[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 46 (Friday, March 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12397-12398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4468]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Navy
Notice of Public Hearings for the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) for Introduction of the P-8A Multi-Mission Maritime
Aircraft (MMA) Into the United States Fleet
AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as implemented by the Council on
Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), the
Department of the Navy (Navy) has prepared and filed with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) to evaluate the potential environmental consequences
associated with providing facilities and functions to support the
homebasing of P-8A MMA at established maritime patrol installations.
Public hearings will be held to provide information and receive oral
and written comments on the DEIS. Federal, state, and local agencies,
and interested individuals are invited to be present or represented at
the hearings.
DATES AND ADDRESSES: Four public hearings will be held. Each scheduled
public hearing will be preceded by an open information session to allow
interested individuals to review information presented in the DEIS.
Navy representatives will be available during the information session
to provide clarification as necessary related to the DEIS. Each
information session will occur from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by
the formal public hearing from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Public hearings are
scheduled at the following dates and locations:
1. Whidbey Island, Washington: Wednesday, March 26, 2008, Oak
Harbor School District Office, ASC Boardroom, 350 S. Oak Harbor Street,
Oak Harbor, WA 98277.
2. Honolulu, Hawaii: Tuesday, April 1, 2008, J.B. Castle High
School, 45-386 Kaneohe Bay Drive, Kaneohe, HI 96744.
3. Coronado, California: Thursday, April 3, 2008, Early Childhood
[[Page 12398]]
Development Center, Crown Hall, 199 Sixth Street, Coronado, CA 92118.
4. Jacksonville, Florida: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, Howard Johnson
Inn, Clay Duval Room, 150 Park Avenue, Orange Park, FL 32073.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Commander, Naval Facilities
Engineering Command Atlantic Division, 6506 Hampton Blvd, Norfolk, VA
23508-1278, Attn: MMA PM, fax 757-322-4805.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Navy has prepared and filed with the EPA the
DEIS for the introduction of P-8A MMA into the U.S. Fleet in accordance
with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969 (42 U.S.C. Sections 4321-4345) and its implementing regulations
(40 CFR Parts 1500-1508). A Notice of Intent for this DEIS was
published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2006 (FR27DE06-48).
Navy is lead agency for the proposed action. The purpose of the
proposed action is to provide facilities and functions to support the
homebasing of P-8A MMA at established maritime patrol homebases. This
would allow the Navy to efficiently and economically retire P-3C
aircraft and transition P-8A MMA into the Fleet while maintaining a
maritime patrol capability that sustains national defense objectives
and policies.
The Navy proposes to replace maritime patrol P-3C aircraft with P-
8A MMA at established P-3C maritime patrol installations beginning no
later than 2012. Established maritime patrol installations are Naval
Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida; NAS Whidbey Island,
Washington; NAS Brunswick, Maine; NAS North Island, California; and
Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) Kaneohe Bay. However, for the purposes
of the proposed action, NAS Brunswick has been eliminated from
consideration as a potential homebase because its aircraft and
supporting functions are being transferred in their entirety to NAS
Jacksonville by 2011 in accordance with the recommendations of the 2005
Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC).
Introduction of the P-8A MMA would begin no later than 2012 and is
scheduled to be complete by 2019, when full P-3C retirement from the
Fleet is to occur.
The following installations have been identified as receiving sites
for the P-8A MMA: NAS Whidbey Island, Washington; NAS Jacksonville,
Florida; MCBH Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; and a training detachment site at
NAS North Island, California. The Navy evaluated a range of
alternatives in the DEIS based on the number of squadrons homebased at
each site, placement of the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), and the
number of main operating bases.
The EIS addresses environmental impacts of the proposed action
pertaining to the basing and operation of P-8A MMA and the associated
construction and/or renovation of buildings and other support
facilities. In addition, the EIS assesses impacts on each local
community and economy associated with relocation of military and
contract personnel to or from the area to support the operation and
maintenance of P-8A MMA squadrons.
The EIS addresses any potential environmental impacts associated
with: Water resources; air quality; biological resources; threatened
and endangered species; land use; noise exposure levels; socioeconomic
resources; infrastructure; and cultural resources. The analyses include
direct and indirect impacts, and account for cumulative impacts from
other foreseen federal activities at the homebase and detachment sites.
The Navy conducted the scoping process to identify community
concerns and local issues that should be addressed in the EIS. Federal,
state, and local agencies and interested parties provided written
comments to the Navy and identified specific issues or topics of
environmental concern that should be addressed in the EIS. The Navy
considered these comments in determining the scope of the EIS.
The DEIS has been distributed to various Federal, state, and local
agencies, as well as other interested individuals and organizations. In
addition, copies of the DEIS have been distributed to the following
libraries and publicly accessible facilities for public review:
1. Oak Harbor City Library, 1000 SE Regatta Drive, Oak Harbor, WA.
2. Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA.
3. Charles Webb Wesconnett Regional Branch, Jacksonville Public
Library, 6887 103rd Street, Jacksonville, FL.
4. Kaneohe Public Library, 45-829 Kamehameha Highway, Honolulu, HI.
An electronic copy of the DEIS is available for public viewing at
http://www.MMAEIS.com. Requests for single copies of the DEIS (on CD-
ROM) or its Executive Summary may be made online at http://www.MMAEIS.com. Federal, state, and local agencies, as well as
interested parties, are invited and encouraged to be present or
represented at the hearings. To ensure the accuracy of the record, all
statements presented orally at the public hearings should be submitted
in writing. All comments will become part of the public record and will
be responded to in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).
Equal weight will be given to oral and written statements. In the
interest of available time, and to ensure all who wish to give an oral
statement at the public hearings have the opportunity to do so, each
speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes. If a longer
statement is to be presented, it should be summarized at the public
hearing and the full text submitted in writing either at the hearing or
mailed or faxed to:
Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Attn: MMA
PM, 6506 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23508-1278, Fax 757-322-4805.
Residents from the county where the public hearing is being held
will be given first priority to speak publicly, to ensure that county's
residents have an opportunity to make verbal comments. Residents will
be required to sign in to speak. Comments can be made in the following
ways: (1) Oral statements/written comments at the public hearings or
(2) written comments mailed or faxed to address/fax number in this
notice or (3) comments submitted via the Web site at http://www.MMAEIS.com. All written comments postmarked by April 18, 2008, will
become a part of the official public record and will be responded to in
the FEIS.
Dated: February 29, 2008.
T.M. Cruz,
Lieutenant, Office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy Federal
Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-4468 Filed 3-6-08; 8:45 am]
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