[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 166 (Friday, August 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46932-46933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22437]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the White River
Amphitheatre, Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, King County, Washington
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed construction and operation of
a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre within the exterior boundaries of
the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, King County, Washington, is now
available for public review and comment. The purpose of the proposed
action is to provide an economically competitive performing art center
for the greater Seattle-Tacoma concert market and a place for cultural
educational and community events and gatherings for the Muckleshoot
Indian Tribe (Tribe). Further details on the project and on the
environmental issues addressed in the DEIS follow as supplementary
information. This notice also announces a public Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS)/design hearing.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 27, 1999.
The public EIS/design hearing will be held on September 29, 1999, from
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any
one of several methods. You may mail or hand-deliver written comments
to Stanley Speaks, Portland Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
911 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232-4169. You may also comment
via the Internet to [email protected] Please submit Internet
comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and
any form of encryption. Include your name and return address in your
Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system
that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly at
(503) 231-6749.
Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will
be available for public review at the above address during regular
business hours, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you
wish to withhold your name and/or address from public review or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests
will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will not, however,
consider anonymous comments. All submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
made available for public inspection in their entirety.
The DEIS is also available for review at the above address. To
obtain a copy of the DEIS, you may contact June Boynton, Environmental
Coordinator at (503) 231-6749, or via e-mail to [email protected];
or you may contact Dean Torkko, EIS Coordinator, Washington State
Department of Transportation, at (206) 440-4527, or via e-mail to
torkkod@wsdot.wa.gov. Copies of the DEIS have already been sent to all
agencies and individuals who participated in the scoping process or who
previously requested copies.
The public EIS/design hearing will be held at the Auburn Performing
Arts Center, Auburn, Washington. This site is accessible to people with
disabilities. Anyone requiring written materials in alternative
formats, sign language interpreters, physical accessibility
accommodations or some other reasonable accommodation may request these
by contacting (206) 440-4528, no later than September 8, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: June Boynton, (503) 231-6749.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Three federal actions underlie the proposed
construction of a 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre in the southeastern
portion of the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, between the cities of
Auburn and Enumclaw, King County, Washington. Two of these are Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA) actions, the taking into trust of approximately
346 acres of Indian-owned fee lands within the exterior boundaries of
the reservation and the approval of a management agreement, under 25
U.S.C. 81, between the Tribe and Bill Graham Presents (BGP), under
which the Tribe would own and BGP would manage the facility. The third
federal action is the issuance of a wetland fill permit, under section
404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The BIA, as lead agency, prepared the DEIS in
cooperation with the Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Transportation
(WSDOT). Cooperation with WSDOT enables them to use this DEIS to meet
the requirements of the State of Washington's Environmental Policy Act.
The DEIS presents a preferred alternative, the no action
alternative and three other action alternatives. The preferred
alternative calls for developing approximately 73 acres for the 20,000
seat amphitheatre, support facilities and surface parking, plus 17
acres for landscaping and buffers, including a shielding berm along the
southern boundary. The amphitheatre will consist of a main stage,
10,000 seat bowl with fixed seating, a grass berm for informal lawn
seating and an open air roof over the stage and fixed seating. Support
facilities will include a ticket and administrative office, a loading
dock, a hospitality area for performers, a restaurant, cafes,
concession stands and public rest rooms.
[[Page 46933]]
The no action alternative assumes that the proposed amphitheatre
will not be built and the proposed site not taken into trust. The
partially constructed facilities on the site (see discussion of site
restoration alternative below) will not be completed as an
amphitheatre, although they may eventually be converted to other uses.
At the gravel quarrying site proposed as an alternate location for the
amphitheatre, mining operations will continue.
The three action alternatives include (1) an alternate location,
where a 20,000 seat amphitheatre like that in the preferred alternative
would displace existing gravel quarrying operations; (2) a smaller,
10,000 seat amphitheatre with an open air roof and support facilities
similar to those for the preferred alternative, but with about one-half
the parking capacity; and (3) site restoration, where partially
completed facilities on the site of the preferred alternative will be
removed, the site restored to its condition before construction was
started, and the amphitheatre not constructed here or anywhere else.
This construction, which had occurred out of synchronization with
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321
et seq.) [NEPA] requirements, was halted in response to an April 17,
1998, order by U.S. District Judge, John C. Coughenour, that the BIA
prepare an EIS on the proposed action.
The environmental issues addressed in the DEIS include traffic,
noise, crime, water quality, wetlands, fish, wildlife and endangered
species, geo-technics, sewage disposal, air quality, cultural
resources, land use, socio-economics, public safety, range of
alternatives, and cumulative impacts. All of these issues were
identified during public scoping.
This notice is published in accordance with section 1503.1 of the
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through
1508), implementing the procedural requirements of NEPA, and the
Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the exercise
of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by
209 DM 8.
Dated: August 25, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-22437 Filed 8-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P
