[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 104 (Thursday, May 30, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25067-25068]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11251]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. Customs and Border Protection


Notice of the Withdrawal of a 1994 Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement and a 2001 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 
Regarding Certain Activities Along the U.S. Southwest Border

AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of withdrawal of a programmatic environmental impact 
statement and a supplemental programmatic environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: This Notice is published to provide public awareness of the 
decision of both U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component 
of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Joint Task Force--
North (JTF-N), a joint command of the Department of Defense (DoD), to 
withdraw the Records of Decision for the joint Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) of 1994 and the Supplemental PEIS 
(SPEIS) of 2001. The documents were titled ``Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement for JTF-6 Activities Along the U.S./Mexico Border'' 
and ``Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for INS 
and JTF-6 Activities.'' These documents were created by entities which 
no longer exist. These documents are no longer used to provide 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for any 
actions of entities within either Department. Actions currently taken 
by either CBP or JTF-N comply with NEPA through analysis of individual 
projects. The successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service 
(INS) is CBP, and the successor to JTF-6 is JTF-N.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Christopher Oh, Director, Energy 
and Environmental Management Division, Facilities Management and 
Engineering Division, Office of Facilities and Asset Management at 202-
344-2448.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created DHS. One of the principal 
mission responsibilities of DHS is border security. CBP is the DHS 
component with primary responsibility for border security. In 2003, 
Congress created CBP by combining elements of the former INS, including 
the United States Border Patrol (USBP), and the former U.S. Customs 
Service, and made it a component agency of DHS. CBP has a priority 
mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the United 
States. It is also charged with enforcing customs, immigration, 
agriculture and other laws at the nation's borders while facilitating 
legitimate trade and travel through the Ports of Entry (POEs). As part 
of its border security mission, CBP is charged with deterring and 
preventing cross-border violations both at and between the POEs, 
including illegal immigration and illegal trafficking of human beings, 
narcotics, weapons, and other contraband.
    Based in Fort Bliss, Texas, Joint Task Force North (JTF-N) is a 
joint service command comprised of active-duty and reserve component 
soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, coast guardsmen, DoD civilian 
employees, and contracted support personnel. JTF-N is the DoD 
organization tasked to support our nation's federal law enforcement 
agencies in the identification and interdiction of suspected 
transnational criminal organizations' activities conducted within and 
along the approaches to the continental United States.
    In 1994, the INS, then a part of the Department of Justice, and 
JTF-6, a joint command within DoD, jointly prepared a Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (the 1994 PEIS). The 1994 PEIS was 
intended to address the cumulative effects of past and reasonably 
foreseeable projects undertaken by JTF-6 for numerous law enforcement 
agencies within the four southwestern states. JTF-6 was, at the time, a 
recently formed military command that provided assistance and support 
to various counter drug law enforcement agencies along the southwest 
border.
    In 2001, the INS and JTF-6 prepared a Supplemental PEIS (SPEIS). 
Instead of addressing the support activities JTF-6 would provide to 
numerous law enforcement agencies across the southwest border, the 2001 
SPEIS focused on the support activities JTF-6 would specifically 
provide to USBP. The intent and purpose of the 2001 SPEIS was to assess 
and analyze the potential impacts of the JTF-6 activities ``in support 
of INS/USBP.'' The Record of Decision for this SPEIS was signed in 2002 
by the INS and JTF-6. For both EISs in question, the INS was the lead 
agency and JTF-6 was a cooperating agency.
    The 1994 PEIS and the 2001 SPEIS were created by entities that no 
longer exist. For this and other reasons, CBP and JTF-N no longer rely 
on the 1994 PEIS or the 2001 SPEIS to achieve NEPA compliance for their 
actions and activities on the southwest border.\1\
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    \1\ See National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, 
Public Law 91-190, 83 Stat. 852 (Jan. 1, 1970).
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    Rather, both CBP and JTF-N achieve NEPA compliance for their 
actions and activities on the southwest border through site-specific or 
project-specific NEPA analyses. CBP and JTF-N believe their decision-
makers are well-served by site-specific or project-specific NEPA 
analyses. Unlike a sprawling programmatic NEPA analysis, a site-
specific or project-specific NEPA analysis gives decision-makers 
concrete and tangible information regarding the potential impacts of a 
proposed action. In addition, because every site-specific or project-
specific analysis includes an analysis of cumulative impacts, they also 
present decision-makers with a larger frame of reference in which to 
understand those impacts.

Withdrawal of PEIS and Supplemental PEIS

    Based on the experience of CBP and JTF-N, and the nature of the 
1994 PEIS and 2001 SPEIS, CBP and JTF-N have withdrawn both the 1994 
PEIS and the 2001 SPEIS and their respective Records of Decision. Both 
of these documents

[[Page 25068]]

contain potentially valuable information. The withdrawal of the 1994 
PEIS and the 2001 SPEIS and their respective Records of Decision does 
not in any way impinge on the ability of those preparing NEPA analyses 
in the future to use that information by citing the independent 
source(s) of the information, provided the continued accuracy of the 
information is validated.

    Dated: May 23, 2019.
Karl H. Calvo,
Assistant Commissioner, Office of Facilities and Asset Management, 
Office of Enterprise Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
[FR Doc. 2019-11251 Filed 5-29-19; 8:45 am]
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