[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 50 (Thursday, March 14, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16257-16259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05837]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Notice of Intent To Prepare the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands Joint Military Training Environmental Impact Statement/
Overseas Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section (102)(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as implemented by the Council on 
Environmental Quality Regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations parts 
1500-1508), and Executive Order 12114, and United States (U.S.) Marine 
Corps NEPA implementing regulations in Marine Corps Order P5090.2A, 
Marine Corps Forces, Pacific (MARFORPAC), as the Executive Agent 
designated by the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), announces its intent to 
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas EIS (OEIS) to 
evaluate the potential impacts associated with preliminary alternatives 
for meeting PACOM Service Components' unfilled unit level and combined 
level military training requirements in the Western Pacific. The 
proposed action is to establish a series of live-fire and maneuver 
Ranges and Training Areas (RTAs) within the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to meet this purpose.
    Existing Department of Defense (DoD) RTAs and support facilities in 
the Western Pacific, particularly those in the Mariana Islands, are 
insufficient to support PACOM Service Components' U.S. Code (U.S.C.) 
Title 10 training requirements for the region. The expansion of 
existing RTAs and construction of new RTAs will satisfy identified 
training deficiencies for PACOM forces that are based in or regularly 
train in the CNMI. These RTAs will be available to U.S. forces and 
their allies on a continuous and uninterrupted schedule. These RTAs are 
needed to support ongoing operational requirements, changes to U.S. 
force structure and geographic positioning of forces, and U.S. training 
relationships with allied nations.
    MARFORPAC, as the Executive Agent, has invited the Federal Aviation 
Administration (FAA); International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB); U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers; National Marine Fisheries Service; U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service; and U.S. Department of Interior, Office of 
Insular Affairs, to participate as cooperating agencies in the 
preparation of the EIS/OEIS. MARFORPAC has also developed a Memorandum 
of Understanding with the military services regarding their support and 
engagement in the development of the EIS/OEIS.
    MARFORPAC encourages governmental agencies, private-sector 
organizations, and the general public to participate in the NEPA 
process for the EIS/OEIS. MARFORPAC is initiating the scoping process 
for the EIS/OEIS with this Notice of Intent (NOI). Scoping assists 
MARFORPAC in identifying community concerns and specific issues to be 
addressed in the EIS/OEIS. All interested parties are invited to attend 
the scoping meetings and are encouraged to provide comments. MARFORPAC 
will consider these comments in determining the scope of the EIS/OEIS.

DATES: Three public scoping meetings, using an open-house format, will 
be held on the following dates and locations in the CNMI:

     Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Dandan 
Elementary School Cafeteria, Dandan Road, Dandan, Saipan, CNMI 96960
     Thursday, April 11, 2013, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tinian 
Gym, San Jose, Tinian, CNMI 96950
     Friday, April 12, 2013, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Carolinian 
Utt, Garapan, Saipan, CNMI 96960

    Concurrent with the NEPA process, MARFORPAC is initiating National 
Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Consultation to determine the 
potential effects of the proposed action on historic properties. During 
each of the above meetings, MARFORPAC will hold Section 106 meetings in 
a separate area where subject matter experts will explain the Section 
106 process and solicit public input on the identification of historic 
properties and potential effects of the proposed action on historic 
properties.
    Comments on the proposed action and preliminary alternatives may be 
submitted during the 45-day public scoping comment period. Comments 
should be postmarked or received by April 29, 2013, Chamorro Standard 
Time (ChST). There are three ways to submit written comments: (1) 
providing comments at one of the public scoping meetings; (2) 
submitting comments through the project Web site: 
www.cnmijointmilitarytrainingeis.com; and (3) mailing comments to the 
following address: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific, Attn: 
EV21, CNMI Joint Military Training EIS/OEIS Project Manager, 258 
Makalapa Drive, Suite 100, JBPHH, HI 96860-3134.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please visit the project Web site or 
contact the CNMI Joint Military Training EIS/OEIS Project Manager by 
telephone at 808-472-1253 or by email via the project Web site. Please 
submit requests for special assistance, sign language interpretation 
for the hearing impaired, or other auxiliary aids needed at the public 
scoping open house to the Project Manager by March 25, 2013.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. military is charged with upholding 
the U.S. Constitution, defending the United

