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FOREWORD

This Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) analyzes the environmental impacts of the proposed action: the continued operation, including near-term (within 5 to 10 years) proposed projects, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore (SNL, Livermore). The proposed action, therefore, necessarily includes current operations plus programmatic enhancements and facility modifications in support of research and development missions established by the Congress and the President. While the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owns both Laboratories, LLNL is operated and managed by the University of California (UC), a public agency, for DOE, and SNL, Livermore is operated and managed for DOE by the Sandia Corporation for DOE., a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T.

The Secretary of Energy has established a DOE policy for preparing and updating sitewide Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for DOE facilities. In 1990, DOE's environmental assessment ("Tiger Team") found that the existing 1982 sitewide EIS for LLNL and SNL, Livermore should be updated. In response to the Secretary's policy and to the assessment findings, this document, which complies with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. Section 4321 et seq.), has been prepared.

UC is considering renewing its contract with DOE for continued management and operation of LLNL. This document, which complies with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), has been prepared for the proposed 1992 contract renewal.

DOE and AT&T have announced that AT&T will not seek to renew its contract to operate Sandia National Laboratories, which includes SNL, Livermore. The current contract does not end until September 30, 1993, until which time AT&T will continue to operate SNL, Livermore. DOE will select another contractor to manage and operate Sandia National Laboratories, including SNL, Livermore.

As encouraged by NEPA and CEQA, DOE and UC decided to prepare a joint EIS/EIR to avoid duplication of effort. This EIS/EIR has been prepared pursuant to NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) implementing regulations (40 C.F.R. 1500–1508), DOE NEPA Guidelines (52 Fed. Reg. 47662), CEQA (Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq.), the State CEQA Guidelines (14 C.C.R. section 15000 et seq.), and the guidelines in the UC Procedural Handbook and Model Approach for Implementing the California Environment Quality Act (May 1991), hereafter referred to as the UC CEQA Handbook.

The purpose of this EIS/EIR is to:

• Evaluate environmental impacts of the proposed action and the impacts of alternatives to the proposed action. It would also identify mitigation measures to avoid or offset such impacts, and ensure that these impacts are considered in the DOE and UC decision-making process; and
• Provide broad environmental evaluation of sitewide issues so that subsequent environmental analyses can focus on specific issues regarding proposed actions through a process known as tiering (40 C.F.R. 1508.28; and California Public Resources Code sections 21068.5 and 21093).

DOE is also preparing two programmatic EISs to examine national issues that may also relate to future operations of LLNL and/or SNL, Livermore. They are:

• Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Integrated Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program. That document, for which the Notice of Intent was published on October 22, 1990 (55 Fed. Reg. 42633), will analyze alternative means for managing DOE's hazardous, radioactive, mixed, and other wastes; transportation issues regarding waste disposal; and environmental restoration of DOE sites. It will also describe environmental restoration activities required in the event of decommissioning and decontamination of DOE facilities, including nuclear weapons complex sites.
• Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Reconfiguration of DOE's Nuclear Weapons Complex. That document, for which the Notice of Intent was published on February 11, 1991 (56 Fed. Reg. 5590), will compare environmental consequences of reconfiguration strategies for the DOE nuclear weapons complex against the consequences of maintaining the existing configurations.

The Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA implementing regulations limitpermit some interim actions during preparation of a programmatic EIS. Major interim actions, however, can only be undertaken if they are justified independent of the programmatic EIS, if they will not prejudice the programmatic EIS, and if they are accompanied by adequate environmental impact statements (40 C.F.R. 1506.1(c)). The proposed action meets all of these requirements. The programmatic EISs taken together will address operations beyond the near term (within 5 to 10 years) of the entire nuclear weapons complex. When the programmatic EISs are completed, DOE and UC will examine the need for additional NEPA/CEQA documentation to reconcile any changes not already evaluated in this EIS/EIR.

This EIS/EIR addresses only those LLNL and SNL, Livermore operations within California. LLNL manages operations at several locations: the LLNL Livermore site, LLNL Site 300, facilities located at DOE's Nevada Test Site (NTS), and several offsite leased properties. These offsite leased properties are generally not separately addressed in the EIS/EIR because they provide support services (e.g., administration) similar to those found in facilities onsite. LLNL-related operations contribute few, if any, environmental effects at these sites. LLNL activities at NTS are not discussed for NEPA purposes because they are covered within other NEPA documentation. They are not discussed for CEQA purposes because they have no significant environmental effects in California. SNL, Livermore operates only the Livermore site in California. This EIS/EIR discusses LLNL and SNL, Livermore separately where appropriate. The distinction between sites results from differences in materials handled, operations, facility sizes, potential for environmental impact, and the need to separate LLNL operations for CEQA coverage.

The Draft EIS/EIR was published for public information and review and distributed by UC on March 11, 1992, (starting the 90-day comment period) and issued by DOE on April 3, 1992. Both DOE and UC comment periods ended June 11, 1992. By the end of the comment period, more than 700 comments on the Draft EIS/EIR had been received from nearly 200 individuals, groups, and agencies. These comments were received both at a public hearing on April 30, 1992 and in correspondence. These comments are reproduced in their entirety in Volume IV with additional supporting exhibits provided separately in Volume V. Responses to the commentor's questions are provided in Volume IV, with changes made to the body of the document as indicated in the responses. These changes, along with comments from internal reviews, have been incorporated into the Final EIS/EIR.