National Environmental Policy Act; Santa Susana Field Laboratory, 14545-14547 [2014-05511]

Agencies

• National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14545-14547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05511]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINSTRATION

[Notice 14-025]


National Environmental Policy Act; Santa Susana Field Laboratory

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) for Demolition and Environmental Cleanup Activities 
for the NASA-administered portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory 
(SSFL), Ventura County, California.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality 
Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 
Parts 1500-1508), and NASA's NEPA policy and procedures (14 CFR Part 
1216, subpart 1216.3), NASA has prepared a FEIS for demolition and 
cleanup activities at SSFL in Ventura County, California. Furthermore, 
pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c) of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(NHPA), NASA will use the NEPA process and the FEIS it produces to 
comply with Section 106 of NHPA in lieu of the procedures set forth in 
Sections 800.3 through 800.6.

DATES: NASA will take no final action on the proposed action before 
thirty (30) calendar days from the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of 
Availability of the FEIS. Once known, this date will be published on 
the project Web site address listed below.

https://www.nasa.gov/agency/nepa/news/SSFL.html

ADDRESSES: The FEIS may be reviewed at the following locations:

1. Simi Valley Library

2969 Tapo Canyon Road, Simi Valley, CA 93063, Web site: https://simivalleylibrary.org/home/, Phone: (805) 526-1735.

2. Platt Library

23600 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367, Web site: https://www.lapl.org/branches/platt, Phone: (818) 340-9386.

3. California State University, Northridge Oviatt Library

18111 Nordhoff Street, 2nd Floor, Room 265, Northridge, CA 91330, Web 
site: https://library.csun.edu, Phone: (818) 677-2285.

4. Department of Toxic Substances Control

9211 Oakdale Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311, Web site: https://www.dtsc.ca.gov, Phone: (818) 717-6521.

    The FEIS is available on the internet in Adobe[supreg] portable 
document format at https://www.nasa.gov/agency/nepa/news/SSFL.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allen Elliott, SSFL Project Director, 
by phone at (256) 544-0662 or by email at msfc-ssfl-eis@mail.nasa.gov. 
Additional information about NASA's SSFL site, the proposed demolition 
and cleanup activities, and the associated EIS planning process and 
documentation (as available) may be found on the internet at https://ssfl.msfc.nasa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Decision To Be Made

    This FEIS informs NASA decision makers, regulating agencies, and 
the public of the potential environmental consequences of the proposed 
demolition of SSFL buildings and structures and the impacts of using 
the proposed technologies to achieve groundwater and soil remediation, 
as implemented through the Proposed Action. This FEIS analyzes a range 
of remedial technologies that might be implemented to achieve the 
proposed groundwater and soil remediation goals. NASA will use the FEIS 
analysis to consider the potential environmental and socioeconomic 
impacts from the Proposed Action. NASA's analysis includes evaluation 
of cumulative activities that might occur in the same area or timeframe 
as the Proposed Action. These activities were evaluated to identify 
potential environmental impacts that, when added to the Proposed 
Action's impacts, would result in a cumulative effect as a result of 
past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions. The EIS 
considered the Proposed Action with the adjacent environmental cleanup 
activities being conducted by DOE and Boeing. On the basis of the FEIS 
findings, NASA will

[[Page 14546]]

issue a Record of Decision (ROD) documenting the findings.

Site Description

    The SSFL site is 2,850 acres located in Ventura County, California, 
approximately seven miles northwest of Canoga Park and approximately 30 
miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. SSFL is composed of four areas 
known as Areas I, II, III, and IV and two unnumbered areas known as the 
``undeveloped land.'' NASA administers 41.7 acres within Area I and all 
409.5 acres of Area II. The Boeing Company manages the remaining 
2,398.8 acres within Areas I, III, and IV, and the two undeveloped 
areas.
    Since the mid-1950s, when the two federally owned areas were 
administered by the U.S. Air Force, this site has been used for 
developing and testing rocket engines. Four test stand complexes were 
constructed in Area II between 1954 and 1957 named Alfa, Bravo, Coca, 
and Delta. Area II and the LOX Plant portion of Area I were acquired by 
NASA from the U.S. Air Force in the 1970s. The extant test stands and 
related ancillary structures have been found to have historical 
significance based on the historic importance of the engine testing and 
the engineering and design of the structures and are eligible for 
listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
    The NASA-administered areas of SSFL also contain cultural resources 
not related to rocket development including the Burro Flats Painted 
Cave listed on the NRHP. SSFL is located near the crest of the Simi 
Hills that are part of the Santa Monica Mountains running east-west 
across Southern California. The diverse terrain consists of ridges, 
canyons, and sandstone rock outcrops. The region was occupied by Native 
Americans from the earliest Chumash and Gabriele[ntilde]o cultures.
    Previous environmental sampling on the NASA-administered property 
indicates that metals, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 
volatile organics, and semivolatile organics are present in the soils 
and upper groundwater (known as the Surficial Media Operable Unit). 
Volatile organics, metals, and semivolatile organics are also present 
in the deeper groundwater (known as the Chatsworth Formation Operable 
Unit).

