[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 10 (Friday, January 14, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 2417]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00695]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Air Force


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center Beddown at Ebbing Air 
National Guard Base, Arkansas or Selfridge Air National Guard Base, 
Michigan

AGENCY: Department of the Air Force, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Air Force (Air Force) is issuing this 
notice to advise the public of its intent to prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Pilot 
Training Center (PTC) beddown at a single Continental United Sates 
(CONUS) location at either Ebbing Air National Guard (ANG) Base, 
Arkansas or Selfridge ANG Base, Michigan. The EIS will assess the 
potential environmental consequences resulting from construction or 
renovation of facilities and aircraft operation of the proposal for the 
permanent beddown of the FMS PTC, encompassing up to 16 F-16 aircraft 
and 36 F-35 aircraft.

DATES: A public scoping period of 30-days will take place starting from 
the date of this NOI publication in the Federal Register. Comments will 
be accepted at any time during the environmental impact analysis 
process; however, to ensure the Air Force has sufficient time to 
consider public scoping comments during the preparation of the Draft 
EIS, please submit comments within the 30-day period; by February 14, 
2022, to the website or mailed to one of the addresses listed below.
    The Air Force plans to hold two virtual scoping meetings to solicit 
comments on potential alternatives and impacts and identification of 
any relevant information, studies, or analyses of any kind concerning 
impacts affecting the quality of the human environment regarding the 
Proposed Action. The scoping meetings will be held on the dates and 
times below:

<bullet> Tuesday, February 1, 2022: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. CST
<bullet> Thursday, February 3, 2022: 6 p.m.-8 p.m. CST

    To register to attend a virtual public scoping meeting and sign-up 
to provide a verbal comment, visit www.FMSPTCEIS.com. Meeting links and 
instructions will be distributed after registering and prior to all 
virtual public scoping meetings. All public scoping meetings can be 
accessed by phone at 1-877-853-5247; Meeting ID: 814 7750 7399; Meeting 
Password: 36126569.
    Major milestone dates, are as follows:

<bullet> Draft EIS and Notice of Availability (NOA) publication, Fall 
2022
<bullet> Draft EIS Public Comment Period and Hearing, Fall 2022
<bullet> Final EIS and NOA publication, Winter 2022/2023
<bullet> Record of Decision signature, Spring 2023

ADDRESSES: Additional information on the FMS PTC EIS environmental 
impact analysis process can be found on the project website at 
www.FMSPTCEIS.com. The project website can also be used to submit 
inquiries, comments, and requests for printed or digital copies of the 
scoping material or to Mr. David Martin at (210) 925-2741 or directed 
to: U.S. Post Office Deliveries: FMS PTC EIS Project Manager, AFCEC/
CZN, 2261 Hughes Avenue, Suite 155, JBSA Lackland, TX 78236 9853. FedEx 
& UPS Deliveries: FMS PTC EIS Project Manager, AFCEC/CZN, 3515 S 
General McMullen, Suite 155, San Antonio, TX 78226-2018.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of the Air Force proposes to 
beddown the FMS PTC, comprised of up to 16 F-16 aircraft of the 
Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF), and up to 36 F-35 FMS aircraft. 
The FMS PTC mission will operate under the direction of the Air Force 
Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
    The purpose of the Proposed Action is to establish a permanent FMS 
PTC, initially providing beddown of up to 36 F-35 aircraft, at a single 
location within CONUS. The Proposed Action is needed to provide a 
centralized location for training and pilot production associated with 
Foreign Military Sales. Multiple nations have agreements with the Air 
Force to purchase F-35 aircraft. This drives the need for a location 
suitable for initial F-35 training before returning to their home 
country. The Republic of Singapore is among the nations purchasing F-
35s and plans to keep some of their aircraft in the U.S. for an 
indefinite period of time. Additionally, the Republic of Singapore 
would relocate 16 F-16s from Luke AFB, Arizona, to the FMS PTC 
location.
    The EIS will analyze Ebbing and Selfridge ANG Bases as alternatives 
for the implementing the Proposed Action described above, as well as a 
No Action Alternative. The alternatives were developed to minimize 
adverse mission impact, maximize facility reuse, minimize cost, and 
reduce overhead, as well as leverage the strengths of each base to 
optimize the FMS PTC strategy. The potential impacts of the Proposed 
Action and Alternatives (including No Action Alternative) that the EIS 
will examine include impacts to land use, airspace, safety, noise, 
hazardous materials and solid waste, physical resources (including 
earth and water resources), air quality, transportation, cultural 
resources, biological resources, socioeconomics, and environmental 
justice resulting from construction and renovation at the installation 
and aircraft operation. The Air Force is preparing this EIS in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969; 
40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Parts 1500-1508, the Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA; and the Air 
Force's Environmental Impact Analysis Process (EIAP) as codified in 32 
CFR part 989.
    Scoping and Agency Coordination: The scoping process will be used 
to involve the public early in the planning and development of the EIS, 
to help identify issues to be addressed in the environmental analysis. 
To effectively define the full range of issues and concerns to be 
evaluated in the EIS, the Air Force is soliciting scoping comments from 
interested local, state, and federal agencies and interested members of 
the public. The Federal Aviation Administration has been requested to 
be a Cooperating Agency for this action.
    Due to the evolving nature of the current COVID crisis, the Air 
Force will hold two virtual public scoping meetings to inform the 
public and solicit comments and concerns about the proposal. Scoping 
meetings will be held online via www.FMSPTCEIS.com. Local notices 
identifying scheduled dates, and information for accessing each 
meeting, will be published a minimum of fifteen (15) days prior to each 
meeting.

Adriane S. Paris,
Air Force Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-00695 Filed 1-13-22; 8:45 am]
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