[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 9 (Friday, January 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2479-2480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00576]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Scoping Notice for Preparation of a Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment for the State Veterans Homes Program

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing a programmatic 
environmental assessment (PEA) in accordance with the regulations 
implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 as implemented by the Council on 
Environmental Quality regulations, and VA's NEPA Implementing 
Regulations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted through www.regulations.gov. 
Except as noted in this section, comments received before the close of 
the comment period will be available at www.regulations.gov for public 
viewing, inspection, or copying, including any personally identifiable 
or confidential business information that is included in a comment. We 
post the comments received before the close of the comment period on 
www.regulations.gov as soon as possible after they have been received. 
VA will not post on regulations.gov public comments that make threats 
to individuals or institutions or suggest that the commenter will take 
actions to harm the individual. VA encourages individuals not to submit 
duplicative comments; however, we will post acceptable comments from 
multiple unique commenters even if the content is identical or nearly 
identical to other comments. Any public comment received after the 
comment period's closing date is considered late and will not be 
considered.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jason Sturm, Environmental 
Engineer, Office of Construction & Facilities Management (003C2), 
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington DC 
20420, 224-628-1946 (this is not a toll-free number), 
[email protected]. Reference ``State Veterans Homes PEA'' in your 
correspondence.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The VA State Veterans Homes Construction 
Grant Program is a partnership between VA and the states by which VA 
provides full or partial grants to a state for construction, 
renovation, or repair of state-owned and operated nursing homes, 
domiciliaries, and/or adult day health care facilities. The PEA will 
evaluate VA's proposed Action to issue grants through the VA State 
Veterans Homes Construction Grant Program to its state partners for 
construction, renovation, or repair of State Veterans Homes facilities 
in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Tribal Lands. The PEA aims to 
provide a streamlined NEPA compliance process for future VA State 
Veterans Homes Construction Grant Program grants involving 
construction, renovation, and repair projects that would result in less 
than significant environmental impacts.
    This notice initiates the scoping process for the PEA and invites 
the public, government agencies, and other interested persons and 
organizations to provide comments on the scope of

[[Page 2480]]

issues for analysis, input on potential alternatives, or information/
analyses relevant to the proposed action.
    Use of the PEA would decrease the time and cost associated with 
having to prepare stand-alone NEPA documentation for those future VA 
State Veterans Homes Construction Grant Program projects that would 
meet the conditions of the PEA. VA would complete additional NEPA 
compliance as required on projects outside the parameters of the PEA.
    The grant program assists in providing eligible Veterans and their 
families high- quality, long-term domiciliary, nursing, adult day 
health, and hospital care services in a comfortable setting. The 
proposed action is needed to provide sufficient capacity to meet the 
increasing health care needs of eligible Veterans.
    The PEA will evaluate the potential direct and indirect impacts on 
the human environment from the proposed action and alternatives. VA 
anticipates releasing the Draft PEA for a 30-day public review and 
comment period later in CY 2024. VA will notify stakeholders via email/
mail, publish a notice of availability of the Draft PEA in the Federal 
Register, and solicit comments at that time. Once the Draft PEA is 
released it will be available for review via the VA website: 
www.cfm.va.gov/environmental/.

Signing Authority

    Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved and signed 
this document on January 4, 2024, and authorized the undersigned to 
sign and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for 
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.

Luvenia Potts,
Regulation Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy & 
Management, Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2024-00576 Filed 1-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P