Notice2022-05655
Notice of Availability for the Supplement to the Gulf of Alaska Navy Training Activities Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement
Primary source
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Published
March 18, 2022
Issuing agencies
Defense DepartmentNavy Department
Abstract
The Department of the Navy (DoN) has prepared and filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a supplement to the December 2020 Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Navy Training Activities Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS). This supplement to the Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS will address a change in the Study Area and the addition of a new Continental Shelf and Slope Mitigation Area.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 53 (Friday, March 18, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15414-15415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05655]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Navy
Notice of Availability for the Supplement to the Gulf of Alaska
Navy Training Activities Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Department of the Navy (DoN), Department of Defense (DoD).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (DoN) has prepared and filed with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a supplement to the
December 2020 Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Navy Training Activities Draft
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas
Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS). This supplement to the Draft
Supplemental EIS/OEIS will address a change in the Study Area and the
addition of a new Continental Shelf and Slope Mitigation Area.
DATES: The supplement to the Draft Supplemental EIS public review
period will begin March 18, 2022, and end on May 2, 2022. Comments may
be submitted by U.S. mail or electronically via the project website as
detailed below.
ADDRESSES: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Attention:
GOA Supplemental EIS/OEIS Project Manager, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite
203, Silverdale, Washington 98315-1101, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7000021f1a1513041d111e1117150230171f111519035e131f1d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0e7e7c61646b6d7a636f606f696b7c4e69616f6b677d206d6163">[email protected]</span></a>.
Written comments can be submitted via the electronic comment form
at <a href="http://www.GOAEIS.com">http://www.GOAEIS.com</a> or by mailing them to: Naval Facilities
Engineering Systems Command Northwest, Attention: GOA Supplemental EIS/
OEIS Project Manager, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203, Silverdale, WA
98315-1101. All comments must be received or postmarked by May 2, 2022,
to ensure they become part of the official record.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: With the filing of the supplement to the
Draft
[[Page 15415]]
Supplemental EIS/OEIS, the DoN is initiating a 45-day public comment
period. Federal, state, and local agencies and interested parties are
encouraged to provide written comments on the supplement to the Draft
Supplemental EIS anytime during the public comment period. This notice
announces the opportunity to review and comment on the Draft
Supplemental EIS, and provides supplementary information about the
environmental planning effort.
All comments submitted during the public review period will become
part of the public record and will be responded to in the Final
Supplemental EIS/OEIS. All public comments received during the Draft
Supplemental EIS/OEIS comment period (December 11, 2020, through
February 16, 2021) are still valid and will be considered in the Final
Supplemental EIS/OEIS for this action. Previously submitted comments
need not be resubmitted.
Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the NEPA, regulations implemented
by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and
Presidential Executive Order 12114, the DoN announced its intent to
prepare a supplement to the 2011 GOA Navy Training Activities EIS/OEIS
and 2016 GOA Navy Training Activities Supplemental EIS/OEIS in the
Federal Register (FR) on February 10, 2020 (85 FR 7538), and invited
the public to comment on the scope of the Supplemental EIS/OEIS. A
Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS was subsequently released on December 11,
2020 (85 FR 80093), in which the potential environmental effects
associated with military readiness training activities conducted within
the GOA Study Area were evaluated.
Since the release of the Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS on December
11, 2020, the DoN recognized that the size and shape of the Temporary
Maritime Activities Area (TMAA) in the Gulf of Alaska no longer
provides sufficient space for the realistic maneuvering of vessels and
aircraft during training exercises. The DoN announced its intent to
prepare a supplement to the December 2020 GOA Navy Training Activities
Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS on February 1, 2022 (87 FR 5472). Proposed
changes to the Study Area include additional airspace and sea space to
the west and south of the TMAA. The area is referred to as the Western
Maneuver Area and adds approximately 185,806 square nautical miles to
the Study Area. This additional space would enable Navy personnel and
units to practice more realistic, complex training scenarios in a
safer, more efficient manner that would better prepare them to respond
to real-world incidents. The TMAA (approximately 42,146 square nautical
miles) would remain unchanged and any activities involving active sonar
or explosives would, as in the past, occur in this area only. The DoN
is not proposing new or increased number of training activities in the
Western Maneuver Area, only an expansion of the area the Navy may use
for vessel and aircraft maneuvering purposes during exercises. The
number of vessels, aircraft, underway steaming hours, events, and
flight times remains the same. Although the Study Area has expanded,
the conclusions regarding potential impacts have not significantly
changed from the 2020 Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS.
In direct response to agency, tribal, and public comments, the DoN
also proposes implementing a new mitigation area within the continental
shelf and slope area of the TMAA (approximately 14,600 square nautical
miles). The DoN would expand its mitigation measures for explosives
detonated at or near the surface and prohibit the use of explosives
during training (up to 10,000 feet altitude) in areas of less than
4,000 meter depth to protect marine species and biologically important
habitat. The DoN anticipates the implementation of the proposed
mitigation area would reduce impacts on marine mammals, fish, and
marine birds.
Dated: March 14, 2022.
J.M. Pike,
Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, Federal Register
Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-05655 Filed 3-17-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P
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