alternative strategies identified in the NOI were
as follows:
1. On-site chemical treatment of CWM with off-set destruction of
the resultant wastes either by thermal destruction or another disposal
method;
2. On-site chemical treatment and on-site destruction/disposal of
chemical treatment wastes;
3. On-site thermal destruction;
4. Off-site chemical treatment and/or thermal destruction or
another disposal method; and
5. No action, which was defined as a continuation of the current
methods for handling these types of CWM, including safely packing,
shipping and storing CWM at permitted locations.
The alternative strategies that will be analyzed in the PEIS
include the following:
1. On-site Strategy--further develop transportable chemical
treatment systems and make the systems available for the treatment of
non-stockpile CWM at the site where the CWM may be located;
2. Off-site Stragegy--further develop transportable chemical
treatment systems, transport non-stockpile CWM from where it is located
to an off-site location, and make the systems available for the
treatment of CWM at the off-site location; and
3. No Action Strategy--discontinue development of the prototype
transportable chemical treatment systems and continue to store non-
stockpile CWM until other systems can be made available for treatment
of non-stockpile CWM. Storage of non-stockpile CWM will occur on site
unless precluded by human health, safety, and environmental regulatory
requirements.
The PEIS evaluation will be directed at determining those
environmental and socioeconomic conditions under which each of the
strategies could be implemented. The revised alternative strategies are
those that are applicable to any site with non-stockpile CWM. The
application of these strategies will be further considered in
subsequent site-specific analyses should the Army decide to proceed
with the transportable chemical treatment systems.
The PEIS will be prepared using an approach in which the affected
environment will be described in terms of a range of environmental and
socioeconomic conditions that could occur at any site or location where
non-stockpile CWM may be present or where transportable chemical
treatment systems could be utilized. Based on these ranges, the PEIS
will evaluate whether or not adverse environmental and socioeconomic
impacts could occur. Where such impacts could occur, the PEIS will
identify mitigation measures to eliminate, reduce, or compensate any
adverse impact.
[[Page 65254]]
For the off-site strategy, emphasis will be placed on evaluating
the impacts and identifying mitigation measures associated with the
potential transport of non-stockpile CWM, as the impacts and mitigation
measures for the treatment of non-stockpile CWM would be the same as
those to be identified under the on-site strategy. The off-site
strategy will indicate that, under current law, non-stockpile CWM can
only be transported in state or to the nearest chemical munitions
stockpile storage facility that has the necessary permits for receiving
and storing them. For the no action strategy, the potential adverse
impacts and mitigation measures to be emphasized will be those
associated with storage of non-stockpile CWM.
The Draft PEIS will be made available for public review and
comment. Its availability will be announced, written comments on the
Draft will be solicited, and information about a possible public
meeting to comment on the Draft will be published at a later date. The
Army expects to release the Draft PEIS in late 1998 and the Final PEIS
by early 2000.
Dated: December 4, 1997.
Raymond J. Fatz,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and
Occupational Health) OASA (I,L&E).
[FR Doc. 97-32439 Filed 12-10-97; 8:45 am]
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