98-11990. Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land Tracts Located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, NM

[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25022-25025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11990]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Proposed Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land Tracts Located at 
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, NM

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to 
prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to assess the potential 
environmental impacts of conveying and transferring certain land tracts 
located within the Incorporated Counties of Los Alamos and Santa Fe and 
at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in north central New Mexico. 
This EIS for the proposed Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land 
Tracts (Conveyance and Transfer EIS) will evaluate the action mandated 
by Congress to convey fee title to lands allocated for conveyance to 
Los Alamos County (County) and transfer to the Secretary of the 
Interior, in trust for the San Ildefonso Pueblo (Pueblo), 
administrative jurisdiction of parcels of land to be determined by 
agreement pursuant to Section 632 of the Departments of Commerce, 
Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Act, 1998, Public Law 105-119. The EIS will analyze the potential 
impacts of up to

[[Page 25023]]

three uses of land for the individual tracts: (1) Historic, cultural, 
or environmental preservation purposes, (2) economic diversification 
purposes, or (3) community self-sufficiency purposes. The EIS will also 
analyze any connected actions regarding the relocation of existing site 
tenants and the No Action Alternative of retaining the land tracts in 
their current state with the continuance of the existing uses of land. 
DOE invites individuals, organizations, and agencies to present oral or 
written comments concerning the scope of the EIS, including the 
environmental issues and alternatives that the EIS should address.

DATES: The public scoping period starts with the publication of this 
Notice in the Federal Register and will continue until June 30, 1998. 
DOE will consider all comments received or postmarked by that date in 
defining the scope of this EIS. Comments received or postmarked after 
that date will be considered to the extent practicable. Public scoping 
meetings are scheduled to be held as follows:

May 19, 1998, 2:00-5:00 p.m. and 6:00-8:00 p.m., U.S. Department of 
Energy, Los Alamos Area Office, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, New 
Mexico.
May 20, 1998, 2:00-5:00 p.m. and 6:00-8:00 p.m., Double Tree Hotel, 
3347 Cerrillos Road; Santa Fe, New Mexico.
May 21, 1998, 2:00-5:00 p.m. and 6:00-8:00 p.m., Northern New Mexico 
Community Center, 921 Paseo de Onate; Espanola, New Mexico.

