Public Notice: Categorical Exclusion Determination, City of Newcastle, WY, W. Railroad St. Water Improvement Project

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Categorical Exclusion Determination, City of Newcastle, WY, W. Railroad St. Water Improvement Project

The Department of Environmental Quality/Water Quality Division (DEQ) has conducted a review of the proposed W. Railroad St. Water Improvement project in accordance with EPA and State of Wyoming procedures for implementing the State Environmental Review Process. DEQ has determined that this project is eligible for a categorical exclusion. Accordingly, DEQ is exempting the project 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.

The City of Newcastle seeks funding to construct a secondary water main to serve the Getchell Addition, a residential area encompassing 77 homes and the Weston County Senior Center. This project will provide a redundant water supply line to an area currently dependent on a single, aging water main, thereby improving reliability, public health, and system resiliency.

Based on current cost estimates, the City of Newcastle plans to borrow $ 521,000.00 from the Wyoming Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund administered by the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments. Increased user fees will repay the loan. The average rate increase was included in the rate analysis conducted in 2024. The rate increase took place November 2024. Loan terms will be 1.0% interest rate and 20 years.

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. 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 project consists of the installation of a secondary water transmission main to provide redundancy for the existing system. This type of work is considered a minor expansion of existing infrastructure that supports public health protection and system reliability.

The project will be completely constructed within previously disturbed ground specifically, the existing municipal rights-of-way that already contain buried water and sewer utilities, roadways, and service connections. No new ground disturbance outside of these corridors is anticipated.

DEQ has determined that exempting the proposed project from further review under the State Environmental Review Process will not result in adverse impacts to the population or the environment of the City of Newcastle, Weston County, Wyoming.

The determination shall become effective upon distribution by the Department and may be re-evaluated and the determination changed at any time that adverse information is made available. The documentation to support this decision will be on file in the DEQ Cheyenne Office and is available for public review upon request. To request a copy of the categorical exclusion, contact:

Greg Crocker, SRF Project Manager
Department of Environmental Quality
200 W. 17th St.
Suite 200
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Tel. (307) 777-6941
FAX (307) 635-1784

[email protected]

Para español, visite deq.wyoming.gov. Americans with Disabilities Act: special assistance or alternative formats will be made available upon request for individuals with disabilities. Please provide at least fourteen (14) days before the close of the public comment period for such requests.

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