[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14545-14547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05511]
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINSTRATION
[Notice 14-025]
National Environmental Policy Act; Santa Susana Field Laboratory
AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) for Demolition and Environmental Cleanup Activities
for the NASA-administered portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
(SSFL), Ventura County, California.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality
Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR
Parts 1500-1508), and NASA's NEPA policy and procedures (14 CFR Part
1216, subpart 1216.3), NASA has prepared a FEIS for demolition and
cleanup activities at SSFL in Ventura County, California. Furthermore,
pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c) of the National Historic Preservation Act
(NHPA), NASA will use the NEPA process and the FEIS it produces to
comply with Section 106 of NHPA in lieu of the procedures set forth in
Sections 800.3 through 800.6.
DATES: NASA will take no final action on the proposed action before
thirty (30) calendar days from the date of publication in the Federal
Register of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of
Availability of the FEIS. Once known, this date will be published on
the project Web site address listed below.
http://www.nasa.gov/agency/nepa/news/SSFL.html
ADDRESSES: The FEIS may be reviewed at the following locations:
1. Simi Valley Library
2969 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley, CA 93063, Web site: http://simivalleylibrary.org/home/, Phone: (805) 526-1735.
2. Platt Library
23600 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367, Web site: http://www.lapl.org/branches/platt, Phone: (818) 340-9386.
3. California State University, Northridge Oviatt Library
18111 Nordhoff Street, 2nd Floor, Room 265, Northridge, CA 91330, Web
site: http://library.csun.edu, Phone: (818) 677-2285.
4. Department of Toxic Substances Control
9211 Oakdale Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311, Web site: http://www.dtsc.ca.gov, Phone: (818) 717-6521.
The FEIS is available on the internet in Adobe[supreg] portable
document format at http://www.nasa.gov/agency/nepa/news/SSFL.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allen Elliott, SSFL Project Director,
by phone at (256) 544-0662 or by email at [email protected].
Additional information about NASA's SSFL site, the proposed demolition
and cleanup activities, and the associated EIS planning process and
documentation (as available) may be found on the internet at http://ssfl.msfc.nasa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Decision To Be Made
This FEIS informs NASA decision makers, regulating agencies, and
the public of the potential environmental consequences of the proposed
demolition of SSFL buildings and structures and the impacts of using
the proposed technologies to achieve groundwater and soil remediation,
as implemented through the Proposed Action. This FEIS analyzes a range
of remedial technologies that might be implemented to achieve the
proposed groundwater and soil remediation goals. NASA will use the FEIS
analysis to consider the potential environmental and socioeconomic
impacts from the Proposed Action. NASA's analysis includes evaluation
of cumulative activities that might occur in the same area or timeframe
as the Proposed Action. These activities were evaluated to identify
potential environmental impacts that, when added to the Proposed
Action's impacts, would result in a cumulative effect as a result of
past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions. The EIS
considered the Proposed Action with the adjacent environmental cleanup
activities being conducted by DOE and Boeing. On the basis of the FEIS
findings, NASA will
[[Page 14546]]
issue a Record of Decision (ROD) documenting the findings.
Site Description
The SSFL site is 2,850 acres located in Ventura County, California,
approximately seven miles northwest of Canoga Park and approximately 30
miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. SSFL is composed of four areas
known as Areas I, II, III, and IV and two unnumbered areas known as the
``undeveloped land.'' NASA administers 41.7 acres within Area I and all
409.5 acres of Area II. The Boeing Company manages the remaining
2,398.8 acres within Areas I, III, and IV, and the two undeveloped
areas.
Since the mid-1950s, when the two federally owned areas were
administered by the U.S. Air Force, this site has been used for
developing and testing rocket engines. Four test stand complexes were
constructed in Area II between 1954 and 1957 named Alfa, Bravo, Coca,
and Delta. Area II and the LOX Plant portion of Area I were acquired by
NASA from the U.S. Air Force in the 1970s. The extant test stands and
related ancillary structures have been found to have historical
significance based on the historic importance of the engine testing and
the engineering and design of the structures and are eligible for
listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The NASA-administered areas of SSFL also contain cultural resources
not related to rocket development including the Burro Flats Painted
Cave listed on the NRHP. SSFL is located near the crest of the Simi
Hills that are part of the Santa Monica Mountains running east-west
across Southern California. The diverse terrain consists of ridges,
canyons, and sandstone rock outcrops. The region was occupied by Native
Americans from the earliest Chumash and Gabriele[ntilde]o cultures.
Previous environmental sampling on the NASA-administered property
indicates that metals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
volatile organics, and semivolatile organics are present in the soils
and upper groundwater (known as the Surficial Media Operable Unit).
Volatile organics, metals, and semivolatile organics are also present
in the deeper groundwater (known as the Chatsworth Formation Operable
Unit).
