[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 136 (Friday, July 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 46069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16686]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Extension of Public Comment Period for Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Continental United States Interceptor Site

AGENCY: Missile Defense Agency, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of public comment period extension.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce an extension to the 
45-day public comment period of the Notice of Availability for the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the potential deployment 
of a Continental United States (CONUS) Interceptor Site (CIS) published 
by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on May 31, 2016 (81 FR 34315-
34316). The public comment period is extended 30 days and ends on 
August 17, 2016.

DATES: The extended 75-day public comment period for the Draft EIS 
began on June 3, 2016, with the publication of the Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register by the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (81 FR 35761-35762), and with this extension, will 
end on August 17, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft EIS should be received by August 17, 
2016 by one of the following methods:
     Mail: U.S. Postal Service to: Black & Veatch Special 
Projects Corp. Attn: MDA CIS EIS, 6800 W. 115th Street, Suite 2200, 
Overland Park, KS 66211-2420.
     Email: [email protected].
    Public comments on the Draft EIS are requested pursuant to the 
NEPA. All written comments received during the comment period will 
become part of the public record. Providing private address information 
with your comment is voluntary and such personal information will be 
kept confidential unless release is required by law. All comments 
received by the public, including at public meetings, will be addressed 
in the Final EIS. A NOA will be published notifying the public of the 
final EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Christopher Johnson, MDA Public 
Affairs, at 571-231-8212, or by email: mda.info@mda.mil">mda.info@mda.mil. For more 
information, including a downloadable copy of the Draft EIS, visit the 
MDA Web site at http://www.mda.mil.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Proposed Action and Alternative: The Department of Defense (DoD) 
does not have a proposed action and has not made a decision to deploy 
or construct an additional interceptor site. Current sites in Alaska 
and California provide the necessary protection of the homeland from a 
ballistic missile attack by countries such as North Korea and Iran. If 
the DoD were to make a decision in the future to construct a new site, 
the prior completion of the required site studies and EIS could shorten 
the timeline necessary to build such a site.
    If deployed, a CIS would be an extension of the existing Ground-
based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the Ballistic Missile Defense 
System. To the extent practicable, the CIS would be built as a 
contiguous Missile Defense Complex, similar to that found at Fort 
Greely, Alaska, and would consist of a deployment of up to a total of 
60 Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) in up to three GBI fields. The GBIs 
would not be fired from their deployment site except in the Nation's 
defense and no test firing would be conducted at a CIS. The overall 
system architecture and baseline requirements for a notional CIS 
include, but are not limited to, the GBI fields, Command Launch 
Equipment, In-Flight Interceptor Communication System Data Terminals, 
GMD Communication Network, supporting facilities, such as lodging and 
dining, recreation, warehouse and bulk storage, vehicle storage and 
maintenance, fire station, hazardous materials/waste storage, and roads 
and parking where necessary.
    Candidate site locations under consideration include: Fort Custer 
Training Center in Michigan; Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training 
Center in Ohio; and Fort Drum in New York. Earlier this year, MDA 
designated the Center for Security Forces Detachment Kittery Survival, 
Evasion, Resistance and Escape Facility (SERE East) in Redington 
Township, Maine, as an Alternative Considered, but Not Carried Forward. 
The Draft EIS also analyzed a No Action Alternative or no CIS 
deployment. The DoD has not made a decision to deploy or construct a 
CIS and does not have a preferred alternative.
    For each of the candidate site locations, the following resource 
areas were assessed: Air quality, air space, biological, cultural, 
environmental justice, geology and soils, hazardous materials and 
hazardous waste management, health and safety, land use, noise, 
socioeconomics, transportation, utilities, water, wetlands, and visual 
and aesthetics.

    Dated: July 11, 2016.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2016-16686 Filed 7-14-16; 8:45 am]
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