Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land Tracts Administered by the Department of Energy and Located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, NM, 48378-48380 [05-16276]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 158 (Wednesday, August 17, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48378-48380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-16276]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Conveyance and Transfer of Certain Land Tracts Administered by 
the Department of Energy and Located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 
Los Alamos and Santa Fe Counties, NM

AGENCY: Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration

ACTION: Amended record of decision.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security 
Administration (DOE/NNSA) is amending the Record of Decision (ROD) for 
the Environmental Impact Statement for the Conveyance and Transfer of 
Certain Land Tracts Administered by the Department of Energy and 
Located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos and Santa Fe 
Counties, New Mexico, DOE/EIS-0293 (Conveyance and Transfer EIS) to 
reflect changes in the need to retain a certain portion of a land tract 
withheld earlier due to potential national security mission 
requirements for a health and safety buffer area relating to on-going 
operations. Specifically, DOE/NNSA has reassessed its need for a 
certain portion of a tract to serve as a health and safety buffer area 
for current and post-operations cleanup of its tritium-related 
activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Technical Area 
21 (TA-21). DOE/NNSA no longer needs to retain a 32.3-acre portion of 
the Airport Tract located along the south side of State Road 502 for 
this purpose.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information concerning the 
conveyance or transfer of land tracts or this amended ROD, contact: 
Elizabeth Withers, NEPA Compliance Officer, Los Alamos Site Office, 
National Nuclear Security Administration, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, 
NM 87004 Telephone (505) 667-8690.
    For further information concerning DOE's National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) process, contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, 
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. Department of 
Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Telephone 
(202) 586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756.
    Additional information regarding the DOE NEPA process and 
activities is also available on the Internet through the NEPA home page 
at https://www.eh.doe.gov/nepa. Copies of the Conveyance and Transfer 
EIS and the 2000 ROD are also available on the NEPA Web site, along 
with this and one other amended RODs (discussed in later paragraphs).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. Legal Requirements for Action

    LANL is one of several national security laboratories that support 
DOE's and NNSA's responsibilities for national security, energy 
resources, environmental quality, and science. Located in north-central 
New Mexico, LANL is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) north-northeast of 
Albuquerque, and about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Santa Fe. 
The small communities of Los Alamos townsite, White Rock, Pajarito 
Acres, the Royal Crest Mobile Home Park, and San Ildefonso Pueblo are 
located in the immediate vicinity of LANL. LANL occupies an area of 
approximately 25,600 acres (10,360 hectares), or approximately 40 
square miles (104 square kilometers). DOE also has administrative 
control over other properties and land within Los Alamos County that 
total about 915 acres (371 hectares).
    On November 26, 1997, Congress passed Public Law 105-119, the 
Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 1998 (``the Act''). Section 
632 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 2391) directs the Secretary of Energy (the 
Secretary) to convey to the Incorporated County of Los Alamos, New 
Mexico, or to the designee of the County, and transfer to the 
Department of the Interior, in trust for the San Ildefonso Pueblo, 
parcels of land under the jurisdictional administrative control of the 
Secretary at or in the vicinity of LANL. Such parcels, or tracts, of 
land must meet suitability criteria established by the Act. The purpose 
of the conveyances and transfers is to fulfill the obligations of the 
United States with respect to Los Alamos, New Mexico, under sections 91 
and 94 of the Atomic Energy Community Act of 1955 (AECA) (42 U.S.C. 
2391, 2394). Upon the completion of the conveyance or transfer, the 
Secretary of Energy shall make no further financial assistance payments 
with respect to LANL under the AECA.
    The Act sets forth the criteria, processes, and dates by which the 
tracts will be selected, titles to the tracts reviewed, environmental 
issues evaluated, and decisions made as to the allocation of the tracts 
between the two recipients. DOE's responsibilities under the Act 
include identifying potentially suitable tracts of land according to 
criteria set forth in the law (Land Transfer Report, April 1998); 
conducting a title search on each tract of land (Title Report, 
September 1998); identifying any environmental restoration and 
remediation that would be needed for each tract of land (Environmental 
Restoration Report, August 1999); conducting National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) review of the proposed conveyance or transfer 
of the land tracts (the Conveyance and Transfer EIS, October 1999, 
distributed in January 2000); reporting to Congress on the results of 
the Environmental Restoration Report review and the final Conveyance 
and Transfer EIS (Combined Data Report, January 2000); and preparing a 
plan for conveying or transferring land according to the allocation 
agreement of parcels for Congress (Conveyance and Transfer Plan, April 
2000). The Act further states that the Secretary must, to the maximum 
extent practicable, conduct any needed environmental restoration or 
remediation activities within 10 years of enactment (by

