[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 218 (Thursday, November 10, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79119-79120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27207]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) for the Reconfiguration of VA Black Hills Health Care System
(BHHCS)
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: VA announces the availability of the Final EIS for the
Reconfiguration of the VA Black Hills Health Care System (BHHCS).
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the Council on Environmental
Quality's (CEQ's) regulations for implementing the procedural
provisions of NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500-
1508), VA's NEPA regulations titled ``Environmental Effects of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Actions'' (38 CFR part 26), and VA's
``NEPA Interim Guidance for Projects'' (VA 2010), VA has considered
comments received on the Draft EIS, which was issued in October 2015
and identifies VA's preferred alternative in the Final EIS. The Final
EIS uses the substitution approach for integrating compliance with
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) into the
EIS process.
DATES: VA will publish a Record of Decision no sooner than 30 days
after publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice
of Availability in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The 2016 Final EIS is available for viewing on the Web site
www.blackhills.va.gov/vablackhillsfuture/. Copies of the Final EIS are
also available in the following locations: Hot Springs; Rapid City
Downtown; Sturgis; Chadron; Alliance; Lied Scottsbluff; and Pierre
(Rawlins Municipal) public libraries, as well as in Pine Ridge at the
Oglala Lakota College Pine Ridge Center library on the high school
campus.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Staff Assistant to the Director, VA
Black Hills Health Care System, 113 Comanche Road, Fort Meade, SD
57741, or by email to [email protected].
Information related to the EIS process is also available for
viewing on the VA BHHCS Web site www.blackhills.va.gov/vablackhillsfuture/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA BHHCS provides health care to
approximately 19,000 Veterans over 100,000 square miles in western
South Dakota (SD), northwestern Nebraska (NE), and eastern Wyoming
(WY). VA BHHCS consists of two medical centers at Fort Meade and Hot
Springs, 11 community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs), and six
Compensated Work Therapy locations. VA BHHCS has identified a need to
reconfigure the health care services to ensure it continues to provide
high quality, safe, and accessible health care services across its
service area. The existing locations and facilities constrain the
quality of care, range of services, and access to care that VA offers
in the catchment area. The Hot Springs campus includes buildings
constructed in 1907 as part of the Battle Mountain Branch of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The Battle Mountain
Sanitarium was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 2011.
Pursuant to NEPA, VA has identified and analyzed potential
environmental impacts for a range of alternatives to the Proposed
Action. These include seven alternatives, including the No Action
Alternative, as well as a supplement to five of the alternatives for
re-use of part or all of the existing Hot Springs campus. The
alternatives propose
[[Page 79120]]
different locations and combinations of facilities serving as a
community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC), a multi-specialty outpatient
clinic (MSOC), and a residential rehabilitation treatment program
(RRTP) facility; expanding, renovating, or vacating existing
facilities; and taking no action. The new preferred Alternative,
referred to as A-2 in the Final EIS, is a hybrid of Alternatives A and
C evaluated in the Draft EIS. It was identified by consulting parties
during the public comment period on the Draft EIS and includes
renovating Building 12 on the existing Hot Springs campus to operate as
a CBOC a new MSOC (replacing the existing leased CBOC), and a 100-bed
RRTP in Rapid City.
VA is substituting the implementation and review procedures of
Section 102 of NEPA for consultation under Section 106 of the NHPA.
This process meets the integration intent of the NEPA regulations (40
CFR 1500.2(c) and 1502.25(a)) and the substitution intent of the NHPA
regulations (36 CFR 800.8(c)). This process follows the joint CEQ-ACHP
guidance for integrating NEPA and Section 106 compliance (CEQ-ACHP
2013). The EIS includes identification and evaluation of impacts to
historic properties. Formal consultation and identification and
resolution of effects to historic properties are documented throughout
the Final EIS.
In the Final EIS, VA has analyzed the environmental impacts of the
Proposed Action/Preferred Alternative, a reasonable range of
alternatives, and a No Action Alternative.
The Final EIS considers comments on the Draft EIS, including those
submitted during the public comment period that officially began on
November 6, 2015, and ended on June 20, 2016, following three comment
period extensions. The extensions were provided in response to requests
from the public and other stakeholders, including consulting parties
participating in the NEPA/NHPA substitution and consultation process.
As indicated above, VA's purpose and need is to improve the
availability of high quality, safe and accessible health care services
for Veterans residing in the VA BHHCS service area.
While developing the Final EIS, VA considered the alternatives
analyzed in the Draft EIS, the comparisons of impacts for each resource
area, and input received on the Draft EIS, including the identification
of a new hybrid alternative A-2. Based on the information presented in
the Final EIS, VA has identified Alternative A-2--operation of a CBOC
in a renovated Building 12 on the existing Hot Springs campus and a new
MSOC and RRTP in Rapid City--as its preferred alternative in the Final
EIS.
Signing Authority
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved this
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as
an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Gina S.
Farrisee, Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs,
approved this document on November 4, 2016, for publication.
Dated: November 4, 2016.
Jeffrey Martin,
Office Program Manager, Office of Regulation Policy & Management,
Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2016-27207 Filed 11-9-16; 8:45 am]
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