Environmental Commitments and Associated Environmental Review
Consistent with statute and regulations, on September 14, 2009,
NASA notified the General Services Administration (GSA) that it
reported the NASA-administered SSFL parcels as excess. GSA is the
federal agency responsible for undertaking all activities relating to
transfer of these federal lands to another party, including how the
public will be kept involved. NASA remains the landholder and custodian
of the site. GSA has conditionally accepted that report pending (i)
NASA's certification that all action necessary to protect human health
and the environment with respect to hazardous substances on the
property has been taken or receipt of EPA's written concurrence that an
approved and installed remedial design is operating properly and
successfully; OR (ii) the Governor's concurrence in the suitability of
the property for transfer per CERCLA Section 120(h)(3)(C).
In 2007, a Consent Order among NASA, Boeing, the Department of
Energy (DOE), and Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for the
State of California was signed addressing the environmental cleanup of
soil and groundwater at SSFL. NASA entered into an Administrative Order
on Consent (AOC) for Remedial Action with DTSC on December 6, 2010 with
respect to the cleanup of soils at SSFL. Based on the 2010 AOC, NASA is
required to complete a federal environmental review pursuant to NEPA.
An EIS is being prepared by NASA to include demolition of site
infrastructure and soil cleanup (pursuant to the AOC), and groundwater
remediation within Area II and a portion of Area I (Liquid Oxygen [LOX]
Plant) of SSFL (pursuant to the 2007 Consent Order). As part of the
environmental review process, certain studies have been or are being
completed, to characterize the existing conditions and to inform the
analysis and consultation. These include surveys for wildlife, critical
habitat, rare plants, wetlands, and archaeological and cultural
resources. The findings of these studies have been incorporated into
the FEIS.
Alternatives
To prepare SSFL for disposition, NASA describes the demolition of
SSFL structures and cleanup of the site necessary to meet only the
strictest cleanup alternative, as dictated by the 2007 Consent Order
and the 2010 AOC requirements, and the ``No Action'' alternative
required by NEPA. During the Scoping Process, per the standard
consistent with the alternatives evaluated under previous Superfund or
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) cleanup processes, NASA
originally proposed to evaluate a range of cleanup standard levels,
including the ``Cleanup to Background'' alternative required by the
AOC, the ``No Action'' alternative required by NEPA, and other
alternatives that are, consistent with the potential future use of the
land. The latter alternatives included soil cleanup requirements to
suburban residential, to industrial, and to recreational cleanup
standards. Based on comments from some members of the public, DTSC,
Congressional members, and guidance from the White House's Council on
Environmental Quality, the FEIS now considers only the strictest
``Cleanup to Background'' and the required ``No Action'' alternatives.
All other cleanup alternatives proposed during Scoping Process were
specifically removed from the FEIS.
The FEIS will consider a range of alternative technologies that
meet NASA's objectives to clean up soil and groundwater contamination
at the portion of the SSFL site administered by NASA. Implementation of
this Proposed Action would occur by implementing one Demolition
Alternative and one or more Cleanup Technologies, from the following:
(1) Soil Cleanup Technologies: Excavation and Offsite Disposal, Soil
Washing, Soil Vapor Extraction, Ex Situ Treatment Using Land Farming,
Ex Situ Treatment Using oxidation, In Situ Chemical Oxidation, In Situ
Anaerobic or Aerobic Biological Treatment; (2) Groundwater Treatment
Technologies: Pump and Treat, Vacuum Extraction, Heat Driven
Extraction, In situ Chemical Oxidation, In situ Enhanced
Bioremediation, and Monitored Natural Attenuation.
NEPA requires analysis of the ``No Action'' alternative, which in
this case means no environmental cleanup at the site and/or no
demolition of test stands and ancillary structures on the NASA-
administered property.
GSA will conduct a separate environmental review under NEPA for the
action of transferring the land out of NASA stewardship. The options
could include reuse or redevelopment of the property under tribal,
federal, local, state, or private ownership.
DTSC is preparing a separate Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
under the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires that
State agencies give major consideration, when regulating public and
private activities, to preventing environmental degradation and to
identifying environmentally superior mitigations and alternatives, when
possible. This State-led environmental review must identify the
potentially significant environmental effects of a project and
environmentally preferable alternatives to implementing the project.
The EIR
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also indicates the manner in which significant effects could be
mitigated or avoided. DTSC will analyze the potential environmental
effects of environmental cleanup activities occurring SSFL-wide by
NASA, Boeing, and DOE. NASA and DTSC have coordinated during these
processes to maintain consistency pertaining to the analysis of the
NASA-administered demolition and remedial activities. Cumulative
effects of the proposed Boeing, DOE, and NASA demolition and remedial
activities at SSFL will be considered. The DTSC EIR is likely to be
prepared following publication of NASA's EIS, and could incorporate
some of NASA's EIS analysis. A programmatic EIR will be developed that
evaluates the remedial activities that will be conducted at SSFL by
NASA, Boeing, and DOE, as well as project-specific EIRs that evaluate
the localized remedial activities. These DTSC evaluations must be
completed prior to NASA implementing its final soil or groundwater
cleanup actions.
Olga M. Dominguez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Strategic Infrastructure.
[FR Doc. 2014-05511 Filed 3-13-14; 8:45 am]
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