[[Page 48379]]

November 26, 2007), and convey and transfer the tracts meeting the 
suitability criteria. Under the Act, DOE neither had a role in the 
designation of recipients, nor in how the parcels of land were to be 
allocated between the recipients. As specified in PL 105-119, the 
actual disposition of each tract, or portion of a tract, would be 
subject to DOE's need for the individual tract, or a portion of the 
tract, to meet a national security mission support function, which 
could range from either direct or indirect activity involvement. 
Additionally, the disposition of each tract, or portion of a tract, 
would be subject to DOE's completion of any necessary environmental 
restoration or remediation required.

B. Previous Decision on the Conveyance and Transfer Actions

    In the 2000 ROD for the Conveyance and Transfer EIS (65 Federal 
Register (FR), Number 54, Page 14952, March 20, 2000), DOE stated its 
decision to convey and transfer each of the ten subject tracts, either 
in whole or in part, by November 26, 2007. DOE's decision, consistent 
with the Preferred Alternative analyzed in the Conveyance and Transfer 
EIS, was to convey or transfer seven tracts in whole and three tracts 
(the Airport, TA-21 and White Rock Y Tracts) in part. Portions of the 
three partial tracts were not conveyed or transferred by DOE because of 
potential national security mission needs for retaining security, 
health, and safety buffer zones surrounding operational areas 
identified by DOE prior to the issuance of the ROD. While the 
suitability criteria were considered in the formulation of the 
Preferred Alternative, the national security mission support criteria 
led DOE to the recognition that portions of the these tracts may not be 
available for conveyance or transfer within the 10-year period 
specified by PL 105-119. DOE's decision at that time was to convey or 
transfer 110 acres of the Airport Tract, 20 acres of the TA-21 Tract, 
and 125 acres of the White Rock Y Tract. DOE stated in the ROD that it 
would make every effort to minimize the portions of the tracts it 
retains and only retain essential areas and convey or transfer the 
remainder of the tracts before the 2007 deadline.
    On June 26, 2002, NNSA issued an Amended ROD [67 FR 45495; July 9, 
2002 (No. 131)] that announced NNSA's determination that an 8-acre 
portion of the Airport Tract at its western end that had been retained 
to serve as a health and safety buffer zone was no longer required for 
that purpose and could be conveyed. NNSA additionally identified that 
two portions of the White Rock Y Tract containing stretches of public 
roadways along State Road 502 and State Road 4 totaling about 74 acres 
that were unlikely to be needed to serve as health and safety buffers 
and could be conveyed as well.
    The Airport Tract originally consisted of about 205 acres (83 
hectares). Located east of the Los Alamos townsite, it is close to the 
East Gate Business Park. The Los Alamos Airport is located on part of 
the tract, while other portions of the tract are undeveloped. NNSA 
currently retains about 87 acres of land within the original Airport 
Tract under its administrative control.
    The TA-21 Tract originally consisted of about 260 acres (105 
hectares). This tract is located at the eastern end of DP Mesa between 
DP and Los Alamos Canyons close to the business district of the Los 
Alamos townsite. LANL's TA-21 is one of the oldest technical areas at 
LANL; it is the site of the former plutonium processing facility and 
the current location of the Tritium Science and Fabrication Facility 
(TSFF). The Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) operations were 
located at TA-21 until about a year ago when these operations ceased. 
The NNSA currently retains about 240 acres of this tract under its 
administrative control.
    The White Rock Y Tract originally consisted of about 540 acres (219 
hectares). It is undeveloped and portions of the tract are associated 
with the major transportation routes connecting Los Alamos with 
northern New Mexico. The NNSA currently retains about 341 acres of this 
tract under its administrative control.

