[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 104 (Friday, May 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32365-32366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-11540]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Finding of No 
Practicable Alternative for the Proposed Heavy Off-Road Mounted 
Maneuver Training Area at Fort Benning, Georgia

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army (Army) announces the availability 
of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed 
Heavy Off-Road Mounted Maneuver Training Area (HOMMTA) at Fort Benning, 
Georgia. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), the Draft EIS analyzes the potential environmental and 
socioeconomic impacts, and recommends related mitigation measures, 
associated with constructing, operating, and maintaining a HOMMTA of at 
least 2,400 contiguous acres at Fort Benning to support off-road 
mounted maneuver (Proposed Action). The Proposed Action would support 
the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) in its mission to train the 
maneuver forces of the Army and would increase the total amount of 
heavy off-road maneuver training area on Fort Benning, enabling Fort 
Benning to conduct realistic training in accordance with current Army 
training requirements. The Proposed Action would provide a training 
area to meet existing training needs; it would not result in additional 
Soldiers, traffic, or any training off of the Installation. Training 
land development would occur over a 2- to 3-year period; development 
would primarily include vegetation removal and the construction of tank 
trails, culverted water crossings, and road upgrades, as well as 
burying existing overhead utilities. As feasible, buffers would be used 
to protect environmentally sensitive resources such as streams, 
wetlands, cemeteries, and archaeological sites. A Draft Finding of No 
Practicable Alternative (FONPA) addressing potential impacts on 
wetlands and 100-year floodplains is also available in the Draft EIS 
for comment.

DATES: Comments must be received by July 13, 2020 to be considered in 
the preparation of the Final EIS.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Fort Benning Environmental 
Management Division, Attn: NEPA Program Manager, 6650 Meloy Drive, 
Building 6, Room 309, Fort Benning, Georgia 31905-5122, or email 
comments to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact Mr. John Brown, Fort 
Benning Environmental Management Division, at (706) 545-7549 between 9 
a.m. and 4 p.m. ET. Fort Benning has also established a web page that 
contains information updates and background on the HOMMTA and the EIS 
at https://www.benning.army.mil/Garrison/DPW/EMD/HOMMTA/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fort Benning plays a critical role in 
supporting the Army's overarching mission. As the Army's MCoE, the home 
of the Army's Armor and Infantry Schools, Fort Benning must support the 
institutional training of Infantry and Armor Soldiers and leaders. The 
institutional training conducted at Fort Benning provides Army leaders 
with the opportunity to respond to a wide variety of situations that 
they can expect to encounter on the modern battlefield. Fort Benning is 
also home to several deployable units that conduct off- road mounted 
maneuver training, including the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, 
Task Force 1-28 Infantry, and elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
    Fort Benning must be able to train and develop highly skilled and 
cohesive units capable of conducting operations across the full 
spectrum of potential conflicts. Inherent in and vital to training 
Infantry and Armor Soldiers and leaders properly is the requirement to 
provide sufficient heavy off-road mounted maneuver training area. 
Currently, the only training area at Fort Benning suitable for heavy 
off-road mounted maneuver training is the Good Hope Maneuver Training 
Area (GHMTA).
    Since the initial development of the GHMTA, the Army's training 
strategy has changed to ``cross-domain movement and maneuver'' that 
requires additional contiguous area for heavy off-road maneuver. In an 
attempt to accommodate this requirement, the Army continued to improve 
the off-road maneuver area within the GHMTA. Despite these 
improvements, the existing GHMTA landscape contains slopes, streams, 
wetlands, and other limitations that cannot support the increased 
maneuver training

[[Page 32366]]

