[Federal Register: October 25, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 206)]
[Notices]
[Page 60661-60662]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25oc07-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Notice of Availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement (PEIS) for Army Growth and Force Structure Realignment
AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA).
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army announces the availability of the
Final PEIS for the growth and realignment of the U.S. Army. Pursuant to
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the
Army has prepared a PEIS that evaluates the potential environmental and
socioeconomic effects associated with alternatives for growing and
realigning the Army's force structure. The Army's preferred alternative
identified in the Final PEIS is Alternative 3 which will allow the Army
to grow and restructure its forces to accommodate modular forces
initiatives and critical shortfalls, while adding six Brigade Combat
Teams (BCTs) to the Army's end strength. Potential impacts have been
analyzed at installations that are being considered for the stationing
of 1,000 or more additional Soldiers.
DATES: The waiting period for the final PEIS will end 30 days after
publication of an NOA in the Federal Register by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the Final PEIS contact: Public Affairs
Office, U.S. Army Environmental Command, Building E4460, Attention:
IMAE-PA 5179 Hoadley Road, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5401.
Questions may also be sent to: PublicComments@aec.apgea.army.mil.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Public Affairs Office at (410) 436-
2556; facsimile at (410) 436-1693 (during normal business hours Monday
through Friday).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Proposed Action and analysis within the
Final PEIS covers those activities needed to increase the Army's end
strength and realign its force structure from Fiscal Year 2008 through
Fiscal Year 2013 to a size and composition that is better able to meet
national security and defense requirements. The Proposed Action
involves stationing decisions to align Army forces in support of
military transformation, unit equipment and training readiness, and
Soldier and Family quality of life needs. To implement the Proposed
Action, new units must be stationed at locations that are able to
accommodate unit training, garrison operations, maintenance activities,
and Soldiers and their Families. In addition, final stationing
locations must support the strategic deployment and mobilization
requirements of the nation's Combatant Commanders to ensure they will
have the forces necessary to support regional contingency operations
and planning requirements.
The Final PEIS examines major Army training installations and their
ability to support new unit stationing actions in connection with the
growth and realignment of the U.S. Army. The Final PEIS provides the
Army senior leadership with a hard look at environmental and
socioeconomic impacts associated with the Proposed Action and informs
the decision-making process for selecting the final stationing
locations for new units. This effort includes analysis of specific
actions that will need to be taken (such as the construction of housing
and quality of life facilities, the construction of new training ranges
and infrastructure, and changes in the intensity of use of maneuver
land and firing ranges) to station new units as part of the Army's
overall efforts to grow and realign the force.
After reviewing a full range of alternative sites, 17 installations
capable of supporting the Army's growth and realignment have been
evaluated for their ability to support three action alternatives. The
installations carried forward for analysis included: Georgia: Fort
Benning and Fort Stewart; Texas: Fort Bliss and Fort Hood: North
Carolina: Fort Bragg; Kentucky: Fort Campbell and Fort Knox; Colorado:
Fort Carson; New York: Fort Drum; California: Fort Hunter-Liggett and
Fort Irwin; Washington: Fort Lewis and Yakima Training Center;
Louisiana: Fort Polk; Kansas: Fort Riley; New Mexico: White Sands
Missile Range; Arizona: Yuma Proving Ground. Each of these
installations could receive 1,000 or more additional soldiers as part
of alternatives being examined.
Alternatives carried forward for analysis in the Final PEIS
included: (1) Implementing Army force structure modifications between
Fiscal Year 2008 and Fiscal Year 2013 to support the Army's Modular
Transformation and Global Defense Posture Review (GDPR) decisions; (2)
Executing those actions discussed as part of Alternative 1 and, in
addition, adding approximately 30,000 Combat Support (CS) and Combat
Service Support (CSS) soldiers to the Army to address critical
shortfalls in high demand military skills in both Active Army and
Reserve components; (3) Executing those actions proposed in
Alternatives 1 and 2 and, in addition, grow the Army by up to six
Active Duty BCTs. Additional BCTs would be stationed at existing or
newly established Army stationing locations within the continental
United States. In addition to these alternatives, the No Action
Alternative is described and its impacts are fully assessed and
considered.
The Army's preferred alternative identified in the Final PEIS is to
implement Alternative 3. This alternative allows for full support of
Army modularity initiatives by adding necessary CS Soldiers to the
Army's Active and Reserve components while increasing the size of the
Army by six BCTs. Analysis within the Final PEIS covers those
activities required to implement unit stationing actions associated
with Army growth and realignment.
Site-specific action that will need to be taken to support the
preferred alternative include the construction of housing and quality
of life facilities (i.e., gymnasiums, hospitals, shopping areas), the
construction of new training ranges and infrastructure, and changes in
the intensity of use of maneuver land and firing ranges associated with
the increased frequency of training events. Stationing decisions made
as part of this effort will also consider strategic military and
national security considerations. New stationing actions must take
place at locations that, if selected, are capable of supporting the
National Security Strategy (2006), the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR
2006), National Military Strategy, and the Army Campaign Plan (ACP).
Direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the Proposed Action
have been considered in the Final PEIS and identification of the
environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with various unit
stationing actions at each of the 17 installations was carried forward
for analysis. Impacts at sites would result from construction and
training activities related to the growth and realignment of Army
forces. Significant impacts to resources could be direct and long term.
Decisions from the PEIS will be tiered into site-specific NEPA analyses
at the installation level, as specific stationing decisions are
determined. The Final PEIS provides Army planners and decision makers
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with critical and timely information on the capacity and condition of
each of the installation's environmental and socioeconomic resources
preceding specific stationing actions. The No Action Alternative
provides the baseline conditions for comparison to proposed
alternatives.
A copy of the Final PEIS can be accessed through the U.S. Army
Environmental Command's Web site at (http://www.aec.army.mil).
Dated: October 18, 2007.
Addison D. Davis, IV,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Environment, Safety and
Occupational Health).
[FR Doc. 07-5290 Filed 10-24-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-08-M