[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 76 (Friday, April 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23548-23550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09291]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Long-
Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury
AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of
the Draft Long-Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Mercury Storage SEIS, DOE/
EIS-0423-S1) for public comment. As required by the Mercury Export Ban
Act of 2008 (hereafter referred to as ``the Act''), DOE plans to
identify a facility or facilities for the long-term management and
storage of elemental mercury generated in the United States (U.S.) To
this end, DOE issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the
Long-Term Management and Storage of Elemental Mercury (Mercury Storage
EIS, DOE/EIS-0423, January 2011) to analyze reasonable alternatives, in
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for
locating and developing such a facility. Subsequently, DOE identified
three additional, reasonable alternative locations in the vicinity of
its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, NM. On June 5,
2012, DOE announced its intent to prepare a supplement to the Mercury
Storage EIS and held a 30-day public scoping period. This Draft Mercury
Storage Supplemental EIS (Draft Mercury Storage SEIS or Draft SEIS)
considered all comments received during the public scoping period.
DATES: DOE invites public comment on this Draft Mercury Storage SEIS
during a 45-day public coment period commencing with the date of
publication of this Notice in the Federal Register, and ending on June
3, 2013. In preparing the Mercury Storage SEIS, DOE will consider all
comments received or postmarked by that date. Comments received after
that date will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: DOE will hold two public hearings during the public comment
period. The dates, times and locations of the public hearings are as
follows.
May 7, 2013
Open house 5:00 p.m.--6:00 p.m.
Public hearing 6:00 p.m.--9:00 p.m.
Skeen-Whitlock Building Auditorium
DOE, Carlsbad Field Office
4021 National Parks Highway
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220
May 9, 2013
Open house 5:00 p.m.--6:00 p.m.
Public hearing 6:00 p.m.--9:00 p.m.
[[Page 23549]]
Crowne Plaza Albuquerque Hotel
1901 University Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102.
Written comments not submitted during the public hearings may be
mailed to:
Mr. David Levenstein, Document Manager, Office of Environmental
Compliance (EM-11), U.S. Department of Energy, Post Office Box 2612,
Germantown, Maryland 20874
Written comments may also be submitted via the Draft Mercury
Storage EIS Web site at http://mercurystorageeis.com/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request further information about
the Draft Mercury Storage SEIS or the Mercury Storage EIS, or to be
placed on the distribution list for the Final Mercury Storage SEIS, use
either of the methods (mail or Web site) listed under ADDRESSES. The
Draft Mercury Storage SEIS contains a Summary, all chapters, appendices
and other text within one volume, and includes a CD ROM of the full
Draft Mercury Storage SEIS and the full 2011 Mercury Storage EIS.
For general information concerning DOE's NEPA process, please
contact:
Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
(GC-54), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: (202) 586-4600, by fax at (202) 586-
7031, by email at [email protected] or leave a message at 1-800-472-
2756. The Draft Mercury Storage SEIS is available on the Internet at
http://www.energy.gov/NEPA/ and on the project Web site at http://mercurystorageeis.com/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-414) amends the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2605(f)) to prohibit the
sale, distribution, or transfer by Federal agencies to any other
Federal agency, any state or local government agency, or any private
individual or entity, of any elemental mercury under the control or
jurisdiction of a Federal agency (with certain limited exceptions). It
also amends TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2611(c)) to prohibit the export of
elemental mercury from the U.S. effective January 1, 2013 (subject to
certain essential use exemptions). Section 5 of the Act, Long-Term
Storage, amends the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 42
U.S.C. 6939f) and directs DOE to designate a facility or facilities for
the long-term management and storage of elemental mercury generated
within the U.S.
To evaluate the range of reasonable alternatives for siting,
constructing and operating a facility or facilities to meet its
obligations under the Act, DOE prepared the Mercury Storage EIS in
accordance with NEPA and its implementing regulations (40 CFR parts
1500-1508 and 10 CFR part 1021) and issued the Mercury Storage EIS in
January 2011 (76 FR 5145). The Mercury Storage EIS and related NEPA
documents are available at the Web sites listed under ADDRESSES. DOE
estimated that up to approximately 10,000 metric tons of elemental
mercury would need to be managed and stored at the DOE facility during
the 40-year period of analysis. These estimates do not include
approximately 4,400 metric tons of elemental mercury that the
Department of Defense (DOD) stores at its facility in Hawthorne,
Nevada.