    The DOE will publish additional notices on the date, times, and 
location of the scoping meetings in local newspapers in advance of the 
scheduled meetings. Any necessary changes will be announced in the 
local media.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or suggestions concerning the scope of the 
Conveyance and Transfer EIS or requests for more information on the EIS 
and public scoping process should be directed to: Ms. Elizabeth 
Withers, EIS Document Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, Los Alamos 
Area Office, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87544, facsimile 
at [phone], or E-mail at [e-mail].
    In addition to providing oral comments at the public scoping 
meetings, all interested parties are invited to record their comments, 
ask questions concerning the EIS, or request to be placed on the EIS 
mailing or document distribution list by leaving a message on the EIS 
Hotline at (toll free) 1-800-791-2280. The Hotline will have 
instructions on how to record comments and requests.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on DOE's NEPA process, 
please contact: Carol Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and 
Assistance (EH-42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 
SW, Washington, DC 20585, [phone], or leave a message at 1-800-
472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is located in north-central 
New Mexico, 60 miles north-northeast of Albuquerque, 25 miles northwest 
of Santa Fe, and 20 miles southwest of Espanola in Los Alamos and Santa 
Fe Counties. It is located between the Jemez Mountains to the west and 
the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rio Grande to the east. LANL 
occupies an area of approximately 27,832 acres or approximately 43 
square miles and is operated for DOE by a contractor, the University of 
California. It is a multidisciplinary, multipurpose institution engaged 
in theoretical and experimental research and development. LANL has 
mission responsibilities in national security, energy resources, 
environmental quality, and science.
    Section 632 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the 
Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998, Public Law 
(P.L.) 105-119, enacted November 26, 1997, established certain actions 
and reports to be completed by the DOE. It requires that the Secretary 
of Energy (Secretary) take certain actions with respect to the 
conveyance of certain suitable tracts of land at or in the vicinity of 
LANL, which are under the jurisdiction or administrative control of the 
Secretary, to the Incorporated County of Los Alamos, or their designee 
in fee title, and that administrative jurisdiction over certain other 
of these tracts be transferred to the Secretary of the Interior in 
trust for the Pueblo of San Ildefonso. The legislation provides that 
the purpose of these conveyances and transfers is to fulfill the 
obligations of the United States with respect to LANL under sections 91 
and 94 of the Atomic Energy Community Act of 1955 (42 U.S.C. 2391, 
2394). Upon completion of these conveyances and transfers, the 
legislation also directs that the Secretary shall make no further 
payments with respect to LANL under sections 91 or 94 of the Atomic 
Energy Community Act of 1955.
    The Secretary is required to undertake the preliminary 
identification of parcels of land under the jurisdiction or 
administrative control of the Secretary or in the vicinity of LANL for 
conveyance or transfer. The criteria established in Public Law 105-119 
for land to be considered as being suitable for conveyance or transfer 
is that it is: (1) not required to meet the national security mission 
of the DOE or will not be required for that purpose before the end of a 
10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of the law; (2) 
likely to be conveyable or transferable, as the case may be, not later 
than the end of such period; and (3) suitable for use either for 
historic, cultural, or environmental preservation purposes, for 
economic diversification purposes, or for community self-sufficiency 
purposes.
    The Secretary of Energy has completed the preliminary 
identification of such parcels of land considered to be suitable and a 
report to Congress on this action was submitted in April 1998. The 
report, entitled Land Transfer, A Preliminary Identification of Parcels 
of Land in Los Alamos, New Mexico for Conveyance or Transfer, 
summarizes, for each of nine parcels identified for potential 
conveyance or transfer, the tract's location, size, boundaries, 
historical DOE use, existing use, functional support of LANL's mission, 
urban infrastructure present, known environmental and cultural issues 
associated with the tracts, economic potential, and estimated DOE 
preparation costs prior to transfer. The report includes maps of 
parcels with pertinent physical features (such as roads, topography, 
buildings, fences and major utility corridors). The total acreage of 
the tracts being considered for transfer is about 4,646 acres (roughly 
equal to about 16 percent of the DOE-controlled land in the LANL area). 
About 3,000 acres are located within Santa Fe County and about 1,646 
acres are located within Los Alamos County. The nine parcels identified 
in the report are as follows:
    1. The Technical Area (TA) 21 Tract consists of approximately 243.8 
acres and is located east of the Los Alamos Townsite. This occupied 
site is remote from the main LANL area. Relocation of operations and 
site workers would need to take place.
    2. The DP Road (North, South and West) Tract consists of 49.8 
acres. It is generally undeveloped except for the West section where 
the LANL Archives are currently located.
    3. The DOE Los Alamos Area Office Site Tract consists of 12.9 
acres. It is also within the Los Alamos Townsite

[[Page 25024]]

and is readily usable. Relocation of site employees would need to take 
place.
    4. The Airport Tract consists of 198 acres. Located east of the Los 
Alamos Townsite, it is close to the East Gate Business park.
    5. The White Rock Site Tract consists of 98.7 acres. It is 
undeveloped except for utility lines and a water pump station.
    6. Rendija Canyon Site Tract consists of 908.7 acres. The canyon is 
undeveloped except for the shooting range that serves the local 
community and is currently under lease from the DOE to the community.
    7. The White Rock Y Site Tract consists of 435.1 acres. It is 
undeveloped and is associated with the major transportation routes 
connecting Los Alamos with northern New Mexico.
    8. Two miscellaneous sites, Site 22 and The Manhattan Monument 
Site, consist of 0.27 acres. Site 22 is a small, Townsite parcel 
located on the edge of the mesa overlooking Los Alamos Canyon. The 
Manhattan site is a small, rectangular site located within Los Alamos 
County land and adjacent to Ashley Pond where most of the first 
Laboratory work was conducted.
    9. The TA-74 Site Tract consists of 2,698.4 acres. It is a large, 
remote site located east of the Los Alamos Townsite. This parcel was 
restored to the public domain by Presidential Proclamation 3539 on May 
27, 1963. Because it is public domain land, additional legislative 
action may be required to transfer it out of Federal government 
control.
    A copy of the report may be obtained from Mr. Dennis Martinez, U.S. 
Department of Energy, Los Alamos Area Office, 528 35th Street, Los 
Alamos, New Mexico, 87544, telephone [phone], or E-mail at 
[e-mail].

