[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15414-15415]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05655]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Notice of Availability for the Supplement to the Gulf of Alaska 
Navy Training Activities Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Department of the Navy (DoN), Department of Defense (DoD).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (DoN) has prepared and filed with 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a supplement to the 
December 2020 Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Navy Training Activities Draft 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Overseas 
Environmental Impact Statement (OEIS). This supplement to the Draft 
Supplemental EIS/OEIS will address a change in the Study Area and the 
addition of a new Continental Shelf and Slope Mitigation Area.

DATES: The supplement to the Draft Supplemental EIS public review 
period will begin March 18, 2022, and end on May 2, 2022. Comments may 
be submitted by U.S. mail or electronically via the project website as 
detailed below.

ADDRESSES: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest, Attention: 
GOA Supplemental EIS/OEIS Project Manager, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 
203, Silverdale, Washington 98315-1101, [email protected].
    Written comments can be submitted via the electronic comment form 
at http://www.GOAEIS.com or by mailing them to: Naval Facilities 
Engineering Systems Command Northwest, Attention: GOA Supplemental EIS/
OEIS Project Manager, 1101 Tautog Circle, Suite 203, Silverdale, WA 
98315-1101. All comments must be received or postmarked by May 2, 2022, 
to ensure they become part of the official record.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  With the filing of the supplement to the 
Draft

[[Page 15415]]

Supplemental EIS/OEIS, the DoN is initiating a 45-day public comment 
period. Federal, state, and local agencies and interested parties are 
encouraged to provide written comments on the supplement to the Draft 
Supplemental EIS anytime during the public comment period. This notice 
announces the opportunity to review and comment on the Draft 
Supplemental EIS, and provides supplementary information about the 
environmental planning effort.
    All comments submitted during the public review period will become 
part of the public record and will be responded to in the Final 
Supplemental EIS/OEIS. All public comments received during the Draft 
Supplemental EIS/OEIS comment period (December 11, 2020, through 
February 16, 2021) are still valid and will be considered in the Final 
Supplemental EIS/OEIS for this action. Previously submitted comments 
need not be resubmitted.
    Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the NEPA, regulations implemented 
by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and 
Presidential Executive Order 12114, the DoN announced its intent to 
prepare a supplement to the 2011 GOA Navy Training Activities EIS/OEIS 
and 2016 GOA Navy Training Activities Supplemental EIS/OEIS in the 
Federal Register (FR) on February 10, 2020 (85 FR 7538), and invited 
the public to comment on the scope of the Supplemental EIS/OEIS. A 
Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS was subsequently released on December 11, 
2020 (85 FR 80093), in which the potential environmental effects 
associated with military readiness training activities conducted within 
the GOA Study Area were evaluated.
    Since the release of the Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS on December 
11, 2020, the DoN recognized that the size and shape of the Temporary 
Maritime Activities Area (TMAA) in the Gulf of Alaska no longer 
provides sufficient space for the realistic maneuvering of vessels and 
aircraft during training exercises. The DoN announced its intent to 
prepare a supplement to the December 2020 GOA Navy Training Activities 
Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS on February 1, 2022 (87 FR 5472). Proposed 
changes to the Study Area include additional airspace and sea space to 
the west and south of the TMAA. The area is referred to as the Western 
Maneuver Area and adds approximately 185,806 square nautical miles to 
the Study Area. This additional space would enable Navy personnel and 
units to practice more realistic, complex training scenarios in a 
safer, more efficient manner that would better prepare them to respond 
to real-world incidents. The TMAA (approximately 42,146 square nautical 
miles) would remain unchanged and any activities involving active sonar 
or explosives would, as in the past, occur in this area only. The DoN 
is not proposing new or increased number of training activities in the 
Western Maneuver Area, only an expansion of the area the Navy may use 
for vessel and aircraft maneuvering purposes during exercises. The 
number of vessels, aircraft, underway steaming hours, events, and 
flight times remains the same. Although the Study Area has expanded, 
the conclusions regarding potential impacts have not significantly 
changed from the 2020 Draft Supplemental EIS/OEIS.
    In direct response to agency, tribal, and public comments, the DoN 
also proposes implementing a new mitigation area within the continental 
shelf and slope area of the TMAA (approximately 14,600 square nautical 
miles). The DoN would expand its mitigation measures for explosives 
detonated at or near the surface and prohibit the use of explosives 
during training (up to 10,000 feet altitude) in areas of less than 
4,000 meter depth to protect marine species and biologically important 
habitat. The DoN anticipates the implementation of the proposed 
mitigation area would reduce impacts on marine mammals, fish, and 
marine birds.

    Dated: March 14, 2022.
J.M. Pike,
Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, Federal Register 
Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-05655 Filed 3-17-22; 8:45 am]
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