Environmental Commitments and Associated Environmental Review

    Consistent with statute and regulations, on September 14, 2009, 
NASA notified the General Services Administration (GSA) that it 
reported the NASA-administered SSFL parcels as excess. GSA is the 
federal agency responsible for undertaking all activities relating to 
transfer of these federal lands to another party, including how the 
public will be kept involved. NASA remains the landholder and custodian 
of the site. GSA has conditionally accepted that report pending (i) 
NASA's certification that all action necessary to protect human health 
and the environment with respect to hazardous substances on the 
property has been taken or receipt of EPA's written concurrence that an 
approved and installed remedial design is operating properly and 
successfully; OR (ii) the Governor's concurrence in the suitability of 
the property for transfer per CERCLA Section 120(h)(3)(C).
    In 2007, a Consent Order among NASA, Boeing, the Department of 
Energy (DOE), and Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) for the 
State of California was signed addressing the environmental cleanup of 
soil and groundwater at SSFL. NASA entered into an Administrative Order 
on Consent (AOC) for Remedial Action with DTSC on December 6, 2010 with 
respect to the cleanup of soils at SSFL. Based on the 2010 AOC, NASA is 
required to complete a federal environmental review pursuant to NEPA. 
An EIS is being prepared by NASA to include demolition of site 
infrastructure and soil cleanup (pursuant to the AOC), and groundwater 
remediation within Area II and a portion of Area I (Liquid Oxygen [LOX] 
Plant) of SSFL (pursuant to the 2007 Consent Order). As part of the 
environmental review process, certain studies have been or are being 
completed, to characterize the existing conditions and to inform the 
analysis and consultation. These include surveys for wildlife, critical 
habitat, rare plants, wetlands, and archaeological and cultural 
resources. The findings of these studies have been incorporated into 
the FEIS.

Alternatives

    To prepare SSFL for disposition, NASA describes the demolition of 
SSFL structures and cleanup of the site necessary to meet only the 
strictest cleanup alternative, as dictated by the 2007 Consent Order 
and the 2010 AOC requirements, and the ``No Action'' alternative 
required by NEPA. During the Scoping Process, per the standard 
consistent with the alternatives evaluated under previous Superfund or 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) cleanup processes, NASA 
originally proposed to evaluate a range of cleanup standard levels, 
including the ``Cleanup to Background'' alternative required by the 
AOC, the ``No Action'' alternative required by NEPA, and other 
alternatives that are, consistent with the potential future use of the 
land. The latter alternatives included soil cleanup requirements to 
suburban residential, to industrial, and to recreational cleanup 
standards. Based on comments from some members of the public, DTSC, 
Congressional members, and guidance from the White House's Council on 
Environmental Quality, the FEIS now considers only the strictest 
``Cleanup to Background'' and the required ``No Action'' alternatives. 
All other cleanup alternatives proposed during Scoping Process were 
specifically removed from the FEIS.
    The FEIS will consider a range of alternative technologies that 
meet NASA's objectives to clean up soil and groundwater contamination 
at the portion of the SSFL site administered by NASA. Implementation of 
this Proposed Action would occur by implementing one Demolition 
Alternative and one or more Cleanup Technologies, from the following: 
(1) Soil Cleanup Technologies: Excavation and Offsite Disposal, Soil 
Washing, Soil Vapor Extraction, Ex Situ Treatment Using Land Farming, 
Ex Situ Treatment Using oxidation, In Situ Chemical Oxidation, In Situ 
Anaerobic or Aerobic Biological Treatment; (2) Groundwater Treatment 
Technologies: Pump and Treat, Vacuum Extraction, Heat Driven 
Extraction, In situ Chemical Oxidation, In situ Enhanced 
Bioremediation, and Monitored Natural Attenuation.
    NEPA requires analysis of the ``No Action'' alternative, which in 
this case means no environmental cleanup at the site and/or no 
demolition of test stands and ancillary structures on the NASA-
administered property.
    GSA will conduct a separate environmental review under NEPA for the 
action of transferring the land out of NASA stewardship. The options 
could include reuse or redevelopment of the property under tribal, 
federal, local, state, or private ownership.
    DTSC is preparing a separate Environmental Impact Report (EIR) 
under the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires that 
State agencies give major consideration, when regulating public and 
private activities, to preventing environmental degradation and to 
identifying environmentally superior mitigations and alternatives, when 
possible. This State-led environmental review must identify the 
potentially significant environmental effects of a project and 
environmentally preferable alternatives to implementing the project. 
The EIR

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also indicates the manner in which significant effects could be 
mitigated or avoided. DTSC will analyze the potential environmental 
effects of environmental cleanup activities occurring SSFL-wide by 
NASA, Boeing, and DOE. NASA and DTSC have coordinated during these 
processes to maintain consistency pertaining to the analysis of the 
NASA-administered demolition and remedial activities. Cumulative 
effects of the proposed Boeing, DOE, and NASA demolition and remedial 
activities at SSFL will be considered. The DTSC EIR is likely to be 
prepared following publication of NASA's EIS, and could incorporate 
some of NASA's EIS analysis. A programmatic EIR will be developed that 
evaluates the remedial activities that will be conducted at SSFL by 
NASA, Boeing, and DOE, as well as project-specific EIRs that evaluate 
the localized remedial activities. These DTSC evaluations must be 
completed prior to NASA implementing its final soil or groundwater 
cleanup actions.

Olga M. Dominguez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Strategic Infrastructure.
[FR Doc. 2014-05511 Filed 3-13-14; 8:45 am]
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