Draft Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
Available for Comment
The Lower Duwamish River Natural Resource Trustees (Trustees) have released the
Draft Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (RP/PEIS)
for public review and comment. The Draft RP/PEIS presents the types of
restoration project desired and outlines priority areas for restoration in
order to recover natural resources lost or injured by the release of hazardous
substances in the Lower Duwamish River. The Draft RP/PEIS also identifies and
addresses the environmental impacts that could result from construction and
maintenance of selected restoration projects.
Comments on the Draft RP/PEIS must be submitted on or before July 28th, 2009.
Electronic or hard copies of comments can be submitted to Rebecca Hoff at
DuwamishPEIS.DARRP@noaa.gov or NOAA Office of Response and Restoration,
7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115.
Public Meetings
The Trustees are hosting two public meetings to discuss the content of the Draft
RP/PEIS and to garner input and comments from the public on the document. Both
public meetings will be held at the Georgetown Campus of South Seattle
Community College in the Gene J. Colin Education Building (Building C1), 6737
Corson Avenue South, Seattle, WA. Dates and times for the public meeting are:
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July 7, 2009 – 6:30 to 8:30 pm
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July 8, 2009 – 10 am to 12 pm
Background on Restoration Process
Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) is the process of assessing the nature
and extent of natural resource injuries and determining what is necessary to
restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of those resources. In the case of
the Lower Duwamish River, there have been numerous releases of hazardous
substances that have resulted in natural resource injuries. To streamline the
NRDA process and provide a systematic approach to restoring injured natural
resources, the Trustees developed the Draft RP/PEIS. The Draft RP/PEIS
describes how Trustees will evaluate projects proposed for restoring natural
resources injured by hazardous substance releases in the Lower Duwamish River.
The Trustees involved in the development of the RP/PEIS include the U.S.
Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA);
U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS); Washington
State Department of Ecology; Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife;
Suquamish Tribe and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
History of Public Involvement for RP/PEIS
Previous public involvement has included a scoping process as well as a public
meeting to provide an update on the status of the RP/PEIS. The scoping process
allowed the public to provide input and comments on the scale, focus, and
content of the RP/PEIS and allowed for public involvement at the earliest stage
of the process. Scoping also allowed the public to submit ideas for desired
restoration projects. Two scoping meetings were held by the Trustees on June 6,
2007, at the South Park Community Center and June 7, 2007, at the Tukwila
Community Center. In addition to the public meetings, the Trustees requested
written comments from stakeholders and the public on the scope and scale of the
Draft RP/PEIS. The period for submitting comments was from May 25, 2007, to
August 1, 2007. On Oct 31, 2007, a Scoping Report was released that summarized
all of the written comments received as well as the comments made during the
two public meetings.
Download meeting presentations and scoping documents:
A third public meeting was held on March 12, 2008, at the South Park Community
Center to provide an update on the status of the RP/PEIS development process,
provide additional information on the content and focus of the document and
review major comments received during the scoping process.
Further opportunities for comment will also be provided through public review
and comment on documents contained in the Administrative Record and on
Environmental Assessments for individual restoration projects.
For Additional Information
For additional information or to submit comments on the Draft RP/PEIS please
contact Rebecca Hoff, NOAA Office of Response and Restoration, 7600 Sand Point
Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115; 206.526.6276;
DuwamishPEIS.DARRP@noaa.gov. For additional information on the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and requirements please see the Council
on Environmental Quality’s website at: http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.htm
or the NOAA NEPA website at: www.nepa.noaa.gov.
