Notice of Assessment of Need for Supplement to Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Long Term Residuals Management for Metropolitan Boston

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During 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region I, Boston, (EPA) prepared Draft and Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS and FSEIS, respectively) evaluating the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's (MWRA) Long- Term Residuals Management Program for Metropolitan Boston under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The DSEIS and FSEIS evaluated a variety of alternative sites and technologies for managing sewage residuals, including the program then proposed by MWRA. Based on this evaluation, EPA ultimately approved the MWRA's chosen plan which included a primary program and a backup program. In March, 1990 EPA issued its record of Decision (ROD) completing the NEPA review. The MWRA's primary program consisted of dewatering and heat drying sludge into pellets for marketing for beneficial uses (specifically, for land application as a fertilizer or soil conditioner). EPA and others supported the MWRA's beneficial use program as an environmentally progressive approach to sludge management because the sludge was to be converted from a disposable waste to a usable product. The backup program, consisted of disposal of dewatered sludge an