Federal and State Historic Preservation
regarding the Bevatron 106 process
return

Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson, SHPO
Office of Historic Preservation
California Department of Parks & Recreation
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001

December 15, 2005

Re: National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Section 106 review of case file DOE941104A and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) regarding the Demolition of the Bevatron Building at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Alameda County, CA, dated October 1997.

Dear Officer Donaldson,
More than a week ago, your office was contacted concerning the ongoing NHPA Section 106 review of case file DOE941104A and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) regarding the Demolition of the Bevatron Building at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, Alameda County. We are writing this letter to formally file a complaint with your office over the NHPA Section 106 review, of the above referenced case file, based on the following concerns:

• Prior to 1997 the State Office of Historic Preservation was involved with the Department of Energy (DOE) regarding the Demolition of the Bevatron Building at the LBNL, but neither DOE or your office considered that there might be other interested parties “likely to have knowledge of or concerns about” the Bevatron that should have been included into the NHPA 106 process as consulting parties, prior to the finalization of the MOA 1997.

• Section 106 of the NHPA specifically ensures that historic preservation concerns are taken into consideration as part of the Federal planning process, i.e. Federal agencies must consult with the respective State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) in “seeking information from parties likely to have knowledge of or concerns about the area”. You should be aware that prior to the March 15, 2005 Notice of Preparation (NOP) by LBNL, for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the demolition of Building 51 and Bevatron, there had been no public involvement related to this historic structure.

• The MOA was ratified in 1997 by DOE and the State Historic Preservation Officer, without any public notice or citizen participation by known concerned parties in Berkeley such as the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, numerous neighborhood and environmental groups, city commissions and other stakeholders that have a strong vested interest in activities at LBNL located in the historic Strawberry Creek Watershed, above the UC Berkeley central campus, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and next to the Panoramic Hill Federal Historic District.

• For more than a decade DOE/LBNL have conducted many public comment processes, such as the above mentioned circulation of the DEIR, and involved the city’s stakeholders, as required by law. Yet, at no time during the last 8 years has the MOA between the state and DOE to demolish the Bevatron been make public to any of these above mentioned, interested parties. This failure to notice the public of the NHPA Section 106 process is deceptive and illegal to the Federal Historic Preservation Process and our community.

ACHP Policy Statement reads in part, “Section 106 review and NEPA are both intended to be used as decision-making processes. All too often, however, managers view these procedures as a method for seeking approval for a planning direction rather than a mechanism for formulating one. The consultation process breaks down quickly when decisions have been resolved in favor of a particular course of action prior to conducting a more comprehensive discussion.”

By allowing DOE to continue with the current MOA will only perpetuate this long-standing injustice. The NHPA Section 106 process has not been completed, therefore, we ask that your office intervene on our behalf and set aside the MOA. Further, we request that a new MOA be drafted with public participation by the above-mentioned interested parties. DOE should not be rewarded for its deceptive practice and direct violation of federal law.
Sincerely,

Sincerely,
L A Wood
Berkeley Citizen

Pamela Sihvola
Committee To Minimize Toxic Waste
cc: Congresswoman Barbara Lee

Mr. Don Klima, Director
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 809
Washington, D.C. 20004
March 19, 2006

Re: National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Section 106 review of case file DOE941104A and the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) regarding the Demolition of the Bevatron and Building 51 at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Alameda County, California, dated October 1997.

Dear Director Klima,
On March 17, 2006 we contacted your office expressing concern over the NHPA Section 106 process regarding the project referenced above. We now write to officially request that your office intervene on our behalf and investigate this urgent matter.

After speaking with the Office of Historic Preservation, California we forwarded a letter dated December 15, 2005 to the preservation officer Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson. (See attachment 1.) In that correspondence we raised issue with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and the fact that the Berkeley public was not included in the NHPA 106 process as consulting parties, prior to the finalization of the MOA in 1997. It appears also that your office never signed the 1997 MOA. (See attachment 2.)

Be advised that to date, Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson, SHPO, has not responded to our letter. Moreover, DOE/LBNL has just released the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation (Draft Environmental Assessment, EA) for the above referenced project that we believe is incomplete. Note, that the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) division of the National Park Service has not yet accepted the required addendum to the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) report prepared for the Bevatron and Building 51. (p. 53) LBNL/DOE have refused to allow public access to this addendum, as well.

Again, we request your intervention in this matter because of the lack of response by Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson and the Office of Historic Preservation. It is clear that the EA has not adequately addressed the Section 106 cultural resource issues of historical significance of the Bevatron. A full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should be required of the project.

Finally, the NHPA Section 106 process has not been completed so we ask that a new MOA be drafted with public participation.

Sincerely,
L A Wood
Berkeley Citizen

Pamela Sihvola
Committee To Minimize Toxic Waste

cc: Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Mr. Milford Wayne Donaldson, SHPO
F. J. Gofling, Chief Historian, Federal Preservation Officer, Department of Energy

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