[Federal Register: October 26, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 206)]
[Notices]
[Page 62431-62432]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26oc04-23]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[Page 62431]]
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Notice of Availability of the Environmental Assessment (EA) for
the Program Comments Under 36 CFR 800.14(e) Regarding Department of
Defense Historic Properties Management
AGENCY: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
ACTION: Notice of availability of Environmental Assessment (EA).
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SUMMARY: This announces the availability of the Department of Defense's
EA for the Program Comments under 36 CFR 800.14(e) Regarding Department
of Defense Historic Properties Management. The Army, as the Service
designated as lead for this action, intends to sign a Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) unless public comments identify significant
impacts or issues that have not been considered.
DATES: Submit comments on or before November 26, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the EA may be directed by mail to the
US Army Environmental Center, ATTN: SFIM-AEC-PA (ATTN: Mr. Robert
DiMichele) Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5401, or by phone (410)
436-2556. The DoD also solicits written comments on the EA. Such
comments must be submitted by mail to the same address no later than
the date mentioned above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Lee Foster, Cultural Resources
Action Officer, Office of Director of Environmental Programs, at (703)
601-1591.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act (section 106), 16 U.S.C. 470f, requires Federal
agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on
historic properties, and provide the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation (ACHP) a reasonable opportunity to comment on those
undertakings. The regulations implementing Section 106 are found at 36
CFR part 800.
The Department of Defense (DoD) has identified a programmatic
approach to comply with the requirements of section 106 for the
treatment of historic properties including Cold War era Unaccompanied
Personnel Housing (UPH), World War II and Cold War era Ammunition
Storage Facilities, and World War II and Cold War era Army Ammunition
Production Facilities and Plants.
These approximately 45,000 buildings and structures are about 11%
of the overall DoD inventory of 397,389 buildings and structures. UPH
encompasses all current and former DoD enlisted barracks, bachelor
officer quarters, and transient quarters constructed during the period
commencing in 1946 and ending in 1974. Ammunition Storage Facilities
comprises all DoD Ammunition bunkers and magazines constructed from
1939 through 1974. The third category includes Army Ammunition Plants
constructed from 1939 to 1974.
The DoD engaged in a major construction program during these
periods in order to address the shortage of housing, storage
facilities, and production plants that developed out of World War II
mobilization requirements and the increased size of the standing
military during the Cold War era. A significant portion of these
buildings and structures are nearing the age of fifty years old,
triggering the need for the DoD to consider, in accordance with Section
106, these buildings and structures.
In order to support the military mission, the DoD needs to develop
a programmatic approach to Section 106 compliance for each of these
categories of property types. Management activities affecting these
buildings and structures occur on a daily basis, including but not
limited to ongoing operations, maintenance and repair, rehabilitation,
renovation, mothballing, ceasing maintenance activities, new
construction, demolition, deconstruction and salvage, and transfer,
sale, lease and/or closure.
These programs comments are meant to directly support improvement
of quality of life, safety and advancements in technology that directly
affect soldiers. The DoD is developing a Barracks Modernization Program
to provide better quarters for unaccompanied personnel. As the military
adopts new ammunition technologies to meet new environmental and war-
fighting requirements, storage needs are likely to change, resulting in
modifications to existing storage facilities or the need to re-use or
excess those that cannot be adapted. To allow for advancement in
production technology and to facilitate planned excessing actions as
well as possible future Base Realignment and Closure activities in the
most effective manner for a large number of properties, the Army is
planning multiple actions at Army Ammunition Plants and Production
Facilities.
Development of the EA was preceded by coordination with the ACHP.
The EA gives full consideration of the request and implementation of
Program Comments in accordance with 36 CFR 800.14(e) as the proposed
action, and two reasonable alternatives to the proposed action.
The EA considered, evaluated and assessed alternatives: (i) The no
action alternative (continued project-by-project review under 36 CFR
Part 800); (ii) the Programmatic Agreement Alternative; and (iii) the
proposed action alternative of requesting and implementing Program
Comments in accordance with 36 CFR 800.14(e). Consideration of the
alternatives analyzed in the EA leads to the DoD's decision to request
and implement Program Comments.
The no action alternative would allow a continued ad hoc approach
to compliance with Section 106 and management of historic properties.
With the anticipated growth in DoD's historic properties inventory,
continued review of undertakings on a case-by-case basis will likely
remain inefficient and lead to increased program costs. This could have
adverse impacts on the ability of the DoD to provide suitable housing
for unaccompanied personnel, safe storage of ammunition, and improved
and updated ammunition production facilities.
The Programmatic Agreement (PA) Alternative better meets the stated
purpose and need than the no action alternative since it would provide
an installation-specific or regional
[[Page 62432]]
programmatic basis for Section 106 compliance. PAs must be negotiated
with appropriate stakeholders such as State and Tribal Historic
Preservation Officers, Indian tribes, and other consulting parties.
This approach, however, would involve lengthy and complex negotiations
that have no specified time limits, and which might ultimately still
require some case-by-case review. Also, after a PA goes into effect, it
may be unilaterally terminated by any signatory, limiting the long-term
effectiveness and consistency of such agreements. In addition,
installation-specific or regional PAs would not address all DoD NHPA
Section 106 compliance responsibilities in a single agreement, and
would not provide for an economy of scale in the treatment of agency-
wide resources. Like the no action alternative, the PA alternative
could result in adverse impacts to the DoD's need to provide suitable
housing for unaccompanied personnel, safely store ammunition, and
improve and update ammunition production facilities.
The proposed action more squarely meets the stated purpose and need
for action and provides the necessary balance between preservation and
the need to expeditiously provide suitable housing for unaccompanied
personnel, safely store ammunition, and improve and update ammunition
production facilities. While the proposed action has the potential to
adversely impact historic properties, those impacts are not likely to
be significant. The DoD will ensure that effects on historic properties
are considered and addressed up front through programmatic treatment.
The Council on Environmental Quality regulations, at 40 CFR 1501.6,
encourage Federal lead agencies to request that other Federal agencies
with special expertise concerning a relevant environmental issue
associated with a proposed action to participate as a cooperating
agency in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The DoD
recognizes that the ACHP has special expertise with respect to historic
properties, and, in particular, on the review of Federal agency
undertakings under Section 106 of the NHPA. The ACHP is responsible for
reviewing, and, if appropriate, issuing program comments in accordance
with 36 CFR 800.14(e)(1)-(6). For these reasons, DoD has requested that
the ACHP participate as a consulting party in the drafting, review and
release of this EA. The ACHP has agreed to participate as a cooperating
agency and, in that role, is publishing this notice of availability on
behalf of the DoD. The ACHP's agreement to publish this DoD notice of
availability does not in any way signify any ACHP endorsement, or lack
thereof, of the program comments or commitment to ultimately adopt or
reject them. Such decisions will be made by the ACHP pursuant to the
process under 36 CFR 800.14(e).
Authority: 40 CFR 1501.6
Dated: October 21, 2004.
John M. Fowler,
Executive Director (ACHP).
[FR Doc. 04-23952 Filed 10-25-04; 8:45 am]
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