[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 97 (Friday, May 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27568-27569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10504]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Draft Legislative Environmental Impact Statement for Training and 
Public Land Withdrawal Extension, Fort Irwin, California

AGENCY: Department of the Army, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army announces the availability of the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Training and Public Land 
Withdrawal Extension, Fort Irwin, California. In accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Draft EIS analyzes the 
potential environmental effects resulting from modernization of 
training activities and improvement of training facilities at the 
National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California. The Army is 
also issuing this notice to inform the public that the EIS will serve 
as a Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) to support the 
extension of the public land withdrawal for portions of Fort Irwin.

DATES: Comments must be received July 6, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be forwarded to the NEPA Planner, 
Fort Irwin Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division, 
Building 602, Fifth Street, Fort Irwin, CA 92310-5085, email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jason Miller, Fort Irwin Public 
Affairs Office at 760-380-4511, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 
4:00 p.m. or via email at usarmy.irwin.ntc .[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fort Irwin consists of approximately 753,537 
acres in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County in southern 
California. The NTC at Fort Irwin provides combined arms training for 
maneuver Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), including the Army's Stryker BCTs 
and Armored BCTs. Training also is provided for joint military branches 
(Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force), Army Reserve, National Guard 
units, and regular and transitional law enforcement units, as well as 
home station units. Because of its size, design, and terrain, Fort 
Irwin is one of the few places in the world where brigade-size units 
(5,000+ soldiers) can test their combat readiness.
    Fort Irwin's mission is to train Rotational Training Units (RTUs) 
and joint, interagency, and multinational partners to fight and win in 
a complex world, while taking care of soldiers, civilians, and family 
members. To achieve this mission, NTC designs and executes training 
exercises that prepare brigade-level units for operational deployments. 
Up to 12 BCT rotations are executed per year.
    The Draft EIS analyzes the potential effects from the modernization 
of training, the improvement of training infrastructure, and the 
extension of the existing land withdrawal. Training changes are 
required to support new training doctrine that focuses on large Army 
formations operating against near-peer adversaries. To reflect weapon 
systems capabilities and evolving mission requirements, improvements 
need to be made to training infrastructure.
    Approximately 110,000 acres of Fort Irwin training land areas are 
public land that has been withdrawn from all types of appropriation and 
reserved for military purposes under Public Law 107-107 (2001). This 
public land withdrawal terminates on December 28, 2026. The Army has 
identified a continuing military need for the land beyond the 
termination date and intends to request that the U.S. Congress extend 
the withdrawal for at least 25 years, or in the alternative, for an 
indefinite period until there is no longer a military need for the 
land. Upon a separate application by the Army, the Bureau of Land 
Management will file in the Federal Register a separate notice of 
withdrawal extension application. The Final EIS will be submitted to 
the U.S. Congress as an LEIS to support the legislative request for 
extension of this withdrawal and reservation.
    The Draft EIS analyzes a range of Proposed Mission Change 
Alternatives, a No Mission Change Alternative, a Withdrawal Extension 
Alternative, and a No Withdrawal Extension Alternative. The Mission 
Change Alternatives consist of different magnitudes of changes in 
training and training infrastructure; for Fort Irwin's Western Training 
Area, the EIS considers a range of medium-to-heavy intensity training 
alternatives. The No Mission Change Alternative would continue military 
training at the current level and would result in no modernization of 
training or improvement of training infrastructure on Fort Irwin. The 
Army is the decision maker regarding the Mission Change Alternatives.
    The Withdrawal Extension Alternative would extend the current 
withdrawal for 25 years or indefinitely until there is no longer a 
military need for the land. The No Withdrawal Extension Alternative 
would result in portions of the installation returning to public 
domain. The U.S. Congress is the decision maker regarding the 
Withdrawal Alternatives.
    All military activities under consideration would be conducted 
within the existing boundaries of the installation. The Draft EIS 
evaluates the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental 
and socioeconomic effects of these alternatives. Adverse effects would 
be minimized to the extent possible through the implementation of 
specified avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures.
    The Army Preferred Alternative has not been determined at this time 
and will be specified the Final EIS.
    The resource areas analyzed in the DEIS include air quality, 
transportation, noise, water resources, geological resources, 
biological resources, cultural resources, noise, utilities, land use, 
recreation, health and safety, and hazardous materials and waste. The 
effects on these resources may occur from changing the scope or 
magnitude of military training activities within the current Fort Irwin 
boundaries. The analysis also considers the potential for cumulative 
environmental effects.
    Both the Mission Change Alternatives and the No Mission Change 
Alternative would result in unavoidable environmental effects. Under 
the No Mission Change Alternative, there would be less than significant 
effects on all evaluated resources. The Mission Change Alternatives 
would result in minor-to-moderate adverse effects that would be in 
addition to the effects of the No Mission Change Alternative; however, 
none of the effects would be significant.
    The environmental effects from the Withdrawal Extension Alternative 
would be comparable to those discussed for the Mission Change 
Alternatives. While the effects of the No Withdrawal Extension 
Alternative are uncertain,

