[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 136 (Friday, July 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 46069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16686]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Extension of Public Comment Period for Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Continental United States Interceptor Site
AGENCY: Missile Defense Agency, Department of Defense.
ACTION: Notice of public comment period extension.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce an extension to the
45-day public comment period of the Notice of Availability for the
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the potential deployment
of a Continental United States (CONUS) Interceptor Site (CIS) published
by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on May 31, 2016 (81 FR 34315-
34316). The public comment period is extended 30 days and ends on
August 17, 2016.
DATES: The extended 75-day public comment period for the Draft EIS
began on June 3, 2016, with the publication of the Notice of
Availability in the Federal Register by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (81 FR 35761-35762), and with this extension, will
end on August 17, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft EIS should be received by August 17,
2016 by one of the following methods:
Mail: U.S. Postal Service to: Black & Veatch Special
Projects Corp. Attn: MDA CIS EIS, 6800 W. 115th Street, Suite 2200,
Overland Park, KS 66211-2420.
Email: [email protected].
Public comments on the Draft EIS are requested pursuant to the
NEPA. All written comments received during the comment period will
become part of the public record. Providing private address information
with your comment is voluntary and such personal information will be
kept confidential unless release is required by law. All comments
received by the public, including at public meetings, will be addressed
in the Final EIS. A NOA will be published notifying the public of the
final EIS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Christopher Johnson, MDA Public
Affairs, at 571-231-8212, or by email: mda.info@mda.mil">mda.info@mda.mil. For more
information, including a downloadable copy of the Draft EIS, visit the
MDA Web site at http://www.mda.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Action and Alternative: The Department of Defense (DoD)
does not have a proposed action and has not made a decision to deploy
or construct an additional interceptor site. Current sites in Alaska
and California provide the necessary protection of the homeland from a
ballistic missile attack by countries such as North Korea and Iran. If
the DoD were to make a decision in the future to construct a new site,
the prior completion of the required site studies and EIS could shorten
the timeline necessary to build such a site.
If deployed, a CIS would be an extension of the existing Ground-
based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the Ballistic Missile Defense
System. To the extent practicable, the CIS would be built as a
contiguous Missile Defense Complex, similar to that found at Fort
Greely, Alaska, and would consist of a deployment of up to a total of
60 Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) in up to three GBI fields. The GBIs
would not be fired from their deployment site except in the Nation's
defense and no test firing would be conducted at a CIS. The overall
system architecture and baseline requirements for a notional CIS
include, but are not limited to, the GBI fields, Command Launch
Equipment, In-Flight Interceptor Communication System Data Terminals,
GMD Communication Network, supporting facilities, such as lodging and
dining, recreation, warehouse and bulk storage, vehicle storage and
maintenance, fire station, hazardous materials/waste storage, and roads
and parking where necessary.
Candidate site locations under consideration include: Fort Custer
Training Center in Michigan; Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training
Center in Ohio; and Fort Drum in New York. Earlier this year, MDA
designated the Center for Security Forces Detachment Kittery Survival,
Evasion, Resistance and Escape Facility (SERE East) in Redington
Township, Maine, as an Alternative Considered, but Not Carried Forward.
The Draft EIS also analyzed a No Action Alternative or no CIS
deployment. The DoD has not made a decision to deploy or construct a
CIS and does not have a preferred alternative.
For each of the candidate site locations, the following resource
areas were assessed: Air quality, air space, biological, cultural,
environmental justice, geology and soils, hazardous materials and
hazardous waste management, health and safety, land use, noise,
socioeconomics, transportation, utilities, water, wetlands, and visual
and aesthetics.
Dated: July 11, 2016.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2016-16686 Filed 7-14-16; 8:45 am]
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