The Role of the Conveyance and Transfer EIS in the DOE NEPA 
Compliance Strategy

    The Conveyance and Transfer EIS will be prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA regulations 
(40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and the DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR Part 
1021). The purpose of this EIS is to provide DOE decisionmakers and 
stakeholders with information on the projected environmental impacts 
that would result from the proposed conveyance and transfer of certain 
land tracts to the County and to the Pueblo respectively, as prescribed 
by Congress in P.L. 105-119, for the following future uses: (1) 
historic, cultural, or environmental preservation, (2) economic 
diversification, or (3) community self-sufficiency. Specific future 
land uses associated with each broad use category will be established 
through consultation with the recipient parties.
    The EIS will provide an analysis of any reasonable alternatives 
identified through public scoping. The EIS will provide a baseline for 
DOE to use as a basis of comparison for environmental effects of 
proposed future changes in programs and activities, and could be a 
tiering (reference) document for future NEPA analysis of agency plans, 
functions, programs, and resource utilization.

Proposed Action and Alternatives

    The proposed action is to convey and transfer land that is not 
required to meet the national security mission of DOE or will not be 
required for that purpose within the next 10 years. An alternative 
under consideration is the Conveyance and Transfer of All Tracts 
Alternative, which would be to convey and transfer to the County and/or 
the Pueblo all of the land identified. Another alternative, the Partial 
Conveyance and Transfer of Tracts Alternative, would involve the 
conveyance and transfer of most of the tracts with the retention by DOE 
of any land that cannot be cleaned up within the next 10 years. As 
information is obtained through the analysis process, the Partial 
Conveyance and Transfer of Tracts Alternative may be refined and 
analyzed thoroughly or it may be eliminated from detailed analysis. 
Each alternative would analyze the impacts of up to three potential 
uses of land depending on information on the intended use provided by 
the County and Pueblo. The following future uses could be analyzed for 
each land tract: (1) historic, cultural, or environmental preservation 
purposes, (2) economic diversification purposes, or (3) community self-
sufficiency purposes. Follow-on actions involving the relocation of 
current tenants will be analyzed to the extent that the information is 
available. As required by the CEQ NEPA regulations, a No Action 
alternative will also be evaluated. The No Action alternative would be 
to continue the current use of the land tracts without the conveyance 
or transfer of any of the tracts to the identified parties.

Potential Issues for Analysis

    Issues tentatively identified for analysis in this EIS include the 
socioeconomic impacts of development of the land tracts and their 
subsequent use; potential impacts to protected threatened, endangered, 
or sensitive species of animal or plants, or their critical habitat; 
potential impacts to cultural or historic resources; potential human 
health impacts to site occupants and the general public; potential 
effects on air, soil, and water quality from development and cleanup of 
the subject parcels and subsequent anticipated uses; potential 
irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources, including the 
ultimate loss of LANL lands and land occupied and used as a result of 
conveyance and transfer actions; potential effects on members of the 
public, including minority and low-income populations from the 
development of the subject parcels and subsequent anticipated uses; and 
cumulative environmental impacts related to past, present and future 
development of the land and actions anticipated by neighboring land 
managers.

