Located in Walla Walla, Washington is an 88-acre campus composed of multiple buildings called the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). The facility provides a multitude of services to veterans and their families, including health care, education, training, counseling and other services. However, several of the buildings were outdated and not adequately designed to provide state-of-the-art medical services required by the VA. Additionally, several buildings were not seismically sound, resulting in a significant risk of collapse during a seismic event, and possibly a significant loss of life. Therefore, the VA had a need for a new purpose-built facility that will eliminate the listed deficiencies and enhance the overall quality of medical services provided at the VAMC campus.

VA proposed a new, multi-specialty care outpatient clinic and other facility renovations to buildings in order to enhance the quality of medical services at the Walla Walla VAMC campus.  As subcontractors to the Allegiance Group, The Clark Group developed a tiered environmental assessment of the building in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500 through 1508), and Title 38, Part 26.4(a), Environmental Effects of VA Actions, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to evaluate and document the potential environmental effects associated with this proposed action.