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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 76 (Friday, April 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23548-23550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing 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 askNEPA@hq.doe.gov 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]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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