Using the National Environmental Policy Act to facilitate the transfer of federal lands for economic development
In order to evaluate the transfer of certain Federal lands at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the US Department of Energy (DOE) determined that the proposed action had the potential to result in environmental impacts and required the preparation of an Environmental Assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The specific proposed action evaluated by DOE with support from LANL was the transfer of approximately 28 contiguous acres of underutilized Federal land to the County. This tract was locally referred to as the DP Road tract. Although the land was underutilized, it functioned as part of a larger buffer area between potentially hazardous operations at LANL and the general public. The tract was covered with scrub vegetation. There were no government buildings located on the site. The tract of land had two Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs) located within the tract boundary as well as a buried but active liquid radioactive waste pipeline that crossed the site. The tract of land was adjacent to several other DOE SWMUs as well as a public road. In addition, there were ownership issues pertaining to the transfer of the land to persons and agencies other than the County. This particular tract of land was being considered for transfer to the County at the same time DOE and LANL began evaluating another large Federal land tract for lease to the County to be developed as a private research park.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 486117
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-97-1093; CONF-9704110-1; ON: DE97007581; TRN: AHC29713%%64
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Federal planning workshop, San Diego, CA (United States), 10-11 Apr 1997; Other Information: PBD: [1997]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Environmental assessment for the transfer of the DP Road tract to the County of Los Alamos. Final document