The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) to assess potential environmental effects of conveying approximately 1,641 acres of Hanford Site land to the Tri-City Development Council, the DOE-recognized Community Reuse Organization (CRO). The National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 requires DOE to transfer the land by September 30, 2015. DOE is seeking input on the completeness and factual accuracy of the data and any additional information that should be considered.
The draft EA analyzes the reasonably foreseeable environmental effects associated with the probable future uses of lands within the FSA. DOE used analytical assumptions in the EA that would tend to maximize estimates of foreseeable environmental effects associated with footprint, infrastructure, utilities, emissions, construction activities, projected workforce and traffic, water usage, and similar requirements for site development. The EA describes the reasonably foreseeable environmental effects associated with: geology; water resources; air quality; ecology resources; wetlands and floodplains; cultural resources; land use; visual resources; noise, vibration, and electromagnetic fields; utilities and infrastructure; transportation; waste management; socioeconomics and Environmental Justice; and human health and safety. The analysis also considers cumulative environmental effects and discusses potential mitigation measures.
The 30-day public comment period for the draft EA is July 13, 2015 –August 12, 2015.
A public meeting will be held Thursday, July 30 at the Hampton Inn, 486 Bradley Blvd., Richland, WA. Open house from 5-5:30 pm, a Project Overview and informal Q & A from 5:30 – 6 pm, and formal public comment from 6 – 7 pm.
Please submit comments by August 12, 2015 via email to landconveyanceEA@rl.doe.gov or to:
NEPA Document Manager
Land Conveyance EA
U.S. Department of Energy
P.O. Box 550, Mailstop A2-15
Richland, Washington 99352
The draft EA can be found at www.hanford.gov on the Hanford Events Calendar. It's also available for review at the Public Information Repositories listed below.
Portland
Portland State University Government Information
Branford Price Millar Library
1875 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR97207-1151
Attn: Claudia Weston (503) 725-4542
Map: http://www.pdx.edu/map.html
Seattle
University of Washington
Suzallo Library
Government Publications Division
Seattle, WA 98195
Attn: Hillary Reinert (206) 543-5597
Map: http://tinyurl.com/m8ebj
Richland
U.S. Department of Energy Public Reading Room
Washington State University, Tri-Cities
Consolidated Information Center, Room 101-L
2770 University Drive
Richland,WA 99352
Attn: Janice Parthree (509) 375-3308
Map: http://tinyurl.com/2axam2
Spokane
Gonzaga University
Foley Center Library
East 502 Boone Avenue
Spokane, WA 99258
Attn: John Spencer (509) 313-6110
Map: http://tinyurl.com/2c6bpm
Administrative Record and Public Information Repository
Address: 2440 Stevens Center Place, Room 1101, Richland, WA 99352
Phone: (509)-376-2530
Website Address: http://www5.hanford.gov/arpir
|
°F