Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 238 / Thursday, December 11, 1997 / Notices 65253

[FR Doc. 97–32359 Filed 12–10–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5000–04–C

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary

Civilian Health and Medical Program of

the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS);

FY 98 DRG Updates

AGENCY: Department of Defense.

ACTION: Correction.

SUMMARY: This notice makes corrections

to the FY 98 DRG Updates published in

the Federal Register on October 30,

1997 (62 FR 587110). Change

‘‘discharges’’ to read ‘‘admissions’’ in

the following areas:

Page 58712

First column, second paragraph,

section C.

First column, third paragraph, section

D.

Second column, first paragraph,

section H.

Dated: December 5, 1997.

L.M. Bynum,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison

Officer, Department of Defense.

[FR Doc. 97–32360 Filed 12–10–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 5000–04–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army

Notice of Availability of Scope of

Statement for Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement:

Treatment of Non-Stockpile Chemical

Warfare Materiel

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: The Scope of Statement (SoS)

for the Programmatic Environmental

Impact Statement (PEIS) on the

treatment of non-stockpile chemical

warfare material (CWM) is available.

The SoS is an important component of

the PEIS process providing direction for

the PEIS preparers.

ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the SoS,

contact Ms. Louise Dyson, Public

Outreach and Information Officer,

Office of the Project Manager for NonStockpile Chemical Material, Aberdeen

Proving Ground, Maryland 21010–5401

or by phone at 410–671–3445 or fax at

410–612–8737.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Louise Dyson at the above address and

phone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the

PEIS was published in the Federal

Register on October 18, 1996 (FR 61

54421–54424), with a correction to that

notice being published on November 13,

1996 (FR 61 58281). In the NOI, the

Army invited interested agencies and

the public to assist in determining the

scope of the PEIS by providing

comments by February 28, 1997, on the

alternative strategies and important

issues affecting the environment that

should be addressed. The SoS describes

the scoping process and the

determinations reached by the Army’s

Non-Stockpile Chemical Material

Program (NSCMP) as a result of the

scoping process. The following items

are included on the SoS:

1. Description and discussion of the

proposed action and alternative

strategies to be evaluated in the Draft

PEIS;

2. Description and discussion of the

major socioeconomic and

environmental issues to be addressed in

the Draft PEIS;

3. Preliminary schedule for the PEIS,

including the approximate time frame in

which the Draft PEIS and Final PEIS are

expected to be made available to the

public;

4. Discussion of the roles and

responsibilities of different

organizations involved in preparing,

reviewing and approving the Draft PEIS;

5. Preliminary outline of the Draft

PEIS that will be used in guiding its

preparation;

6. Description of the actions

undertaken by the NSCMP to involve

interested organizations and the public

in the PEIS scoping process; and

7, A summary of the comments

received during the public scoping

process and the NSCMP’s consideration

of those comments.

Changes to the proposed action and

prelimary alternative strategies

identified in the NOI have been made as

a result of the public scoping process

and these changes are reflected in the

SoS.

The PEIS proposed action that will be

evaluated is to select one or more

strategies for the treatment of nonstockpile CWM utilizing transportable

chemical treatment systems. The

decision to be made by the Army, and

for which the PEIS analysis will address

environmentally, is whether

transportable chemical treatment

systems should be further developed

and made available for deployment.

The preliminary alternative strategies

identified in the NOI were as follows:

1. On-site chemical treatment of CWM

with off-set destruction of the resultant

wastes either by thermal destruction or

another disposal method;

2. On-site chemical treatment and onsite destruction/disposal of chemical

treatment wastes;

3. On-site thermal destruction;

4. Off-site chemical treatment and/or

thermal destruction or another disposal

method; and

5. No action, which was defined as a

continuation of the current methods for

handling these types of CWM, including

safely packing, shipping and storing

CWM at permitted locations.

The alternative strategies that will be

analyzed in the PEIS include the

following:

1. On-site Strategy—further develop

transportable chemical treatment

systems and make the systems available

for the treatment of non-stockpile CWM

at the site where the CWM may be

located;

2. Off-site Stragegy—further develop

transportable chemical treatment

systems, transport non-stockpile CWM

from where it is located to an off-site

location, and make the systems

available for the treatment of CWM at

the off-site location; and

3. No Action Strategy—discontinue

development of the prototype

transportable chemical treatment

systems and continue to store nonstockpile CWM until other systems can

be made available for treatment of nonstockpile CWM. Storage of nonstockpile CWM will occur on site unless

precluded by human health, safety, and

environmental regulatory requirements.

The PEIS evaluation will be directed

at determining those environmental and

socioeconomic conditions under which

each of the strategies could be

implemented. The revised alternative

strategies are those that are applicable to

any site with non-stockpile CWM. The

application of these strategies will be

further considered in subsequent sitespecific analyses should the Army

decide to proceed with the transportable

chemical treatment systems.

The PEIS will be prepared using an

approach in which the affected

environment will be described in terms

of a range of environmental and

socioeconomic conditions that could

occur at any site or location where nonstockpile CWM may be present or where

transportable chemical treatment

systems could be utilized. Based on

these ranges, the PEIS will evaluate

whether or not adverse environmental

and socioeconomic impacts could

occur. Where such impacts could occur,

the PEIS will identify mitigation

measures to eliminate, reduce, or

compensate any adverse impact.