[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 218 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67156-67157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26772]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
First Responder Network Authority
[Docket Number: 141104926-4926-01]
RIN 0660-XC014
Notice of Intent To Prepare Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statements and Conduct Scoping for the Nationwide Public Safety
Broadband Network
AGENCY: First Responder Network Authority, National Telecommunications
and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: The First Responder Network Authority (``FirstNet'') announces
its intent to prepare five regional
[[Page 67157]]
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements (``PEISs'') and conduct
public scoping meetings to evaluate the potential environmental impacts
of the proposed nationwide public safety broadband network. The
specific locations, dates, and times for the scoping meetings will be
announced on the FirstNet Web site, no later than one week prior to
each meeting.
DATES: The scoping period for this notice will begin on the date of
publication of this notice and will end December 29, 2014. Comments to
this notice must be submitted on or before December 29, 2014.
ADDRESSES: The public is invited to submit written comments to this
Notice. Written comments may be submitted electronically via email to
[email protected] or by mail (to the address listed in FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Comments received will be made a part of
the public record and may be posted to FirstNet's Web site
(www.firstnet.gov) without change. Comments should be machine readable
and should not be copy-protected. All personally identifiable
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Pereira, NEPA Coordinator,
First Responder Network Authority, National Telecommunications and
Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 12201 Sunrise
Valley Drive, M/S 243, Reston, VA 20192.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation
Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-96, Title VI, 126 Stat. 256 (codified at 47
U.S.C. 1401 et seq.)) (the ``Act'') created and authorized FirstNet to
take all actions necessary to ensure the building, deployment, and
operation of an interoperable, nationwide public safety broadband
network (``NPSBN'') based on a single, national network architecture.
The Act meets a long-standing and critical national infrastructure
need, to create a single, nationwide network that will, for the first
time, allow police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical service
professionals, and other public safety entities to effectively
communicate with each other across agencies and jurisdictions.
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347)
(``NEPA'') requires federal agencies to undertake an assessment of
environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making a final
decision and implementing the action. NEPA requirements apply to any
federal project, decision, or action that may have a significant impact
on the quality of the human environment. NEPA also establishes the
Council on Environmental Quality (``CEQ''), which issued regulations
implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (see 40 CFR parts 1500-
1508). Among other considerations, CEQ regulations at 40 CFR 1508.28
recommend the use of tiering from a ``broader environmental impact
statement (such as a national program or policy statements) with
subsequent narrower statements or environmental analysis (such as
regional or basin wide statements or ultimately site-specific
statements) incorporating by reference the general discussions and
concentrating solely on the issues specific to the statement
subsequently prepared.''
Due to the geographic scope of FirstNet (all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, and five territories) and the diversity of
ecosystems potentially traversed by the project, FirstNet has elected
to prepare five regional PEISs. The five PEISs will be divided as
follows:
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East Central West South Non-contiguous
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Delaware Colorado Arizona Alabama Alaska
District of Columbia Illinois California Arkansas American Samoa
Connecticut Indiana Idaho Florida CNMI
Maine Iowa Nevada Georgia Guam
Maryland Kansas Oregon Kentucky Hawaii
Massachusetts Michigan Washington Louisiana Puerto Rico
New Hampshire Minnesota ..................... Mississippi U.S. Virgin Islands
New Jersey Missouri ..................... New Mexico ....................
New York Montana ..................... North Carolina ....................
Pennsylvania Nebraska ..................... Oklahoma ....................
Rhode Island North Dakota ..................... South Carolina ....................
Vermont Ohio ..................... Tennessee ....................
Virginia South Dakota ..................... Texas ....................
West Virginia Utah ..................... ..................... ....................
Wisconsin
Wyoming
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Once a PEIS is completed and a Record of Decision (ROD) is signed,
the proposed FirstNet projects can begin to submit the site-specific
environmental documentation to determine if the proposed project has
been adequately evaluated in the PEIS or warrants a Categorical
Exclusion, an Environmental Assessment, or an Environmental Impact
Statement.
Dated: November 6, 2014.
Genevieve Walker,
Director of Environmental Compliance, First Responder Network
Authority.
[FR Doc. 2014-26772 Filed 11-10-14; 8:45 am]
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