CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION DETERMINATION For the CITY OF NEWCASTLE, WYOMING
Various Drinking Water and Sanitary Sewer Projects
Weston County, Wyoming
The Department of Environmental Quality / Water Quality Division (DEQ) has conducted a review of the proposed projects (1 – Delaware Avenue & York Street, 2 – Sonora Avenue & Wentworth Street) in accordance with EPA and State of Wyoming procedures for implementing the State Environmental Review Process. DEQ has determined that these projects are eligible for a categorical exclusion. Accordingly, DEQ is exempting the projects from further substantive environmental review requirements under the State Environmental Review Process. Neither an Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact nor an Environmental Impact Statement/Record of Decision will be required for the proposed action. The following is a brief description of the situation and the proposed action and a brief statement of how the action meets the criteria for a categorical exclusion.
In recent years the City of Newcastle has been struggling to keep up with maintenance and operational upkeep of their public drinking water and sanitary sewer systems, primarily because of aging infrastructure issues. The city wishes to establish a funding capability associated with Wyoming SRF funds, and as such has identified two projects making each eligible for funding as the city becomes capable of meeting the remaining funding obligations. Each project involves replacement of the existing infrastructure with new, with minor adjustments and improvements to bring the system to current standards. Specific funding requests to WYSRF and MRG have been determined for both projects. The town will assess user rates/fees/assessments as a part of their consideration for each project. Following is the list of projects and their estimate costs.
Project ID Description Estimated Cost
1 – Delaware Avenue & York Street Water & Sewer $884,706.00
2 – Sonora Avenue & Wentworth Street Water & Sewer $1,349,173.54
Note: Estimated cost for each project includes estimated construction, legal, materials testing and engineering costs.
The City of Newcastle is aware of and accepts the fact that they will be responsible for any required mitigative actions associated with and including storm water runoff, erosion control, archeological/historic artifacts, and air quality concerns. The removal of existing asbestos pipe when encountered, will meet all environmental requirements. These will be part of the standard State Revolving Funds Program contract conditions. There are no noteworthy environmental issues/impacts/mitigation issues.
DEQ is granting an exclusion because the projects are replacement with minor upgrades of existing drinking water and sanitary sewer infrastructure within the City of Newcastle’s existing service area. These projects will be completely constructed in previously disturbed ground, specifically ground disturbed by the previous installation of the existing water and sewer mains, service lines, fire hydrants and ancillary features. DEQ has determined that exempting the proposed projects from further review under the State Environmental Review Process will not result in adverse impacts to the population of the area of the City of Newcastle, Weston County, Wyoming.
The documentation to support this decision will be on file in the DEQ Cheyenne Office and is available for public scrutiny upon request. Comments concerning this decision may be addressed to Stan Miller, SRF Project Engineer, Department of Environmental Quality, 200 W. 17th St., Suite 200, Cheyenne, WY 82002, Tel (307) 777-6371, FAX 3(307) 635-1785, email: Stanley.miller@wyo.gov.
(Publish: September 19, 2024)