[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 178 (Monday, September 15, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 53969]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-23340]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Notice of Availability of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense 
Initial Defensive Operations Capability at Vandenberg Air Force Base 
Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY Missile Defense Agency, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of the Missile Defense 
Agency's (MDA) Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Initial Defensive 
Operations Capability (IDOC) at Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and Draft Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI). The EA analyzes the potential environmental 
consequences of establishing the capability to launch defensive ground-
based interceptors (GBIs) from Vandenberg AFB, California. The Proposed 
Action would use and/or modify four existing missile silos and other 
support facilities as part of the GMD IDOC. The GMD IDOC activities 
would be operational and not test in nature. Operational launches would 
only occur in an emergency as an initial defense against a limited 
long-range ballistic missile threat. Based on this analysis, the MDA 
has determined that the proposed activities are not expected to result 
in significant impacts to the environment. The EA and Draft FONSI are 
available at the following locations:
    [sbull] Lompoc Public Library;
    [sbull] Santa Barbara Public Library (Main);
    [sbull] Santa Maria Public Library; and
    [sbull] University of California, Santa Barbara Library Government 
Publications Department.

DATES: A FONSI will be issued no earlier than October 16, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the document or to provide comments 
on the EA should be addressed to: U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense 
Command, Attn: SMDC-EN-V (Mr. David Hasley), P.O. Box 1500, Huntsville, 
AL 35807-3801, or by phone at 1-800-823-8823.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please call Mr. Rick Lehner, MDA 
Director of Communications at (703) 697-8997.

    Dated: September 9, 2003.
L.M. Bynum,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 03-23340 Filed 9-12-03; 8:45 am]
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