Sitewide environmental assessment EA-1236 for preparation for transfer of ownership of Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 (NPR-3), Natrona County, Wyoming

The Proposed Action includes the following principal elements: (1) The accelerated plugging and abandoning of uneconomic wells over the next six years. Uneconomic wells are operating wells which can no longer cover their direct and indirect costs. DOE estimates that there are 900 wells to be plugged and abandoned over the next six years, leaving approximately 200 wells for transfer by 2003. (2) Complete reclamation and restoration of abandoned sites. Restoration would include dismantling surface facilities, batteries, roads, test satellites, electrical distribution systems and associated power poles, when they are no longer needed for production. Soil contaminated by hydrocarbons would be biologically treated. Roads, facilities, batteries, and well sites would be ripped up, recontoured, disked and seeded with native vegetation. (3) The continued development of the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC) through the establishment of a consortium of university, state and private institutions. RMOTC would continue to provide facilities and support to government and private industry for testing and evaluating new oilfield and environmental technologies. Based on the findings of the EA, DOE has determined that the proposal does not constitute a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of NEPA. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required