II. Need To Change the Conveyance and Transfer Portions of a Retained 
Tract

    The original 2000 ROD for the Conveyance and Transfer EIS stated 
that for the tracts that were conveyed in part, DOE would continue to 
resolve outstanding national security mission support issues on the 
remaining portions of the tracts so that conveyance or transfer of 
those portions could occur before the end of the 2007 deadline stated 
in the Act. DOE could include deed restrictions, notices, and similar 
land use controls as deemed appropriate and necessary that are 
protective of human health and safety to facilitate the transfer of the 
remaining portions of tracts.

A. Need for Existing Facilities at TA-21

    In 2000, TA-21 Tract housed both the Tritium Systems Test Assembly 
(TSTA) and the Tritium Sciences and Fabrication Facility (TSFF), and 
both of these facilities were scheduled to continue operation past the 
year 2007. These two research facilities were identified as being 
needed for the national security mission and there were no formal plans 
to relocate them at that time. However, DOE was even then in the early 
stages of assessing the feasibility of relocating these operations to 
another facility within LANL. Over the past four years, NNSA has 
reviewed both its long-term continued need for the TSTA facility and 
the feasibility of relocating the TSFF tritium operations away from TA-
21 to other tritium operations facilities at LANL. NNSA concluded in 
2002 that the operation of the TSTA was not needed in the long term and 
the facility has since been discontinued. The TSFF is planed for 
relocation to another LANL site. The nuclear material inventory of the 
TA-21 facilities has been reduced according to these changes in site 
operations. The discontinuance of the TSTA facility operations and 
removal of the TSFF facility operations, together with removal of TA-21 
offices and assorted storage support facilities, would allow the 
facility and all of TA-21 to be completely decommissioned, 
decontaminated and demolished. It is unlikely, however, that all three 
of these steps in the dismantling of the technical area could occur 
before 2007. In the near term, however, NNSA has determined that about 
an additional 32.3-acre portion of the Airport Tract situated along the 
south side of State Road 502 on the Townsite Mesa top (and to the north 
of TA21) that had been retained for the purpose of serving as a health 
and safety buffer for the TA-21 TSTA and TSFF operations is no longer 
required for that purpose. This partial tract (referred to as A-5-1) 
can now be conveyed. This will leave about 55 acres of land within the 
Airport Tract under the administrative control of the NNSA.

III. Amended Decision

    NNSA is modifying its decision on conveyance and transfer of 
certain land tracts at LANL as stated in the following paragraph. 
Should NNSA no longer need portions of these and other tracts for 
national security mission support needs, NNSA will again reassess the 
retainment of partial tract areas and amend the Record of Decision, as 
needed.
     The Airport Tract currently consists of about 87 acres (35 
hectares), east of the Los Alamos townsite and near the East Gate 
Business Park. The Los Alamos Airport is located on the northern part 
of the tract, while other portions of the tract are undeveloped. 
Portions of the Airport Tract will continue to be needed to serve as 
health

[[Page 48380]]

and safety buffer areas for the tritium activities while they continue 
within TA-21. In March 2000, DOE decided to convey or transfer part of 
the tract, approximately 110 acres North of East Road. With the planned 
shutdown of portions of its tritium activities at TA-21, NNSA conveyed 
an additional 8-acre portion of the Airport Tract in 2002. NNSA will 
now convey a 32.3-acre portion of the Airport Tract located along the 
south side of State Road 502 that is on top of Townsite Mesa.

    Issued in Washington, DC, July 28, 2005.
Linton F. Brooks,
Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 05-16276 Filed 8-16-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P