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States from all enemies foreign and domestic, and honoring commitments 
made in treaties and other international agreements. In particular, 
five of the seven treaties of mutual defense involve the Western 
Pacific. In order to accomplish these missions, Title 10 of the U.S.C. 
requires the Services to maintain, train, and equip combat-ready forces 
capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom 
of the seas. Modern warfare and security operations are complex 
undertakings, and U.S. military personnel must train regularly to 
maintain the necessary skills required to accomplish their 
constitutional and statutory mandates.
    Beginning in 2009 with the Institute for Defense Analyses' (IDA) 
``Department of Defense Training in the Pacific Study,'' and 
culminating in the January 2013 DoN Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands Joint Military Training Requirements and Siting Study 
(RSS), DoD has documented joint military training deficiencies 
throughout the PACOM Area of Responsibility (AOR), and specifically 
within the CNMI. The 2009 IDA Study examined training capabilities 
utilized by the DoD in the PACOM AOR and concluded that current 
training deficiencies exist. The IDA study examined several potential 
solutions and concluded that the Mariana Islands' strategic location in 
the PACOM AOR makes these islands a prime location to support forces 
throughout the AOR. The IDA Study recommended that planning be 
initiated to analyze the ability to construct new, or expand existing 
training capabilities and support facilities in the Mariana Islands.
    The need for joint service training in the Western Pacific was also 
recognized in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Specifically, 
the QDR concluded that the U.S. should develop additional training 
capabilities for joint and combined forces in the Western Pacific to 
assure readiness of U.S. forces to carry out military operations as 
well as humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and maritime 
security. Furthermore, the QDR found that the available land within 
U.S. jurisdiction in the Pacific provided the potential for leveraging 
U.S. engagement with allied and partner militaries to build 
multilateral security relationships and operational capacity among the 
countries of the region.
    The April 2012 DoN Training Needs Assessment: An Assessment of 
Current Training Ranges and Supporting Facilities in the U.S. Pacific 
Command Area of Responsibility further examined training deficiencies 
in the Western Pacific by dividing the PACOM AOR into four independent 
geographic areas or ``hubs'' representing the largest concentrations of 
U.S. forces: Japan (including Okinawa), Korea, Hawaii, and the Mariana 
Islands (Guam/CNMI). The assessment confirmed the earlier findings that 
the greatest number of training deficiencies exists in the Mariana 
Islands hub. The CNMI's criticality to providing an environment for 
joint training and stabilizing influence in the PACOM AOR was 
specifically mentioned in the April 2012 2+2 Statement between Japan 
and the U.S. wherein both nations expressed a keen desire to improve 
training capabilities in the CNMI.
    The January 2013 RSS continued the analysis by focusing on those 
deficiencies found in the Mariana Islands and specifically in the CNMI. 
Service training operates on a crawl-walk-run continuum progressing 
from individual skills, to unit level to combined level training. The 
majority of individual skills training will be accomplished outside of 
the CNMI. The 42 unfilled training requirements documented in the 
January 2013 RSS are for unit level and combined level training. Unit 
level training consists of troops with similar military occupational 
specialties training on both live-fire and maneuver ranges to develop 
the skills necessary for the unit to carry out its mission. Combined 
level arms training brings several units together working as a team 
towards a single objective. Combined level training also involves 
maneuver and use of live-fire ranges and training areas; however, 
because of the greater number of units and tasks, this training 
requires larger areas. Because of the nature of unit and combined level 
training, along with the frequency of this training, separate range 
complexes are required to support each type of training.
    The RSS further defined and developed the purpose and need for the 
proposed action of improving military training capabilities; refined 
and applied operational siting criteria for assessing preliminary 
alternatives within the CNMI; and applied those criteria to potential 
candidate locations within the CNMI in order to meet PACOM Service 
Components' unfilled training requirements. Of the 14 CNMI islands, the 
RSS found that only Tinian and Pagan are capable of meeting unit level 
and combined level screening criteria, and could potentially satisfy 
most of the unfilled training requirements for the CNMI. Neither Tinian 
nor Pagan can support all identified unfilled training requirements 
alone; however, in combination they present a variety of preliminary 
alternative RTA configurations.
    Preliminary Alternatives: As part of this scoping effort, MARFORPAC 
has developed preliminary alternatives on the islands of Tinian and 
Pagan to meet the requisite training capabilities and capacity. The 
EIS/OEIS will also consider any other reasonable alternatives that are 
identified during the scoping period. MARFORPAC seeks to minimize 
impacts to non-DoD lands and the environment by establishing multi-
purpose ranges with overlapping impact areas and surface danger zones, 
where possible, on existing DoD-controlled lands.
    Preliminary alternatives are the improvement, development, and use 
of existing and new military training areas on the islands of Tinian 
and Pagan, to include surrounding U.S. and international water and 
airspace. With regards to Tinian, preliminary alternatives for unit 
level training consider laydowns with and without relocating the IBB 
Voice of America facility. To date, all Tinian preliminary alternatives 
require the use of all military leased land, including that which has 
been leased-back to the CNMI government for agricultural uses. For 
Pagan, all the preliminary alternatives for combined-level training 
propose using the entire island for military purposes.
    Special use airspace will be needed over any island proposed for 
RTAs and MARFORPAC, as Executive Agent, will seek designation of such 
airspace in coordination with FAA once a Record of Decision has been 
completed for the EIS/OEIS. In addition, maritime danger zones may be 
required along the coastlines adjacent to DoD-controlled property.
    Under the No Action Alternative, the proposed RTAs would not be 
constructed on the islands of Tinian and Pagan. The identified training 
deficit would persist and the existing Western Pacific RTAs would 
remain insufficient to support PACOM Service Components' Title 10 
training requirements for the region. The No Action Alternative would 
continue current training activities, which include limited non-
tactical live-fire and other non-live fire training, including 
amphibious warfare and urban warfare activities that are currently 
approved by DoD Service Components on Tinian and Pagan, as well as the 
other approved existing RTAs within the CNMI, as well as development of 
the four ranges on Tinian that were the subject of the 2010 Guam EIS 
Record of Decision. The No