Related NEPA Reviews

    Following is a summary of recent NEPA documents that may be 
considered in the preparation of this EIS and from which this EIS may 
be tiered. The Conveyance and Transfer EIS will include relevant 
information from each of these documents.
    The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Draft Site-Wide 
Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) (DOE/EIS-0238) (in preparation). 
The Draft SWEIS analyzes four levels of operations alternatives for 
LANL to meet its existing and potential future program assignments: the 
No Action Alternative, the Expanded Operations Alternative, the Reduced 
Operations Alternative, and the Greener Alternative. The SWEIS also 
provides project specific analysis for two proposed projects: the 
Expansion of TA-54/Area G Low Level Waste Disposal Area; and 
Enhancement of Plutonium Pit Manufacturing. The SWEIS does not analyze 
changing the size or configuration of the LANL reserve through land 
conveyance or transfer.
    The DP Road Tract EA (DOE/EA-1184) analyzed the proposed transfer 
of 28 acres of land located along the south side of DP Road next to the 
Los Alamos Townsite. The property is currently part of LANL's TA-21 and 
has been used most recently as a vacant buffer area. Previous uses of 
the tract include use of part of the tract as a mobile home park and 
playground. Portions of the tract are now wooded with mixed saplings 
and mature trees; the portion of the tract contiguous with DP Road is 
covered with native grasses and broadleaf plants. Should this land 
tract be transferred to the County, the County has indicated

[[Page 25025]]

that its preferred use of the land tract would be to develop the 
property within 5 to 10 years for its own use with the construction of 
a new office building to house County employees, paved parking areas, 
and new warehouses, garages, and support buildings for the transfer of 
the school bus yard, equipment maintenance, and school supply 
warehousing activities to the site. A maximum of about 800 employees 
would be expected to occupy the site. A Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI) was issued on January 23, 1997, although no action has 
yet taken place.
    The Research Park EA (DOE/EA-1212) analyzed the proposed lease of 
about 60 acres of land located next to the main administration portion 
of LANL, at the edges of TA-3 and TA-62. The property is currently a 
combination of wooded land and land used for parking lots. This tract 
is bounded in general by Diamond Drive on the east, West Jemez Road on 
the south, West Road on the west, and Los Alamos Canyon on the north. 
The land would be leased to the County to establish a research park. 
The term of the lease is expected to be 55 years with options for 
renewal depending upon final agreements between the County and DOE. The 
tract of land would be developed by the County or third parties within 
5 to 10 years of the date of the lease. Research parks are professional 
developments that allow a wide range of companies to work within the 
same geographic location and to benefit from a well-planned environment 
suited to business needs. The County recommended that the type of 
research park best suited for Los Alamos would include freestanding 
buildings with landscaping and a possible atrium arrangement between 
related structures. About 10 buildings are planned for the research 
park and about 1,500 employees would be expected to occupy the site. A 
FONSI was issued on October 8, 1997, although no action has yet taken 
place.

Scoping Process

    The scoping process is an opportunity for the public to assist the 
DOE in determining the alternatives and issues for analysis. The 
purpose of the scoping meetings is to receive oral and written comments 
from the public. The meetings will use a format to facilitate dialogue 
between DOE and the public and will be an opportunity for individuals 
to provide written or oral statements. DOE welcomes specific comments 
or suggestions on the content of these alternatives, or on other 
alternatives that could be considered. The above list of issues to be 
considered in the EIS analysis is tentative and is intended to 
facilitate public comment on the scope of this EIS. It is not intended 
to be all-inclusive, nor does it imply any predetermination of 
potential impacts. The Conveyance and Transfer EIS will describe the 
potential environmental impacts of the alternatives, using available 
data where possible and obtaining additional data where necessary. 
Copies of written comments and transcripts of oral comments will be 
available at the following locations: Los Alamos Outreach Center, 1350 
Central Avenue, Suite 101, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87544; and the 
Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute (TVI), Montoya Campus 
Library, 4700 Morris NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87111.

    Issued in Washington, D.C., this 30th day of April 1998.
Peter N. Brush,
Acting Assistant Secretary Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 98-11990 Filed 5-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P