[Federal Register: September 26, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 186)]
[Notices]
[Page 54671-54672]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26se07-87]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Bureau of Customs and Border Protection
[USCBP-2007-0060]
Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic Environmental
Assessment (PEA) and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on the
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative in the Land and Sea Environments
AGENCY: Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: A Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) and
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Western Hemisphere
Travel Initiative (WHTI) in the Land and Sea Environments are available
to the public for review. The Final PEA documents a review of potential
environmental impacts. Based on the Final PEA, a determination was made
that the travel documents proposed for WHTI and use of the travel
documents for implementation of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) will not have a significant impact on
the quality of the human environment such that it would require further
analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
The Final PEA addresses the substantive comments received on the Draft
PEA during the public comment period. The Final PEA resulted in a FONSI
that describes the programmatic action alternatives to be used as the
approach to meet the requirements of WHTI. The Final PEA and FONSI are
made available to the public in accordance with NEPA and the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing NEPA.
DATES: The Final PEA and FONSI will be available to the public on
September 6, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final PEA and FONSI may be obtained by
download through the Internet at http://www.cbp.gov/travel and http://www.regulations.gov
or by writing to: CBP, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Room 5.4D, Attn: WHTI Environmental Assessment, Washington, DC
20229.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
WHTI Program Management Office, ATTN: Ms. Colleen Manaher, 1300
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Room 5.4D, Washington, DC 20229, (202) 344-
1220, e-mail address: Colleen.M.Manaher@dhs.gov.
[[Page 54672]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 7209 of IRTPA, as amended, provides
that upon full implementation, U.S., Bermudian, and Canadian citizens,
and Mexican nationals would be required to present a passport or such
alternative documents as the Secretary of Homeland Security designates
as satisfactorily establishing identity and citizenship upon entering
the United States.
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal
Register on June 26, 2007 (72 FR 35088), DHS and the Department of
State (DOS) described the second phase of a joint plan, known as WHTI,
to implement these new requirements. The NPRM proposed the specific
documents that U.S. citizens and nonimmigrant aliens from Canada,
Bermuda, and Mexico would be required to present when entering the U.S.
at sea and land ports-of-entry from Western Hemisphere countries.
DHS and CBP have analyzed the potential impacts on the human
environment of several alternate ways of implementing WHTI at sea and
land ports-of-entry based on technological and operational
considerations as part of the decision-making process. The impact
analysis in the Final PEA and FONSI focuses primarily on the effects of
implementing WHTI at land ports-of-entry because the land environment
is the most sensitive to the proposed document and technological
changes associated with implementation of WHTI.
Four technological and operational alternatives to meet the
requirements to define and process secure, standardized travel
documents under WHTI are analyzed in the PEA. The four alternatives
are: (1) No-Action Alternative: maintain the status quo; (2)
Standardized Documents Alternative: accept a limited number of document
categories for admission at all sea or land ports-of-entry (LPOEs); (3)
MRZ Alternative: Accept standardized documents that contain a Machine
Readable Zone (MRZ); and (4) RFID Alternative: Accept standardized
documents that contain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology
and an MRZ, for the use of RFID-enabled readers at the busiest LPOEs
and MRZ at all LPOEs. As described in the PEA, air quality and noise
are the primary resource areas that have the most potential to be
affected by implementation of WHTI. However, no significant
environmental impacts to these resources or any other human or natural
environments from the implementation of any of the WHTI alternatives
are anticipated.
Dated: September 19, 2007.
Eugene H. Schied,
Assistant Commissioner, Office of Finance.
[FR Doc. E7-19035 Filed 9-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-14-P