[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 238 (Thursday, December 11, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65253-65254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32439]


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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.

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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 Non-Stockpile 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 non-stockpile 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 on-site 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 non-
stockpile CWM until other systems can be made available for treatment 
of non-stockpile CWM. Storage of non-stockpile 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 site-specific 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 
non-stockpile 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.

[[Page 65254]]

    For the off-site strategy, emphasis will be placed on evaluating 
the impacts and identifying mitigation measures associated with the 
potential transport of non-stockpile CWM, as the impacts and mitigation 
measures for the treatment of non-stockpile CWM would be the same as 
those to be identified under the on-site strategy. The off-site 
strategy will indicate that, under current law, non-stockpile CWM can 
only be transported in state or to the nearest chemical munitions 
stockpile storage facility that has the necessary permits for receiving 
and storing them. For the no action strategy, the potential adverse 
impacts and mitigation measures to be emphasized will be those 
associated with storage of non-stockpile CWM.
    The Draft PEIS will be made available for public review and 
comment. Its availability will be announced, written comments on the 
Draft will be solicited, and information about a possible public 
meeting to comment on the Draft will be published at a later date. The 
Army expects to release the Draft PEIS in late 1998 and the Final PEIS 
by early 2000.

    Dated: December 4, 1997.
Raymond J. Fatz,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and 
Occupational Health) OASA (I,L&E).
[FR Doc. 97-32439 Filed 12-10-97; 8:45 am]
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