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Date: March 30, 2007
Contact: Gopaul Noojibail, 505.785.3022
Contact: Bridget Litten, 505.785.3024

Carlsbad Caverns National Park superintendent John Benjamin announced today that the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Rehabilitation of the Wastewater System is available for public review and comment.

The EA addresses the proposed rehabilitation of the wastewater system that services visitor and administrative facilities on the Guadalupe Escarpment above Carlsbad Cavern (the visitor center, offices, residences, Bat Cave Draw Restrooms, and maintenance buildings). Rehabilitation of the wastewater system, which was constructed in 1972, is needed to remedy increasingly frequent maintenance problems and to prevent further contamination of groundwater in the infiltration zone above Carlsbad Cavern. The current system has been identified as a primary source of groundwater contamination posing a risk to the Main Corridor, Left Hand Tunnel, and Quintessential Right in Carlsbad Cavern.

The public is invited to comment on the EA during the 30-day comment period, which ends May 4, 2007. These comments will be considered in evaluating the EA and making decisions pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comments may be sent via email to the NPS’s Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website (http://parkplanning.nps.gov/cave) or via US Mail to: Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Attn: Rehabilitate Wastewater System EA, 3225 National Parks Highway, Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-5354.

The document is available at the park’s administrative office, in Carlsbad; on the PEPC website; on the park’s website at http://www.nps.gov/cave/parkmgmt/planning.htm; and at the Carlsbad Municipal Library.

For additional information on the EA, please contact Gopaul Noojibail at 505.785.3022. To be placed on a mailing list to receive other planning-related information, contact public affairs specialist Bridget Litten at 505.785.3024.