[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 111 (Friday, June 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37870-37871]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12228]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Navy
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for Improving Homeport Facilities for Three NIMITZ-Class
Aircraft Carriers in Support of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and To Announce
Public Scoping Meetings
AGENCY: Department of the Navy (DoN), Department of Defense (DoD).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969, as implemented by the Council on Environmental Quality, the
Department of the Navy (DoN) announces its intent to prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to update its
analysis in the 1999 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for
Developing Home Port Facilities for Three Nimitz-Class Aircraft
Carriers in Support of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and its 2008 Final SEIS.
The new SEIS will address current mission objectives, routine pier-side
maintenance activities and proposed electrical shoreside power
infrastructure, which may result in three CVNs being simultaneously in
port at Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) for more intermittent,
nonconsecutive days per year than analyzed in prior NEPA documents. The
DON is initiating a 45-day public scoping process to receive comments
on the scope of the SEIS, including identification of potential
alternatives, information, and analyses relevant to the Proposed
Action, identification of environmental concerns, issues the public
would like to see addressed in the SEIS, and the project's potential to
affect historic properties pursuant to section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966.
DATES: The 45-day public scoping period begins June 9, 2023 and ends
July 24, 2023. Comments must be postmarked or submitted electronically
via the website no later than 11:59 p.m. PDT on July 24, 2023, for
consideration in the Draft SEIS. The DoN will hold three public scoping
meetings in the local area during the evenings of June 27-29, 2023. The
scoping meetings will consist of informal, open house sessions with
informational poster stations staffed by DoN representatives. The
information presented at the public meetings will also be available on
the project website. The DoN will also publish the public scoping
meeting announcements in local newspapers and in press releases.
Meeting
[[Page 37871]]
announcements will also be published in local Spanish-language
newspapers, and Spanish speakers will be present at the meetings.
ADDRESSES: The DoN invites all interested parties to submit scoping
comments on the Improving Home Port Facilities for Three Nimitz-Class
Aircraft Carriers in Support of the U.S. Pacific Fleet SEIS.
Information regarding the project, the public meetings and how to
submit comments is available at the DoN project website address,
https://www.nepa.navy.mil/northislandCVNs. The public scoping meetings
will be held at the following locations:
1. June 27, 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Logan Memorial
Educational Campus, Building K101, MPR Room, 2875 Ocean View Blvd., San
Diego, CA 92113.
2. June 28, 2023, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Coronado Community
Center, Nautilus Room, 1845 Strand Way, Coronado, CA 92118.
3. June 29, 2023, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Burress Auditorium, South
Bay Union School District, 601 Elm Ave., Imperial Beach, CA 91932.
Comments may be received:
In person at the public meetings,
Electronically via the project website, https://www.nepa.navy.mil/northislandCVNs by 11:59 PDT, July 24, 2023,
By mail, postmarked no later than July 24, 2023 to the
following address: Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command,
Atlantic 6506 Hampton Blvd., Building A, Norfolk, VA 23508 ATTN: EV21,
CVN SEIS Project Manager
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S. Fleet Forces Command, 1562
Mitscher Avenue, Suite 250, Norfolk, VA 23551-2487, Attn: Mr. Theodore
Brown, Installations and Environment Public Affairs Officer, 757-836-
4427, or visit the project website: https://www.nepa.navy.mil/northislandCVNs.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: U.S. Fleet Forces Command is the DoN's
action proponent for the SEIS. NASNI, which is part of Naval Base
Coronado, is located in Coronado approximately 1.5 kilometers (1 mile)
west, and across San Diego Bay from, downtown San Diego, California.
NASNI is a major port for CVNs and a key support location for the West
Coast fleet. NASNI and its CVN berthings are critical to the DoN's
presence and military readiness in the Pacific Ocean.
The SEIS is being prepared for the limited purpose of supplementing
the 1999 FEIS, and subsequent 2008 SEIS, with current circumstances and
information. The Proposed Action will address modernization of
shoreside electrical infrastructure, CVN routine pier-side maintenance
actions, and update the environmental effects associated with current
mission objectives, which may result in three CVNs being simultaneously
in port at Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) for more
intermittent, nonconsecutive days per year than analyzed in prior NEPA
documents. The 1999 FEIS estimated that, once homeported, three CVNs
would be in port simultaneously for an average of 13 intermittent,
nonconsecutive days per year. By the time of the 2008 SEIS, that
estimate had changed to an average of 29 intermittent, nonconsecutive
days per year. That estimate has again changed to address current
maintenance, training, and deployment requirements and a SEIS is
required to update the environmental analysis based on this updated
estimate. Because of the number of variables involved with predicting
CVN berthing requirements, the DoN plans to analyze the impacts of an
anticipated need for three CVNs to be in port simultaneously for an
average of 180 intermittent, nonconsecutive days per year. Although it
is considered unlikely that this 180-day scenario would ever occur, the
DoN has chosen a conservative average number of intermittent,
nonconsecutive days per year in order to ensure a ``hard look'' at the
potential impacts of this ongoing project.
The purpose of the Proposed Action is to meet the DoN's mission
requirement to support its West Coast fleet and to maintain military
readiness of naval forces for prompt and sustained combat incident to
operations at sea to meet the needs of war, now and into the future,
consistent with Title 10, Section 8062, of the United States Code.
The Proposed Action is needed because (1) CVN-capable berths at
NASNI do not currently have the capability to support the DoN's next
generation (FORD-Class) of CVNs (2) current mission objectives (to
include operational, deployment, and maintenance schedules) may result
in three CVNs in port at NASNI at the same time for more intermittent,
nonconsecutive days per year than previously analyzed. The presence of
three CVNs may include all three NASNI-homeported CVNs or two NASNI-
homeported CVNs and one transient CVN. Transient FORD-Class CVNs may
berth at NASNI once deployed on the West Coast.
The DoN will evaluate the potential environmental impacts to, but
not limited to, the following environmental resources: traffic; air
quality; socioeconomics; and environmental justice.
The scoping process is helpful in identifying public concerns and
local issues to consider during the development of the Draft SEIS.
Federal, state, and local agencies; federally recognized tribes; and
interested persons are encouraged to provide substantive comments to
the DoN on environmental resources and issue areas of concern that the
commenter believes the DoN should consider. All comments, provided in
writing at the scoping meetings, submitted via the DoN website, or
mailed, will be taken into consideration during the development of the
Draft SEIS.
The project website https://www.nepa.navy.mil/northislandCVNs
provides information on the Proposed Action, the NEPA process and
project schedule. Additional opportunities for public comment will
occur after the release of the Draft SEIS. The DoN intends to publish
the Draft SEIS in mid-2024, publish the Final SEIS in spring 2025, and
sign a Record of Decision following the 30-day Final SEIS wait period.
Dated: June 2, 2023.
A.R. Holt,
Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-12228 Filed 6-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P