[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 161 (Friday, August 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51957-51958]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-21216]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Navy
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
the Medical Facilities Development and University Expansion at Naval
Support Activity Bethesda, Bethesda, Maryland and To Announce Public
Scoping Meetings
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, the regulations implemented by the Council
on Environmental Quality (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] parts
1500-1508), the Department of the Navy (DoN) announces its intent to
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the
potential environmental effects associated with the proposed actions at
Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bethesda to implement the Congressional
mandate in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA) to achieve the new statutory world-class standards for military
medicine at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at
Bethesda (WRNMMCB) by providing enduring facilities commensurate in
quality, capability and condition as those provided by the Base
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) investment and address the space and
operational limitations at the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences (USUHS). The proposed actions, which will enhance and
support but not add to the missions of the installation, medical center
or USUHS, include: (1) The demolition of five (5) hospital buildings
and reconstruction of a single 5-story facility and associated parking
garage, utility capacity upgrades, and temporary medical facilities to
provide uninterrupted patient care during construction (Medical
Facilities Development) and (2) the expansion of the USUHS and
associated parking garage.
These proposed actions are two components of the 2012 NSA Bethesda
Master Plan that the DoN is currently updating and this EIS analyzes
the implementation of these components. The 2012 NSA Bethesda Master
Plan reflects ongoing projects previously considered under NEPA as well
as potential future development opportunities at NSA Bethesda. The EIS
will evaluate the cumulative effects of the proposed actions in the
context of the known, ongoing activities and identify the potential
programmatic effects of the proposed actions in the context of the
potential future development opportunities. Therefore, the EIS will
analyze the environmental effects of the 2012 NSA Bethesda Master Plan
relative to the implementation of the proposed actions in this EIS. For
the potential future development opportunities, the DoN will ensure the
appropriate NEPA review is completed at such time as the projects are
proposed for implementation.
The proposed actions at NSA Bethesda consist of: (1) The Medical
Facilities Development, which includes demolition of Buildings 2, 4, 6,
7, and 8 and construction of a single, 5-story replacement building in
the medical center core, construction of an associated parking garage,
utility capacity upgrades, construction of temporary medical facilities
to maintain uninterrupted patient care during construction, and
internal renovations to Buildings 1, 3, 5, 9, and 10; and (2) the
University Expansion, which includes construction of a new classroom/
research facility and associated parking garage at USUHS. The proposed
actions would not add to the existing missions at NSA Bethesda and
would occur subsequent to the 2005 BRAC Law mandated relocation of the
Walter Reed Army Medical Center's (WRAMC) tertiary (sub-specialty and
complex care) medical services to National Naval Medical Center (NNMC)
at NSA Bethesda in September 2011. With the relocation, the NNMC will
be renamed the WRNMMCB.
NSA Bethesda is the action proponent and the DoN is the lead agency
for the proposed actions. Joint Task Force National Capital Region
Medical (JTF CapMed), NNMC, and USUHS, are tenants of NSA Bethesda and
are the stakeholders for these activities.
The DoN is initiating a 45-day public scoping period to identify
community interests and specific issues to be addressed in the EIS. The
public scoping period starts with the publication of this Notice of
Intent. The DoN will hold two public scoping meetings to inform the
public of the proposed actions and receive comments.
Comments, both written and oral, will be collected at each of the
two public scoping meetings. Each of the public scoping meetings will
consist of an open house session followed by a live presentation and an
opportunity for the public to present their comments. To ensure that
the full range of issues related to the proposed actions will be
addressed, representatives from the DoN will be available to solicit
comments from all interested parties during the public scoping
meetings. Following future publication of the draft EIS, at a time to
be determined, further public meetings will be held to address comments
on the draft document.
Dates and Addresses: The two public scoping meetings will be held
on the following dates:
1. Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Bethesda
Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
2. Monday, September 12, 2011, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Bethesda Marriott,
5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
Additional information concerning meeting times and locations are
available on the NSA Bethesda Web site at: http://www.bethesda.med.navy.mil/nsa/eis.aspx. Public scoping meeting
schedules and locations will also be announced in local newspapers.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandy Dean, NSA Bethesda Public
Affairs Office; e-mail: [email protected]; telephone
number: 301-295-5727.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NSA Bethesda is a 243-acre health care,
medical education and research installation located in Bethesda in
Montgomery County, Maryland and is the home of the world renowned NNMC.
The installation provides logistical and service support to all of its
tenant commands, including JTF
[[Page 51958]]
CapMed, NNMC, and USUHS. In September 2011, with the completion of 2005
BRAC mandated relocation of WRAMC tertiary medical services to NNMC and
its transformation to WRNMMCB, the facility will become the premier DoD
medical center offering intensive and complex specialty and
subspecialty medical services for the most seriously injured personnel
from all military services. WRNMMCB and USUHS will also provide
training and post-graduate level education to the military medical
community and serve as a critical medical research center.
