Contact: See Below
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 4, 2021) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), announces the public availability of the subject Final EIS. The Final EIS, prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), analyzes potential environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts associated with Treasury’s proposal to construct and operate a new CPF within the NCR (Proposed Action). The Proposed Action would replace Treasury’s insufficient Washington, DC production facility (DC Facility), and would provide Treasury with a modern, scalable, sufficiently sized production facility within the NCR that meets Treasury’s needs. The Proposed Action would result in more efficient and streamlined currency production, while allowing Treasury to maintain its presence within the NCR.
The BEP’s mission includes manufacturing US currency notes; research, development, testing, and evaluation of counterfeit deterrents; and development of production automation technologies. The DC Facility has been in operation for more than 100 years and is neither able to support modern currency production nor able to support Treasury’s, and specifically the BEP’s, current and future mission. The condition, configuration, and location of the DC Facility severely limit Treasury’s ability to modernize the DC Facility through renovation, rendering modernization of existing facilities an untenable long-term solution.
The Proposed Action includes construction and operation of an approximately 1 million square-foot CPF within the NCR. It would include design, construction, equipment installation, acceptance testing to support full operations, and the sequential transition of approximately 1,600 personnel from Treasury’s DC Facility into the completed CPF. Currency manufacturing at the DC Facility would be phased out. Treasury would incorporate Environmental Protection Measures, Regulatory Compliance Measures, and Best Management Practices into the Proposed Action to proactively minimize potential adverse environmental impacts and comply with applicable environmental regulatory requirements.
The Final EIS analyzes one Action Alternative for this Proposed Action: the Preferred Alternative. This alternative includes construction and operation of a new CPF on an available 104.2-acre parcel within the Central Farm in the 200 Area building cluster of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Treasury would also construct a new entrance road and several minor modifications to
Powder Mill Road. These construction activities would occur in an additional 18-acre area, bringing the combined Project Site to a total of approximately 122 acres. The Alternative of taking no action and continuing with the status quo is also analyzed.
Resource areas analyzed in the Final EIS include: land use; visual resources; air quality; noise; topography and soils; water resources; biological resources; cultural resources; traffic and transportation; utilities; socioeconomics and environmental justice; hazardous and toxic materials and waste; and human health and safety. The EIS also analyzes potential cumulative environmental effects. Practical mitigation measures are identified in the Final EIS to reduce potential adverse effects.
Treasury conducted a public review and comment period for the Draft EIS between November 6 and December 21, 2020, including a Virtual Public Meeting on December 2, 2020. Treasury considered and addressed in the Final EIS comments received on the Draft EIS during the comment period.
Based on the thorough analysis presented in the Final EIS, Treasury will prepare and execute its Record of Decision (ROD) announcing which Alternative is environmentally preferable, which Alternative it selects for implementation (be it the Preferred Alternative or the No Action Alternative), and which mitigation measures it will implement to reduce potential adverse impacts. Finalization of the ROD will occur no sooner than 30 days after publication of the Final EIS.
For further information, please contact Mr. Harvey Johnson, USACE – Baltimore District: (1) by phone at: (410) 977-6733; (2) by email to: BEP-EIS@usace.army.mil; or (3) by mail to: ATTN: Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) Project EIS, US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District Planning Division, 2 Hopkins Plaza, 10th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21201. Additional information regarding the Proposed Action, Final EIS, and other related materials, including a Digital EIS (i.e., a digital representation of the data presented in the Final EIS), are available on the project website at https://www.nab.usace.army.mil/Home/BEP-Replacement-Project/.
Printed copies of the Final EIS are available at the Puente Library at Capitol Technology University and the Thurgood Marshall Library at Bowie State University until July 6, 2021. Finally, Treasury has also prepared a Spanish-language Executive Summary of the Final EIS, which is available at the libraries and on the project website.