Public Workshop and Initiation of Technical Review:

RSPA is concluding a pilot test of a draft definition for areas unusually sensitive to environmental damage from a hazardous liquid pipeline release, commonly referred to as unusually sensitive areas (USAs). The draft USA definition was created through a series of public workshops and technical entities. The pilot was conducted to determine if the draft definition could be used to identify and locate unusually sensitive drinking water and ecological resources using available data from government agencies and environmental organizations. RSPA invites industry, government agencies, and the public to a workshop that will begin a technical review of USA pilot results. The purpose of this workshop is to openly discuss the pilot results and to provide the results to other government agencies, environmental groups, and academia for evaluation. The workshop will be held on April 27, 2000, from 9 to 4 and on April 28, 2000, from 9 to 1 pm at the U.S. DOT, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Room 2230, Washington, DC. Written comments on this initiative must be submitted by June 27, 2000. Persons who want to participate in the workshop should call (202) 366-4561 or e-mail their name, affiliation, and phone number to christina.sames@rspa.dot.gov. Comments may also be e-mailed to ops.comments@rspa.dot.gov in ASCII or text format.