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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 46 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10721-10722]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4312]

[[Page 10721]]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

Notice of Public Hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for Kilo Wharf Extension, Apra Harbor Naval Complex, Guam, 
Mariana Islands

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as implemented by the Council on 
Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), the 
Department of the Navy (DON) has prepared and filed with the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of 
the proposed Kilo Wharf Extension, Apra Harbor Naval Complex (AHNC), 
Guam, Mariana Islands.
    The DON will conduct one public hearing to receive oral and written 
comments on the Draft EIS. Federal, Territorial, local agencies and 
interested individuals are invited to be present or represented at the 
public hearing. DON representatives will be available to clarify 
information related to the Draft EIS. This notice announces the date 
and location of the public hearing for this Draft EIS.

DATES AND ADDRESSES: A public hearing will be held on Wednesday, March 
28, 2007, at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Guam, 1155 Pale San Vitores 
Road, Tuman Bay, Guam, Mariana Islands.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naval Facilities Engineering Command, 
Pacific, 258 Makalapa Drive, Suite 100, Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-3134, 
Attn: Ms. Nora Macariola-See, telephone 808-472-1402, facsimile 808-
474-5419, E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Notice of Intent to prepare this Draft EIS 
was published in the Federal Register on July 29, 2005 (70 FR 43848). 
Two public scoping meetings were held on Guam, Mariana Islands. The 
first public scoping meeting was held on August 30, 2005, at the Guam 
Hilton, 202 Hilton Road, Tumon Bay, Guam. The second public scoping 
meeting was originally scheduled to be held on August 31, 2005, but 
rescheduled due to typhoon warnings to September 2, 2005, at the Santa 
Rita Community Center, 183 A.B. Won Pat Lane, Santa Rita, Guam.
    The proposed action is to provide adequate berthing facilities 
(including shore utilities and wharf-side handling area) to support the 
T-AKE which is a new class of multi-purpose dry cargo/ammunition ship 
that will replace existing ammunition ships currently forward deployed 
to the AHNC, Guam. As part of its ordnance support function, Commander, 
Navy Region Marianas (COMNAVREGMARIANAS) is charged with providing 
adequate facilities for the new T-AKE vessels scheduled to be in 
service in Guam in fiscal year 2010. The new T-AKE will be homeported 
in San Diego, CA, with two ships forward deployed to AHNC as ammunition 
ships serving Guam, Asia, the Western Pacific, and the Middle East. The 
two T-AKE ships will replace two T-AE ammunition ships that are 
currently forward-deployed to Guam. The existing Kilo Wharf, located 
within the AHNC in Outer Apra Harbor, is 400-feet (ft) long (122 meters 
(m)), and is the DoD's only dedicated ammunition wharf in the Western 
Pacific Region. The T-AKE is 689 ft (210 m) long, and requires 800 ft 
(244 m) for berthing. The proposed action is needed because Kilo Wharf 
is inadequate to support the T-AKE and there are no other suitable 
facilities on Guam available to accommodate this class of ammunition 
ship. The new wharf facilities must meet DoD technical design standards 
to ensure safe and efficient ordnance loading/offloading for the T-AKE.
    COMNAVREGMARIANAS evaluated a rane of alternatives that would meet 
action objectives, and applied screening criteria to identify those 
alternatives that were ``reasonable'' (i.e., practical and feasible 
from an operations, technical, and economic standpoint). Reasonable 
alternatives were carried through the Draft EIS analysis. The Draft EIS 
considers three alternatives: (1) Extending Kilo Wharf by 400 ft (122 
m) to the west (``West Extension Alternative''), (2) extending Kilo 
Wharf by 115 ft (35 m) to the east and 285 ft (87 m) to the west 
(``East-West Extension Alternative''), and (3) the No-Action 
Alternative, considered in accordance with Section 1502.14(d) of the 
NEPA regulation. The West Extension Alternative is considered the 
Preferred Alternative. Both the West Extension Alternative and the 
East-West Extension Alternative would provide adequate berthing for the 
T-AKE in accordance with DoD technical design standards, and include 
utility and infrastructure upgrades to accommodate the T-AKE. The Draft 
EIS also considers the No Action Alternative, which assumes that the T-
AKE would be berthed at the existing Kilo Wharf with no wharf 
improvements or utility and infrastructure upgrade.
    The Draft EIS evaluates the environmental effects associated with 
the wharf construction on the physical environment, land and water use, 
the social and economic environment, infrastructure and services, 
cultural resources, hazardous and regulated materials and waste, and 
biological resources, including marine habitats that provide ecological 
services. Methods to reduce or minimize impacts to affected marine 
habitats are also addressed. The analysis includes an evaluation of the 
direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts. Implementation of the 
proposed action is not expected to result in any significant short or 
long term impacts on physical, socioeconomic, or biological resources, 
however, there would be unavoidable adverse impacts to limited areas of 
marine benthic habitat.
    The Draft EIS has been distributed to various Federal and 
Territorial agencies, elected officials, special interest groups, and 
interested parties, and is available for public review at the following 
public libraries: (1) Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library, 254 Martyr 
Street, Hagatna, Guam 96910; (2) Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Library, 
University of Guam, 303 University Drive, Mangilao, Guam 96923.
    The DON will conduct a public hearing to receive oral and written 
comments concerning the Draft EIS. The public hearing will include a 
brief presentation followed by a request for comments on the Draft EIS. 
Federal, Territorial, and local agencies, and interested parties are 
invited to be present or represented at the hearings. Those who intend 
to speak will be asked to submit a speaker card (available at the 
door). Oral comments will be electronically recorded and transcribed by 
a stenographer. To assure accuracy of the record, all statements, both 
oral and written, will become part of the public record on the Draft 
EIS and will be responded to in the Final EIS. Equal weight will be 
given to both oral and written statements. In the interest of available 
time and to ensure that all who wish to give an oral statement have the 
opportunity to do so, each speaker's comments will be limited to three 
minutes. If a longer statement is to be presented, it should be 
summarized at the public hearing and the full text submitted in writing 
either at the hearing or faxed or mailed to: Naval Facilities 
Engineering Command Pacific, 258 Makalapa Drive, Ste 100, Pearl Harbor, 
HI 96860-3134, Attn: Ms. Nora Macariola-See, facsimile 808-474-5419, E-
mail: [email protected]. All written comments postmarked by April 23, 
2007, will become part of the official public record and will be 
responded to in the Final EIS.

[[Page 10722]]

    Dated: March 6, 2007.
M.C. Holley,
Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, 
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. E7-4312 Filed 3-8-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P
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