[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 123 (Thursday, June 26, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36297-36298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14733]



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment for Army 2020 
Force Structure Realignment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army has completed a Supplemental 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA) for Army force structure 
realignment and is making a draft Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FNSI) available for public comment. The draft FNSI incorporates the 
SPEA, which does not identify any significant environmental impacts 
from the proposed action, with the exception of socioeconomic impacts 
at most installations. The draft FNSI concludes that preparation of an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not required.
    Current budgetary projections require the Army to analyze the 
reduction of active component end strength below the 490,000 Soldier 
reduction analyzed in the January 2013 Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment for Army 2020 Force Structure Realignment (PEA) as the 
further reductions exceed the scope of the 2013 PEA analysis. The SPEA 
builds on the foundation of the 2013 PEA and assesses the impacts of a 
potential reduction of an additional 70,000 Soldiers and associated 
reductions in Army civilians, down to an Active Component end-strength 
of 420,000 Soldiers. These reductions are necessary to achieve the 
savings required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
    Nearly all Army installations will be affected in some way by 
additional reductions. The 2013 PEA evaluated 21 Army and joint base 
installations. With the deeper reductions now anticipated, the Army 
must consider nine additional installations that could experience 
reductions of 1,000 or more Active Component Soldiers and/or Army 
civilians.
    The SPEA does not identify any significant environmental impacts 
anticipated as a result of implementing the proposed action, with the 
exception of socioeconomic impacts at most installations; consequently, 
the preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required.

DATES: Submit comments on or before August 25, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: U.S. Army Environmental 
Command, ATTN: SPEA Public Comments, 2450 Connell Road (Building 2264), 
Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-7664; email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact the U.S. Army 
Environmental Command Public Affairs Office, (210) 466-1590 or toll-
free 855-846-3940, or email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2013, the Army announced a reduction of 
its force from a war time peak of about 570,000 in 2010 to 490,000, as 
well as a substantial realignment of the remaining force. These changes 
were required to achieve the savings specified in the Budget Control 
Act of 2011 and to adjust force structure to meet evolving mission 
requirements. To analyze their potential environmental and 
socioeconomic impacts, the Army prepared the 2013 PEA. Since the 2013 
PEA was completed, however, Department of Defense mission and fiscal 
considerations have continued to change, and the future end-strength of 
the Army must be reduced below the 490,000 covered by the 2013 PEA. The 
2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) states that the active Army will 
reduce to a force of 440,000-450,000 Soldiers. The 2014 QDR also states 
if sequestration-level cuts are imposed in FY 2016 and beyond, Active 
Component end-strength would be reduced to 420,000. As a result, the 
Army has prepared a SPEA, building on the information and analysis 
contained in the 2013 PEA, to assess the environmental and 
socioeconomic impacts of further reductions and to provide information 
to decision makers and the public.
    The installations that could experience reductions of 1,000 or more 
Active Component Soldiers and/or Army civilians--the appropriate 
threshold for inclusion of installations at the programmatic level of 
analysis--and which are specifically analyzed in the SPEA are Aberdeen 
Proving Ground, MD; Fort Belvoir, VA; Fort Benning, GA; Fort Bliss, TX; 
Fort Bragg, NC; Fort Campbell, KY; Fort Carson, CO; Fort Drum, NY; Fort 
Gordon, GA; Fort Hood, TX; Fort Huachuca, AZ; Fort Irwin, CA; Fort 
Jackson, SC; Fort Knox, KY; Fort Leavenworth, KS; Fort Lee, VA; Fort 
Leonard Wood, MO; Fort Meade, MD; Fort Polk, LA; Fort Riley, KS; Fort 
Rucker, AL; Fort Sill, OK; Fort Stewart, GA; Fort Wainwright, AK; Joint 
Base Elmendorf-Richardson, AK; Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA; Joint 
Base Lewis-McChord, WA; Joint Base San Antonio--Fort Sam Houston, TX; 
and, United States Army Garrison Hawaii (Fort Shafter and Schofield 
Barracks), HI. The SPEA provides an assessment of the possible direct, 
indirect, and cumulative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the 
greatest combined Soldier and Army civilian reductions being considered 
at each installation.
    In addition to the action alternative, the Army also evaluated a No 
Action Alternative. The No Action Alternative reflects the FY 2012 
force structure and retains the Army at the FY 2012 authorized end-
strength of about 562,000 Active Component Soldiers and 320,000 Army 
civilians. While some reductions have already been decided on since the 
April 2013 FNSI was signed, based on the 2013 PEA, the No Action 
Alternative in the SPEA allows for a comparison of baseline conditions 
with the environmental impacts of the action alternative.
    Environmental resource areas associated with the implementation of 
the proposed action, and therefore analyzed in the SPEA, are air 
quality, airspace, cultural resources, noise, soils, biological 
resources, wetlands, water resources, facilities, socioeconomics, 
energy demand and generation, land use, hazardous materials and waste, 
and traffic and transportation. Although no installations were 
identified as having potentially significant impacts to environmental 
resources should the full reductions be implemented, the SPEA concludes 
that most installations would have significant socioeconomic impacts.
    As was the case for the 2013 PEA, the reductions assessed in the 
SPEA are not tied to specific units. Options to achieve this additional 
force restructure are too numerous for analysis at this time; 
therefore, analysis of reductions related to specific units or 
organizations are not within the programmatic scope of the SPEA. During 
the force structure decision process, the Army will identify those 
units and organizations to be affected by reductions over the 2015-2020 
timeframe so as to meet the Army's national security mission and 
operate within a constrained fiscal environment.
    The SPEA and draft FNSI may be accessed at: http://aec.army.mil/Services/Support/NEPA/Documents.aspx. Also, in approximately one week 
after publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register 
by the Department of the Army, copies of the SPEA and draft FNSI will 
be available in various public libraries near the affected 
installations. Although the Army's NEPA regulations generally only 
require a 30-day public comment

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period, this public comment period will be 60 days.

Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2014-14733 Filed 6-25-14; 8:45 am]
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