[[Page 27569]]

because of the unknown future uses of these areas if Army training is 
not conducted, it is expected that the No Withdrawal Extension 
Alternative would result in negligible effects on resources compared to 
the Withdrawal Extension Alternative.
    Federal, state, and local agencies, Native Americans, Native 
American organizations, and the public are invited to be involved in 
the public comment process for the Draft EIS by submitting written 
comments. Written comments must be received or postmarked by July 6, 
2021. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for social 
distancing and avoiding large public gatherings, the Army will not hold 
in-person public comment meetings for this action. All government 
agencies, special interest groups, and individuals are invited to 
participate in the Army's decision-making process for this Proposed 
Action. [A 45-day public review period for the Draft EIS will begin 
after publication in the Federal Register]. Information on the Draft 
EIS will be provided online through a virtual town hall, and the public 
meeting will be hosted by telephone. Interested parties are invited to 
attend two public telephone meetings (date to be determined, and 
included in this notice, based on scheduled Federal Register 
publication date). The first telephone meeting will be held from 10:00 
a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time and the second telephone 
meeting will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. 
The dial-in number for both telephone meetings is 888-251-2949 or 215-
861-0694, with a passcode of 6920265# for the 10:00 a.m. meeting and 
6091656# for the 4:00 p.m. meeting. Persons unable to access the 
virtual town hall can submit a request for meeting materials to: 
[email protected]. Specific details, including date, of the 
telephone meetings will be announced in local media and on the Fort 
Irwin EIS website: https://aec.army.mil/index.php/irwin-nepa-meeting.
    The Draft EIS will be posted on the website and, for those who do 
not have ready access to a computer or the internet, will be made 
available upon request by mail. Inquiries, requests for Draft EIS-
related materials, and comments regarding the Draft EIS may be 
submitted by mail to the NEPA Planner, Fort Irwin Directorate of Public 
Works, Environmental Division, Building 602, Fifth Street, Fort Irwin, 
CA 92310-5085. Mail must be postmarked no later than June 7, 2021, to 
allow the meeting materials to be sent by the U.S. Postal Service. An 
electronic copy of the Draft EIS will be made available for view online 
or download from the Fort Irwin EIS website: https://aec.army.mil/index.php/irwin-nepa-meeting. Notification of the public telephone 
meetings will be announced in the local news media and on the Fort 
Irwin EIS website.
    To ensure the Army has sufficient time to consider public input in 
the preparation of the Final EIS, written comments must be submitted on 
the website or mailed to the address listed previously no later than 
July 6, 2021.
    The Department of the Army will consider all comments received on 
the Draft EIS when preparing the Final EIS and will announce the 
availability of the Final EIS. The Bureau of Land Management will 
organize public participation following the publication of its notice 
of application for extension of the public land withdrawal.

James W. Satterwhite, Jr.,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2021-10504 Filed 5-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5061-AP-P