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Action Alternative does not meet the purpose and need of the proposed 
action.
    Environmental Issues and Resources To Be Examined: After scoping is 
complete, the EIS/OEIS analysis will evaluate potential environmental 
impacts associated with each alternative selected for full analysis. 
Issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to, noise, cultural 
resources, transportation, utilities, socioeconomics, biological 
resources, geology and soils, water quality, air quality, airspace, 
land use, recreation, safety, hazardous materials and waste, visual 
resources, and environmental justice.
    Resources, activities, and issues identified through the scoping 
process will be considered in the EIS/OEIS. The analysis will include 
an evaluation of direct and indirect impacts and will account for 
cumulative impacts from other relevant past, present and reasonably 
foreseeable future actions in the Mariana Islands.
    Agency Consultations: MARFORPAC, as Executive Agent, will undertake 
appropriate consultations with regulatory entities pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Coastal 
Zone Management Act, Clean Water Act, and other applicable laws or 
regulations. Consultation may include, but will not be limited to, the 
following federal, state, and local agencies: U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, National Park Service, CNMI Historic Preservation Office, 
and the CNMI Coastal Resources Management Office.
    Schedule: This NOI initiates a 45-day scoping comment period to 
identify issues to be addressed in the EIS/OEIS and reasonable and 
feasible alternatives to implement the proposed action. The next step 
in the NEPA process occurs with publication of a Notice of Availability 
(NOA) in the Federal Register and local media, announcing release of 
the Draft EIS/OEIS and commencement of a 45-day public comment period. 
A notice will be published in local newspapers to advertise public 
scoping meetings for the project during the 45-day comment period. 
MARFORPAC, as the Executive Agent, will consider and respond to all 
comments received on the Draft EIS/OEIS when preparing the Final EIS/
OEIS. MARFORPAC, as the Executive Agent, intends to issue the Final 
EIS/OEIS in late 2015, at which time an NOA will be published in the 
Federal Register and local media. The NOA will initiate a 30-day 
waiting period, after which the Assistant Secretary of the Navy will 
issue a Record of Decision.

    Dated: March 8, 2013.
C.K. Chiappetta,
Lieutenant Commander, Office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy, 
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-05837 Filed 3-13-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P