[Federal Register: September 17, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 180)]
[Notices]
[Page 56043-56044]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17se04-46]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Notice of Availability of the Ballistic Missile Defense System
Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Missile Defense Agency, Department of Defense.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
regulations, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is initiating a public
review and comment period for a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (PEIS). This notice announces the availability of the
Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) Draft PEIS, which analyzes the
potential impacts to the environment as MDA proposes to develop, test,
deploy, and plan for decommissioning activities to implement an
integrated MDBS. This Draft PEIS addresses the integrated BMDS and the
development and application of new technologies; evaluates the range of
complex programs, architecture, and assets that comprise the BMDS; and
provides the framework for future environmental analyses as activities
evolve and mature. The Draft PEIS has been prepared in accordance with
NEPA, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), and the Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural
provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508).
DATES: The public comment period for the NEPA process begins with the
publication of this notice and request for comments in the Federal
Register. Public hearings will be conducted as a part of the PEIS
development process to ensure opportunity for all interested government
and private organizations and the general public to provide comments on
the environmental areas considered in the Draft PEIS. Schedule and
location for the public hearings are:
[squf] October 14, 2004, 6:30 p.m., Marriott Crystal City, 1999
Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA.
[squf] October 19, 2994, 6 p.m., Sheraton Grand Hotel, 1230 J. St.,
Sacramento, CA.
[squf] October 21, 2004, 6:30 p.m., Sheraton Hotel, 401 E. 6th
Ave., Anchorage, AK.
[squf] October 26, 2004, 6 p.m., Best Western Hotel, 3253 N. Nimitz
Hwy, Honolulu, HI.
Copies of the Draft PEIS will be made available for review at
various libraries. A list of library locations and a downloadable
electronic version of the Draft PEIS are available on the MDA public
access Internet Web site: http://www.acq.osd.mil/mda/peis/html/home.html.
To ensure all comments are addressed in the Final PEIS,
comments should be received at one of the addressed listed below no
later than November 17, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Written and oral comments regarding the Draft PEIS should be
directed to MDA BMDS PEIS, c/o ICF Consulting, 9300 Lee Highway,
Fairfax, VA 22031, phone (Toll-Free) 1-877-MDA-PEIS (1-877-632-7347),
Fax (Toll-Free) 1-877-851-5451, e-mail mda.bmds,peis@icfconsulting.com,
or Web site http://www.acq.osd.mil/mda/peis/html/home.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please call Mr. Rick Lehner, MDA
Director of Communications at (703) 697-8997.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MDA has a requirement to develop, test,
deploy, and prepare for decommissioning the BMDS to protect the United
States (U.S.), its deployed forces, friends, and allies from ballistic
missile threats. The proposed action would provide an integrated BMDS
using existing infrastructure and capabilities, when feasible, as well
as emerging and new technologies, to meet current and evolving threats
in support of the MDA's mission. Conceptually, the BMDS would be a
layered system of weapons, sensors, Command and Control, Battle
Management, and Communications (C2BMC), and support assets; each with
specific functional capabilities, working together to defend against
all classes and ranges of threat ballistic missiles in all phases of
flight. Multiple defensive weapons would be used to create a layered
defense comprised of multiple intercept opportunities along the
incoming threat missile's trajectory. This would provide
[[Page 56044]]
a layered defense system of capabilities designed to back up one
another.
This Draft PEIS considers two alternative approaches for
implementing the integrated BMDS. In Alternative 1, the MDA would
develop, test, deploy, and plan to decommission land-, sea-, and air-
based platforms for BMDS weapons components and related architecture
and assets. The BMDS envisioned in Alternative 1 would include space-
based sensors but would not include space-based weapons. In Alternative
2, the MDA would develop, test, deploy, and plan to decommission land-,
sea-, air-, and space-based platforms for weapons and related
architecture and assets. Alternative 2 would be identical to
Alternative 1, with the addition of space-based defensive weapons.
Under the No Action Alternative, the MDA would not test, develop,
deploy, or plan for decommissioning activities to implement an
integrated BMDS. Instead, the MDA would continue existing test and
development of discrete missile defensive systems as stand-alone
defensive capabilities. Under the No Action Alternative, individual
components would continue to be tested to determine the adequacy of
their stand-alone capabilities, but would not be subjected to
integrated system-wide tests. In addition, the C2BMC architecture would
be designed around the needs of individual components and would not be
designed to manage an integrated system.
The approach and methods for deployment and decommissioning of
components under the No Action Alternative would be the same as under
the proposed action. This alternative would not meet the purpose of or
need for the proposed action or the specific direction of the President
and the U.S. Congress to defend the U.S. against ballistic missile
attack.
Potential impacts of Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 were analyzed
in the Draft PEIS, including impacts to air quality, airspace,
biological resources, geology and soils, hazardous materials and waste,
health and safety, noise, transportation, orbital debris, and water
resources. The impacts of the No Action Alternative would be the same
as the impacts of developing and testing individual components, which
would continue to comply with NEPA analyses and documentation
requirements on a program-specific basis. Potential cumulative impacts
of the proposed action are also addressed in the Draft PEIS.
Dated: September 10, 2004.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 04-20813 Filed 9-16-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-M