Action
Notice of availability and public hearing of the draft supplemental environmental impact statement.
Summary
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is issuing this notice to advise the public and interested agencies that a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) will be available on the Buffalo Inner Harbor Project. This Draft SEIS is in response to a court order and is limited in scope to the issue of historic preservation. The Draft SEIS will address events and information that became available subsequent to the Final EIS (FEIS), which was issued February 12, 1999. The Draft SEIS was prepared pursuant to an order filed in a civil action filed by Preservation Coalition on October 6, 1999, in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York under civil action number 99-CV-745S against FTA, NFTA, the New York State Thruway Authority, Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. The Preservation Coalition challenged the Buffalo Inner Harbor Project on environmental and historic preservation grounds. On March 31, 2000, District Court Judge William M. Skretny ordered that a SEIS be prepared to consider the information learned during archaeological investigations conducted after the FEIS. The court established a compressed timetable for the public comment period on the Draft SEIS. In accordance with the order, the Draft SEIS will be available for public comment between May 10, 2000, and May 31, 2000. Written comments must be received by 5:00 PM on May 31, 2000. A public hearing on the project will be held on May 24, 2000, from 7 to 9:00 p.m.