[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14556-14557]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-6186]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Fort Bliss, TX and New 
Mexico, Mission and Master Plan Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (PEIS)

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This announces the availability of the Fort Bliss Mission and 
Master Plan Final PEIS. The Final PEIS describes potential 
environmental impacts and mitigation actions associated with land use 
and management proposals regarding installation assets, capabilities, 
and infrastructure to support current and future missions. These 
proposed decisions are reflected in the Real Property Master Plan, the 
Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan, the Integrated Cultural 
Resources Management Plan, and land use designations and activities 
designated in the Training Area Development Concept and other 
installation initiatives.

DATES: The review period for the Final PEIS will end 30 days after 
publication of the NOA in the Federal Register by the U. S. 
Environmental Protection Agency.

ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the Final PEIS, contact Dr. Brian Locke, 
U. S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center and Fort Bliss, Directorate of 
the Environment, ATTN: ATZC-DOC-C (PEIS), Building 624 North, 
Pleasonton Road, Fort Bliss, TX 79916-6812, or 
e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Brian Locke at (915) 568-3016.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final PEIS includes analyses of the 
environmental consequences that each of four alternatives may have on 
land use, infrastructure, airspace, earth resources, air quality, water 
resources, biological resources, cultural resources, noise, safety, 
hazardous materials, socioeconomics, and environmental justice. The 
findings indicate that potential environmental impacts from each 
alternative may include changes to land use, increased soil erosion, 
and impacts to biological and cultural resources. Cumulative impacts 
may occur to land use, biological resources, soils, and water 
resources. The level of military training use may increase under 
Alternatives 2 and 3. Improved cultural and natural resource management 
practices are proposed within their respective management plans and are 
expected to reduce the impacts of military training.
    Public comment regarding environmental impacts centered on two 
principal issues: (1) Continuing availability of public access to the 
training complex for a variety of recreational and non-military 
purposes; and (2) impacts to vegetation and other natural resources 
arising from military training activities.
    The alternatives to No Action (no implementation of Army short- and 
long-range plans or resource management plans, the current Fort Bliss 
missions, certain planned developments, and on-going maintenance 
activity) considered in this Final PEIS are as follows:
    Alternative 1 incorporates the current missions assigned to Fort 
Bliss as described in the No Action Alternative. Beyond this, 
Alternative 1 would adopt recent updates to components of the Fort 
Bliss Real Property Master Plan, which includes the Long-range 
Component, Short-range Component, the Power Projection Platform Capital 
Investment Strategy, and informal modifications to the Mobilization 
Component. Also to be adopted under Alternative 1 are the Integrated 
Natural Resources Management Plan, the Integrated Cultural Resource 
Management Plan and a supplement to the Long-range Component. This 
includes adoption of a definitive training area land use plan for the 
Fort Bliss Training Complex as designated in Chapter 3.0--Current 
Conditions, of the Fort Bliss Training Area Development Concept. 
Adoption of these plans would authorize the steps leading to program 
and appropriate project implementation as described in the Final PEIS.
    Alternative 2 includes all actions in Alternative 1 and 
additionally would increase, by approximately 13.5 square miles, the 
availability of controlled access Field Training Exercise sites on the 
McGregor Range portion of the Fort Bliss Training Complex. If 
Alternative 2 is adopted programmatically, environmental impacts of 
these additional proposed Field Training Exercise sites will be 
specifically evaluated in a separate environmental

[[Page 14557]]

document(s) that may be tiered from this Final PEIS.
    Alternative 3 is the Army's preferred alternative and includes all 
actions in Alternatives 1 and 2 and additionally would adopt the 
training uses of the Fort Bliss Training Complex as presented in 
Chapter 4.0--Future Development Concept, of the Fort Bliss Training 
Area Development Concept. If approved programmatically, evaluation of 
specific projects proposed in the future will be evaluated in a 
separate environmental document(s).
    The revised Long-range Component of the Fort Bliss Real Property 
Master Plan, the Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan, the 
Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan, and the Training Area 
Development Concept are available for review in the following 
libraries: El Paso Public Library Main Library, 501 North, Oregon 
Street, El Paso, TX; Irving Schwartz Branch, El Paso Public Library, 
1865 Dean Martin Drive, El Paso, TX; Westside Branch, El Paso Public 
Library, 125 Belvidere Street, El Paso, TX; Branigan Memorial Library, 
200 E Picacho Avenue, Las Cruces, NM; Library, Dell City, TX; Library, 
920 Oregon, Alamogordo, NM; New Mexico State University Branson 
Library, Frenger at Williams, Las Cruces, NM; New Mexico State 
University, Roswell, Library, 52 University Boulevard, Roswell, NM; 
University of Texas at El Paso Library, 500 West University Avenue, El 
Paso, TX; and Library, 20 Curfew Place, Cloudcroft, NM.

    Dated: March 7, 2001.
Raymond J. Fatz,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, (Environment, Safety and 
Occupational Health) OASA(I&E).
[FR Doc. 01-6186 Filed 3-12-01; 8:45 am]
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