96-20611. EIS I and II Supplementation

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 157 (Tuesday, August 13, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42055-42056]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20611]


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[[Page 42056]]


DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration


EIS I and II Supplementation

AGENCY: Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Department of 
Justice.

ACTION: Notice of intent to supplement programmatic environmental 
impact statements and explanation of the scope of study.

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SUMMARY: A supplement to the programmatic environmental impact 
statements on eradication of Cannabis on Federal Lands in the 
continental United States (DEA-EIS-1), finalized in July 1985, and on 
Eradication of Cannabis on Non-Federal and Indian Lands in the 
Contiguous United States and Hawaii (DEA-EIS-2), finalized in May 1986, 
will be prepared. The supplement will consider current data pertinent 
to chemical treatment alternatives and techniques that have been 
developed in the past decade. Comments on this notice are welcome.

DATES: This order is effective August 13, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James E. Cappola, Chief, State and Local Programs Section, Drug 
Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC 20537, Telephone: (202) 307-
8918.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The records of decision executed for the 
Cannabis eradication programmatic impact statements adopted the 
preferred alternative of operational flexibility which gives planners 
and decision makers at the action level the leeway to choose 
eradication techniques best suited to the situation from the standpoint 
of both efficacy and respect for the quality of the human environment. 
Those choices invariably are informed by environmental assessment 
processes tiered to the programmatic documentation. This approach to 
planning and decision making has enabled law enforcement officials to 
be responsive to everchanging circumstances in the field while 
remaining sensitive to local environment concerns.
    Regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act call 
for the preparations of supplements to environmental concerns and 
bearing on the program or its impacts. 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(1)(ii). In the 
decade that has passed since the impact statements were finalized, 
considerable additional data about treatment alternatives employed in 
the Cannabis eradication program have been generated. New chemical 
treatment alternatives and techniques may also be available for use in 
the program. The supplement announced here will consider these issues, 
update analyses relative to environmental consequences of the program, 
and, to the extent warranted, modify the menu of treatment alternatives 
and mitigation options from which planners and decision makers may 
choose at the action level.

    Dated: August 7, 1996.
Harold D. Wankel,
Chief of Operations.
[FR Doc. 96-20611 Filed 8-12-96; 8:45 am]
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