Purpose and Need for Action
DOE's purpose and need for action remains unchanged from the 2011
Mercury Storage EIS. That is, DOE needs to designate a facility or
facilities for the long-term management and storage of elemental
mercury generated within the U.S., as required by the Act.
Proposed Action
As also stated in the 2011 Mercury Storage EIS, DOE proposes to
construct one or more new facilities and/or select one or more existing
facilities (including modification as needed) for the long-term
management and storage of elemental mercury in accordance with the Act.
Facilities to be constructed as well as existing or modified facilities
must comply with applicable requirements of section 5(d) of the Act,
Management Standards for a Facility, including the requirements of the
Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), and other permitting
requirements.
Proposed Alternatives
The January 2011 Mercury Storage EIS evaluated seven candidate
sites for the facility or facilities, as well as a No Action
Alternative as required under NEPA. The candidate sites are: DOE Grand
Junction Disposal site near Grand Junction, Colorado; DOE Hanford site
near Richland, Washington; Hawthorne Army Depot near Hawthorne, Nevada;
DOE Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho (2 locations);
DOE Kansas City Plant in Kansas City, Missouri; DOE Savannah River Site
near Aiken, South Carolina; and Waste Control Specialists, LLC, site
near Andrews, Texas.
Since publication of the 2011 Mercury Storage EIS, DOE has
reconsidered the range of reasonable alternatives evaluated in that EIS
and on June 5, 2012, DOE announced its intent to prepare a supplement
to the Mercury Storage EIS (77 FR 33204). DOE held two public meetings
during a 30-day public scoping period and considered all comments
received during that period in preparing this Draft SEIS.
The scope of this Draft Mercury Storage SEIS includes three
locations for a long-term mercury storage facility at or near the WIPP
site, which DOE operates for disposal of defense transuranic waste. The
additional locations evaluated in the Draft Mercury Storage SEIS are
in: Section 20, Township 22 South, Range 31 East within the land
subject to the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (Pub. L. 102-579) as amended;
Section 10, Township 22 South, Range 31 East, in the vicinity of WIPP,
but outside of the lands withdrawn by the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act; and
Section 35, Township 22 South, Range 31 East, also outside of the lands
withdrawn by the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act. Each of these locations is
suitable for an above-ground storage facility and can take advantage of
existing roads and other infrastructure.
DOE identified the Waste Control Specialists, LLC location near
Andrews, Texas, as the Preferred Alternative in the 2011 Mercury
Storage EIS. DOE has not changed its preferred alternative in the Draft
Mercury Storage SEIS; however, the preferred alternative may or may not
change as a result of public comment on this draft and further analysis
in completing the Final Mercury Storage SEIS.
Among the potential health and environmental impacts evaluated in
the Draft Mercury Storage SEIS is an evaluation of the potential
cumulative impacts of constructing and operating a facility for long-
term management and storage of elemental mercury with the ongoing and
planned operations of WIPP for disposal of defense transuranic waste.
The Draft Mercury Storage SEIS also considers the potential disposal of
greater-than-Class C waste (Draft Environmental Impact Statement for
the Disposal of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) Low-level Radioactive Waste
and GTCC-Like Waste (DOE/EIS-0375, February 2011)), which included two
separately identified locations at WIPP and the WIPP vicinity.
Public Participation in the SEIS Process
At each public hearing, DOE representatives will be available
during
[[Page 23550]]
an open house to greet stakeholders and review presentational
materials. Participants wishing to speak during each public hearing
will be asked to register and will be given 10 minutes to speak, in the
order in which participants have signed up. Once all those who wish to
speak have had an opportunity to do so, participants will be given
additional time until time for the public hearings to conclude. A court
reporter will record the proceedings at each public hearing.
DOE invites Federal agencies, state, local, and tribal governments,
and the general public to comment on the Draft Mercury Storage SEIS
during the public comment period. DOE will consider all public comments
on the Draft SEIS equally in preparing the Final Mercury Storage SEIS.
Any comments received after the deadline will be considered to the
extent practicable.
Issued in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2013.
Mark Gilbertson,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Site Restoration.
[FR Doc. 2013-09291 Filed 4-18-13; 8:45 am]
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