The purpose of the Medical Facilities Development is to implement
the Congressional mandate from the FY2010 National Defense
Authorization Act to achieve the new statutory world-class standards
for military medicine at the WRNMMCB by providing enduring facilities
commensurate in quality, capability and condition as those provided by
the BRAC investment. The Medical Facilities Development is needed
because current space is insufficient to meet world class standards
such as decompression to single occupancy patient rooms, a state-of-
the-art simulation center, and a health innovation center. The purpose
of, and need for, the Medical Facilities Development was identified
subsequent to the programming for BRAC 2005, which was specifically
designed to accommodate the transfer of WRAMC to WRNMMCB and was never
intended to address the mission capability or functionality of the
existing infrastructure.
The primary purpose of the University Expansion is to address the
significant space and operational limitations that exist for education
and research activities due to the fragmented, aging, and inefficient
infrastructure and enable USUHS to serve as the core academic health
research center at WRNMMCB. The University Expansion is needed because
the USUHS operations are currently fragmented between off-site leased
space in Montgomery County, Maryland and other dispersed buildings on
NSA Bethesda. Additionally, the University Expansion will address the
most recent Liaison Committee on Medical Education accreditation
requirements, and provide adequate education and research space to meet
Military Health System commitments to deliver training and post-
graduate level education to the military medical community.
The Medical Facilities Development resulted from an iterative
planning process which resulted in the Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP)
developed by JTF CapMed in response to the FY10 NDAA Congressional
mandate, which identified and evaluated alternatives based on the
departmental needs anticipated at the WRNMMCB after the completion of
the BRAC-mandated relocations in September 2011. The CMP development
process identified the proposed action as the best approach to meet the
Congressional mandate for world class facilities commensurate in
quality, capability and condition with the BRAC investment. The Medical
Facilities Development, as described in the CMP, entails demolition of
Buildings 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 (approximately 326,000 square feet (SF)) of
and construction of a single, 5-story facility totaling approximately
563,000 SF in the same basic footprint. The Medical Facilities
Development also proposes utilities and power capacity upgrades,
internal renovations in Buildings 1, 3, 5, 9 and 10, and the use of the
northwest parking lot for temporary medical facilities to maintain
uninterrupted patient care during the construction period.
The Medical Facilities Development also proposes, in the lawn in
front of Building 1, the construction of an approximately 203,000 SF,
500-space underground parking garage, which in addition to the medical
center, will serve the overall parking needs at NSA Bethesda. The EIS
will analyze three alternative sites at NSA Bethesda for the
underground parking garage: The warehouse area in the northeast corner,
the Taylor Road site in the northeast area, and H-Lot in the south
area, respectively.
The EIS will consider two alternative sites for the University
Expansion: Alternative 1 and Alternative 2 are south and west,
respectively, of the existing USUHS campus. Under either of the
alternative sites, the University Expansion would entail an
approximately 341,000 SF education and research facility and an
approximately 144,000 SF, 400-space parking structure that will serve
USUHS and the overall parking needs across NSA Bethesda.
The EIS will also consider the No Action Alternative, which will
evaluate the impact at NSA Bethesda in the event that the proposed
actions do not occur.
The EIS will address the potential impacts of the proposed actions
on the number of staff, patients, and visitors at NSA Bethesda. In
addition, the EIS will evaluate the potential direct, indirect, short-
term, long-term, and cumulative impacts to the human and natural
environment, to include potential impacts to topography, geology, and
soils; water resources, biological resources, air quality, noise,
infrastructure and utilities, traffic and transportation, cultural
resources, land use, socioeconomics, environmental justice, and public
health and safety. Known areas of concern associated with proposed
actions include providing the required space and facilities at NSA
Bethesda in consideration of historic characteristics of the
installation, and the impact to local traffic and on-base parking
associated with personnel and patient visits. Other recent changes at,
and in the vicinity of, NSA Bethesda will be evaluated to ensure
consideration of the cumulative impacts of the proposed actions in the
context of the ongoing and programmed projects as well as reasonably
foreseeable projects identified in the 2012 Master Plan.
The EIS will also consider the 2012 NSA Bethesda Master Plan
relative to the implementation of the Medical Facilities Development
and University Expansion. The EIS will evaluate the cumulative impacts
of the proposed actions in the context of the programmed projects
already in progress and the programmatic effects of the potential
future development opportunities identified in the 2012 NSA Bethesda
Master Plan.
The DoN encourages agencies and the public to provide written
comments in addition to, or in lieu of, oral comments at the public
scoping meetings. To be most helpful, comments should clearly describe
specific issues or topics that the EIS should address. Written comments
must be postmarked within 45 days of the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register and should be mailed to the address
below. Comments may also be submitted via e-mail and/or the Web site
listed below, within 45 days of the date of publication of this notice
in the Federal Register. Requests for inclusion on the EIS mailing list
may also be submitted to: Sandy Dean, NSA Bethesda Public Affairs
Office, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20889; via e-mail at
[email protected]; via telephone at 301-295-5727; or
visit the project Web site at http://www.bethesda.med.navy.mil/nsa/eis.aspx.
Dated: August 15, 2011.
J.M. Beal,
Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011-21216 Filed 8-18-11; 8:45 am]
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