Notice2022-00695
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center Beddown at Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Arkansas or Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan
Primary source
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Published
January 14, 2022
Issuing agencies
Defense DepartmentAir Force Department
Abstract
The Department of the Air Force (Air Force) is issuing this notice to advise the public of its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pilot Training Center (PTC) beddown at a single Continental United Sates (CONUS) location at either Ebbing Air National Guard (ANG) Base, Arkansas or Selfridge ANG Base, Michigan. The EIS will assess the potential environmental consequences resulting from construction or renovation of facilities and aircraft operation of the proposal for the permanent beddown of the FMS PTC, encompassing up to 16 F-16 aircraft and 36 F-35 aircraft.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 10 (Friday, January 14, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 10 (Friday, January 14, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 2417]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00695]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Air Force
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
the Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center Beddown at Ebbing Air
National Guard Base, Arkansas or Selfridge Air National Guard Base,
Michigan
AGENCY: Department of the Air Force, Department of Defense.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Air Force (Air Force) is issuing this
notice to advise the public of its intent to prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pilot
Training Center (PTC) beddown at a single Continental United Sates
(CONUS) location at either Ebbing Air National Guard (ANG) Base,
Arkansas or Selfridge ANG Base, Michigan. The EIS will assess the
potential environmental consequences resulting from construction or
renovation of facilities and aircraft operation of the proposal for the
permanent beddown of the FMS PTC, encompassing up to 16 F-16 aircraft
and 36 F-35 aircraft.
DATES: A public scoping period of 30-days will take place starting from
the date of this NOI publication in the Federal Register. Comments will
be accepted at any time during the environmental impact analysis
process; however, to ensure the Air Force has sufficient time to
consider public scoping comments during the preparation of the Draft
EIS, please submit comments within the 30-day period; by February 14,
2022, to the website or mailed to one of the addresses listed below.
The Air Force plans to hold two virtual scoping meetings to solicit
comments on potential alternatives and impacts and identification of
any relevant information, studies, or analyses of any kind concerning
impacts affecting the quality of the human environment regarding the
Proposed Action. The scoping meetings will be held on the dates and
times below:
<bullet> Tuesday, February 1, 2022: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. CST
<bullet> Thursday, February 3, 2022: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. CST
To register to attend a virtual public scoping meeting and sign-up
to provide a verbal comment, visit <a href="http://www.FMSPTCEIS.com">www.FMSPTCEIS.com</a>. Meeting links and
instructions will be distributed after registering and prior to all
virtual public scoping meetings. All public scoping meetings can be
accessed by phone at 1-877-853-5247; Meeting ID: 814 7750 7399; Meeting
Password: 36126569.
Major milestone dates, are as follows:
<bullet> Draft EIS and Notice of Availability (NOA) publication, Fall
2022
<bullet> Draft EIS Public Comment Period and Hearing, Fall 2022
<bullet> Final EIS and NOA publication, Winter 2022/2023
<bullet> Record of Decision signature, Spring 2023
ADDRESSES: Additional information on the FMS PTC EIS environmental
impact analysis process can be found on the project website at
<a href="http://www.FMSPTCEIS.com">www.FMSPTCEIS.com</a>. The project website can also be used to submit
inquiries, comments, and requests for printed or digital copies of the
scoping material or to Mr. David Martin at (210) 925-2741 or directed
to: U.S. Post Office Deliveries: FMS PTC EIS Project Manager, AFCEC/
CZN, 2261 Hughes Avenue, Suite 155, JBSA Lackland, TX 78236 9853. FedEx
& UPS Deliveries: FMS PTC EIS Project Manager, AFCEC/CZN, 3515 S
General McMullen, Suite 155, San Antonio, TX 78226-2018.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of the Air Force proposes to
beddown the FMS PTC, comprised of up to 16 F-16 aircraft of the
Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), and up to 36 F-35 FMS aircraft.
The FMS PTC mission will operate under the direction of the Air Force
Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
The purpose of the Proposed Action is to establish a permanent FMS
PTC, initially providing beddown of up to 36 F-35 aircraft, at a single
location within CONUS. The Proposed Action is needed to provide a
centralized location for training and pilot production associated with
Foreign Military Sales. Multiple nations have agreements with the Air
Force to purchase F-35 aircraft. This drives the need for a location
suitable for initial F-35 training before returning to their home
country. The Republic of Singapore is among the nations purchasing F-
35s and plans to keep some of their aircraft in the U.S. for an
indefinite period of time. Additionally, the Republic of Singapore
would relocate 16 F-16s from Luke AFB, Arizona, to the FMS PTC
location.
The EIS will analyze Ebbing and Selfridge ANG Bases as alternatives
for the implementing the Proposed Action described above, as well as a
No Action Alternative. The alternatives were developed to minimize
adverse mission impact, maximize facility reuse, minimize cost, and
reduce overhead, as well as leverage the strengths of each base to
optimize the FMS PTC strategy. The potential impacts of the Proposed
Action and Alternatives (including No Action Alternative) that the EIS
will examine include impacts to land use, airspace, safety, noise,
hazardous materials and solid waste, physical resources (including
earth and water resources), air quality, transportation, cultural
resources, biological resources, socioeconomics, and environmental
justice resulting from construction and renovation at the installation
and aircraft operation. The Air Force is preparing this EIS in
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969;
40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Parts 1500-1508, the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA; and the Air
Force's Environmental Impact Analysis Process (EIAP) as codified in 32
CFR part 989.
Scoping and Agency Coordination: The scoping process will be used
to involve the public early in the planning and development of the EIS,
to help identify issues to be addressed in the environmental analysis.
To effectively define the full range of issues and concerns to be
evaluated in the EIS, the Air Force is soliciting scoping comments from
interested local, state, and federal agencies and interested members of
the public. The Federal Aviation Administration has been requested to
be a Cooperating Agency for this action.
Due to the evolving nature of the current COVID crisis, the Air
Force will hold two virtual public scoping meetings to inform the
public and solicit comments and concerns about the proposal. Scoping
meetings will be held online via <a href="http://www.FMSPTCEIS.com">www.FMSPTCEIS.com</a>. Local notices
identifying scheduled dates, and information for accessing each
meeting, will be published a minimum of fifteen (15) days prior to each
meeting.
Adriane S. Paris,
Air Force Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-00695 Filed 1-13-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-10-P
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