Environmental Impact Statement for Training and Public Land Withdrawal Extension, Fort Irwin, California
| Published date | 11 August 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 48512 |
| Record Number | 2020-17528 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Army Department,Defense Department |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 155 (Tuesday, August 11, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 155 (Tuesday, August 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48512-48513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17528]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Environmental Impact Statement for Training and Public Land
Withdrawal Extension, Fort Irwin, California
AGENCY: Department of the Army, Defense (DOD).
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of the Army intends to prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the environmental impacts resulting
from modernization of training activities and improvement of training
facilities at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
The Army is also issuing this notice to inform the public that the EIS
will serve as a Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) to
support extension of public land withdrawal for portions of Fort Irwin.
DATES: Comments must be sent by September 10, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be forwarded to Dr. David Housman,
NEPA Planner, Fort Irwin Directorate of Public Works, Environmental
Division, Building 602, Fifth Street, Fort Irwin, CA 92310-5085 email:
[email protected]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Muhammad Bari, Director,
Directorate of Public Works, telephone (760) 380-3543; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fort Irwin consists of approximately 753,537
acres in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County in southern
California. The U.S. Army National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin
provides combined arms training for maneuver Brigade Combat Teams
(BCTs), including the Army's Stryker BCTs (SBCTs) and Armored BCTs
(ABCTs). Training is also provided for joint military branches (Marine
Corps, Navy, and Air Force), Army Reserve, National Guard units, and
regular and transitional law enforcement units, as well as home station
units. Due to its size, design, and terrain, Fort Irwin is one of the
few places in the world that brigade-size units (5,000+ soldiers) can
test their combat readiness.
Fort Irwin's mission is to train rotational training units (RTUs),
joint, interagency, and multinational partners in order to fight and
win in a complex world, while taking care of soldiers, civilians, and
family members. To achieve this mission, NTC designs and executes
training exercises that prepare brigade-level units for operational
deployments. Up to 12 BCT rotations are executed per year.
The Army intends to prepare an EIS at Fort Irwin to analyze
potential impacts from modernization of training and improvement of
training infrastructure. Training changes are required to support new
training doctrine that focuses on large Army formations operating
against near-peer
[[Page 48513]]
adversaries. In order to reflect weapon systems capabilities and
evolving mission requirements, improvements need to be made to weapons
ranges, urban operations training facilities, and communication
infrastructure.
Approximately 110,000 acres of Fort Irwin training land areas are
public lands withdrawn from all types of appropriation and reserved for
military purposes under Public Law 107-107 (2001). This public land
withdrawal terminates on December 28, 2026. The Army has identified a
continuing military need for the land beyond the termination date and
intends to request Congress to extend the withdrawal and reservation
for military purposes for at least 25 years, or in the alternative, for
an indefinite period until there is no longer a military need for the
land. Upon a separate application by the Army, the Bureau of Land
Management will file in the Federal Register a separate notice of
withdrawal extension application. This EIS will be submitted to
Congress to support the legislative request for extension of this
withdrawal and reservation. The document will also serve as the EIS
that will analyze training changes proposed for the withdrawn land.
The EIS will analyze alternatives, which consist of different
magnitudes of implementation, and the No Action Alternative, under
which there would be no modernization or improvement to training
activities conducted at Fort Irwin. The no action alternative would
also include the possibility that public land withdrawal extension
would not occur and that portions of the installation would return to
public domain. The proposed action includes an increase in training
activities that reflects new mission requirements and improvement of
training infrastructure. For Fort Irwin's Western Training Area, the
EIS will consider a range of medium to heavy intensity training
alternatives. In terms of withdrawal, the alternatives include
extension of the current withdrawal and reservation for 25 years or
indefinitely until there is no longer a military need for the land. All
military activities under consideration would be conducted within the
boundaries of the installation. Resource areas that may be impacted
include air quality, airspace, traffic, noise, water resources,
biological resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, utilities,
land use, and solid and hazardous materials and waste. Impacts to these
resources may occur from changing the scope or magnitude of military
training activities within the current Fort Irwin boundaries. The
analysis will also consider the potential for cumulative environmental
effects. Significant impacts could occur to biological and cultural
resources.
Federal, state, and local agencies, Native Americans, Native
American organizations, and the public are invited to be involved in
the scoping process for the preparation of this EIS by participating in
a scoping meeting or submitting written comments. Written comments must
be sent within 30 days of publication of this Notice of Intent in the
Federal Register. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in
the United States and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
recommendations for social distancing and avoiding large public
gatherings, the Army will not hold in-person public scoping meetings
for this action. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to maintain
social distancing, Fort Irwin will host the public scoping meetings by
telephone. Specific details of the telephone meetings will be announced
in local media and on the Fort Irwin EIS website: https://aec.army.mil/index.php/irwin-nepa-meeting.
For those who do not have ready access to a computer or the
internet, the scoping-related materials posted to the website will be
made available upon request by mail. Inquiries, requests for scoping-
related materials, and comments regarding the proposed action may be
submitted by mail to Dr. David Housman, NEPA Planner, Fort Irwin
Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division, Building 602,
Fifth Street, Fort Irwin, CA 92310-5085. Written scoping comments will
be accepted at any time during process up until the public release of
the Draft EIS. To ensure the Army has sufficient time to consider
public input in the preparation of the Draft EIS, scoping comments
should be submitted to the website or the address listed above by no
later than thirty days after the date of this notice.
The public will also be invited to review and comment on the Draft
EIS when it is released. Comments from the public will be considered
before any decision is made regarding implementing the Proposed Action.
The Bureau of Land Management will also organize public participation
following publication of its notice of application for extension of the
public land withdrawal.
Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-17528 Filed 8-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5061-AP-P
