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I MEMORANDUM Melba McGee Page 2 May 5, 1987 alignment and their respective geographic coordinates." By letter dated July 30, 1986, to Hugh Price, Wilbur Smith and Associates requested similar soils and prime farmland data for the International Industrial Park, Phillip Morris and Charlotte Motor Speedway sites. Mr. Price forwarded the requested soils and prime farmland data on July 14,1986 and August 12, 1986, respectively. The data included soil maps delineating soil mapping units for each of the six(6) 30D acre sites, indicated which mapping units met criteria for prime and locally important farmland, included a list of soils in the county which met criteria for prime and important farmland and gave a general sun~ary of the soil series and the relative amounts of prime farmland at each of the six(6) sites. The Environmental Assessment lists gl issues in the Environmental Consequences section, one of which is Farmland (pages 58-61). If the basic soils data provided by the SCS were evaluated to determine the percent of prime and locally important farmland at each site, this detailed information was not presented in the Farmland section nor the Appendix. Instead, only parts of the ~ion are quoted verbatum and soil maps delineating prime and locally important farmland were included only for the Poplar Tent site. All the maps and data should have been included, such as other data for the project, so that it could be evaluated in the Environmental Assessment review process. Soils data provided for the International Industrial Park site were not included in the Farmland section discussion, and soils data for the Midland site were not even requested by Wilbur Smith and Associates. 2. The Farmland section is summarized by inaccurately stating that only abou~acres of the Poplar Tent site is Prime farmland. However, an evaluation of the data provided by Mr. Price shows that approximately 150 acres of the Poplar Tent site would be adversely impacted. The summary further states that "One method of mitigation is to stockpile the prime soils during grading and redistribute the soil to non-prime areas." The proposed action to stockpile and redistribute topsoil and subsoil is not a viable alternative to the irreversible loss of prime and locally important farmland. This "made-land" would not meet criteria for Prime Agricultural and Forest Land. 3. Section 6, Environmental Consequences and Other Considerations (Pages 7g-87~ states that "three of the twenty impact categories require comments and mitigating statement:", one of which is Prime Farmland. The Environ- mental Assessment does not adequately address the state and federal policy relative to the protection of Prime and Locally Important Farmland.