requirements of the MCoE and Fort Benning's tenant units. As such, Fort 
Benning proposes to construct a new HOMMTA with sufficient contiguous 
area to enable all units and courses to complete required cross-domain 
movement and maneuver training.
    The Draft EIS analyzes the potential environmental and 
socioeconomic impacts associated with the Proposed Action, including 
direct, indirect, and cumulative effects. Mitigation of adverse effects 
through avoidance and environmentally sensitive design, such as 
establishment of buffers, would be used to avoid impacts to sensitive 
resources to the maximum extent practicable. Where these efforts are 
not sufficient to avoid adverse effects, the Draft EIS recommends 
additional mitigation measures that the Army may implement to further 
reduce identified adverse impacts.
    In support of the EIS, the Army is also preparing other studies, 
analyses, and permit applications to meet Federal requirements, such as 
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, Sections 401 and 404 of the 
Clean Water Act (CWA), and Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act.
    The Army identified three reasonable Action Alternatives that would 
meet the purpose of and need for the Proposed Action; these three 
Action Alternatives (i.e., three distinct locations on Fort Benning 
where a HOMMTA could be constructed) are analyzed in detail in the 
Draft EIS.
    1. Alternative 1 (Preferred Alternative): Northern Mounted Maneuver 
Training Area Alternative: This alternative includes approximately 
4,724 acres and is located adjacent to and east of the current Northern 
Maneuver training Area and west of and near Fort Benning's Digital 
Multi-Purpose Range Complex (DMPRC).
    Of the Action Alternatives, Alternative 1 would provide the most 
preferable size and configuration to enable high-quality heavy off-road 
mounted maneuver training. Accordingly, the Army has identified 
Alternative 1 as the Preferred Alternative to implement the Proposed 
Action.
    2. Alternative 2: Red Diamond Alternative: This alternative 
includes approximately 3,744 acres and is located south of the Southern 
Maneuver Training Area (SMTA) near the Installation's southern 
boundary.
    3. Alternative 3: Eastern Boundary Alternative: This alternative 
includes approximately 2,405 acres and is located between the northern 
dudded impact area and the Installation's eastern boundary.
    The Army also carried forward the No Action Alternative for 
detailed analysis in the Draft EIS. While the No Action Alternative 
would not satisfy the purpose of or need for the Proposed Action, this 
Alternative was retained to provide a comparative baseline against 
which to analyze the effects of the Action Alternatives as required 
under the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA Regulation.
    Resource areas analyzed in the Draft EIS include: Land use 
(recreation), air quality, noise, soils and topography, water 
resources, biological resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, 
infrastructure, and hazardous and toxic materials and waste.
    Based on the analysis presented in the Draft EIS, potentially 
significant adverse impacts could occur to biological resources (i.e., 
from disturbance of unique ecological areas). Impacts to all other 
resource areas would be less-than- significant adverse (i.e., 
negligible, minor, or moderate), or beneficial. Recommended mitigation 
measures are presented in the Draft EIS to reduce potential adverse 
effects.
    All Action Alternatives for the Proposed Action may adversely 
impact wetlands and/or 100-year floodplains. Accordingly, the Army has 
also prepared a Draft FONPA to comply with Executive Order (E.O.) 
11988, Floodplain Management, and E.O. 11990, Protection of Wetlands. 
As described in the Draft EIS, environmental protection measures (e.g., 
buffers from heavy maneuver training) and regulatory compliance 
measures (e.g., permitting under Sections 401 and 404 of the CWA) would 
be implemented to minimize adverse impacts on these resources.
    Government agencies, Native American Tribes, and the public are 
invited to review and comment on the Draft EIS. The public comment 
period begins with the publication of this Notice of Availability in 
the Federal Register and will last for 45 days. The Draft EIS and Draft 
FONPA are available to the public on the HOMMTA web page at https://www.benning.army.mil/Garrison/DPW/EMD/HOMMTA/. The comment period will 
also include a public meeting that will provide an opportunity for the 
public to comment about the Proposed Action, Alternatives, and 
environmental impact analysis. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the 
need to maintain social distancing, Fort Benning will host the public 
meeting by telephone. Specific details of the telephone meeting will be 
announced in local media and on the HOMMTA website, https://www.benning.army.mil/Garrison/DPW/EMD/HOMMTA/. The HOMMTA Draft EIS and 
meeting materials will be provided online at https://fortbenning.consultation.ai/. If you cannot access the meeting 
materials online, please submit a request to Mr. John Brown at 
[email protected] or by mail to address provided above so 
materials can be sent to you. Please ensure your request is postmarked 
no later than June 15, 2020 so that Fort Benning can mail the meeting 
materials prior to the telephone meeting date. Later requests for 
documents will be accepted, but the requests may not be fulfilled prior 
to the HOMMTA telephone meeting date.
    Following the public comment period, the Army will consider all 
public comments and prepare a Final EIS and Record of Decision prior to 
making any decision regarding the Proposed Action. Comments must be 
received or postmarked by July 13, 2020 to be considered during 
preparation of the Final EIS.

Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-11540 Filed 5-28-20; 8:45 am]
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