53854 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 181 / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / Notices 

to the meeting which is the subject of 

this notice. Written statements received 

after this date may not be provided to 

or considered by the Air University 

Board of Visitors until its next meeting. 

The Designated Federal Officer will 

review all timely submissions with the 

Air University Board of Visitors’ Board 

Chairperson and ensure they are 

provided to members of the Board 

before the meeting that is the subject of 

this notice. Additionally, any member of 

the public wishing to attend this 

meeting should contact either person 

listed below at least five calendar days 

prior to the meeting for information on 

base entry passes. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Dorothy Reed, Federal Designated 

Officer, Air University Headquarters, 55 

LeMay Plaza South, Maxwell Air Force 

Base, Alabama 36112–6335, telephone 

(334) 953–5159 or Mrs. Diana Bunch, 

Alternate Federal Designated Officer, 

same address, telephone (334) 953– 

4547. 

Bao-Anh Trinh, 

DAF, Air Force Federal Register Liaison 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. E8–21700 Filed 9–16–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army 

Notice of Availability of the Record of 

Decision (ROD) for Army Growth and 

Force Structure Realignment To 

Support Operations in the Pacific 

Theater 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA). 

SUMMARY: The Department of the Army 

announces the availability of the ROD 

for Army Growth and Force Structure 

Realignment to Support Operations in 

the Pacific Theater. This ROD 

announces the Army’s decisions for 

growing and realigning U.S. Army 

forces to support operations in the 

Pacific Theater, which covers more than 

50 percent of the earth’s surface and 

includes more than 39 countries. 

Pursuant to the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of 

the Army prepared a Supplemental 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement (SPEIS) that evaluated the 

potential environmental and 

socioeconomic effects associated with 

alternatives for Army growth and 

realignment. In the Final SPEIS 

(published July 24, 2008), the Army 

identified Alternative Two as the 

preferred alternative for implementing 

growth in U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii 

(USAG–HI) and Alternative Three as the 

preferred alternative for implementing 

growth in U.S. Army Garrisons in 

Alaska. The ROD explains that the 

Army will proceed with its preferred 

alternatives to station approximately 

1,980 new Soldiers in Hawaii and 

approximately 2,200 in Alaska. This 

decision also validates previous 

decisions to station a 254 Soldier 

Expeditionary Sustainment Command 

(ESC) at Fort Lewis, Washington, and 

divert the stationing of a 570 Soldier 

Maneuver Enhancement Brigade (MEB) 

from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to Fort 

Drum, New York. These alternatives 

best support Army-wide modular 

transformation; support the National 

Defense and Security Strategies; add the 

necessary Combat Support (CS) and 

Combat Service Support (CSS) Soldiers 

to Army forces; and grow critical 

support brigades and headquarters to 

efficiently carry out missions in the 

Pacific Theater. The decisions contained 

within the ROD will result in a total 

growth of Army forces within the 

Pacific Theater by approximately 4,200 

Soldiers and will realign forces to 

improve readiness and responsiveness 

to meet future challenges. 

ADDRESSES: Comments or questions 

regarding the ROD can be sent to the 

Public Affairs Office, U.S. Army 

Environmental Command, Building 

E4460, Attention: IMAE–PA 5179 

Hoadley Road, Aberdeen Proving 

Ground, MD 21010–5401. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Public Affairs Office at (410) 436–2556; 

facsimile at (410) 436–1693 (during 

normal business hours Monday through 

Friday). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In January 

2007, President Bush asked Congress for 

authority to increase the overall strength 

of the Army by 74,200 Soldiers over the 

next five years. This growth will 

mitigate shortages in units, Soldiers, 

and time to train that would otherwise 

inhibit the Army from meeting 

readiness goals and supporting strategic 

requirements. In September 2007, the 

Secretary of Defense approved the 

Army’s proposal to accelerate growth for 

the Active component and Army 

National Guard. The Army must grow, 

adjust its force structure, and station its 

units and Soldiers to meet the strategic 

requirements of the contemporary global 

security environment. To meet these 

needs, the Army has begun moving 

forward with growth and realignment of 

its forces in the continental U.S. The 

environmental impacts of these actions 

were studied in 2007 and the final ROD 

for growth and realignment actions in 

the continental U.S. was issued in 

January 2008. At that time, the unique 

mission requirements and special needs 

of the Pacific Theater were still being 

assessed. The Army has carefully 

considered the structure of its forces 

available to support operations in the 

Pacific Theater, an active operational 

theater as well as a force provider to 

global mission requirements. This 

decision is designed to ensure that the 

right capabilities are available to 

accomplish the wide range of theater 

mission requirements and uphold 

regional national security interests in 

the Pacific region. 

The Final SPEIS was published in 

July 2008. It provided the Army senior 

leadership with an assessment of 

environmental and socioeconomic 

impacts associated with alternatives for 

implementing the Proposed Action, as 

well as feedback and concerns of the 

public. This information was considered 

as part of the decision-making process 

for selecting the final stationing 

locations for new units. Major training 

installations in the continental U.S. as 

well as garrison stationing locations in 

Hawaii and Alaska were considered for 

the stationing of additional units to 

support Proposed Action. 

Stationing decisions included in the 

ROD for Army Growth and Force 

Structure Realignment to Support 

Operations in the Pacific Theater 

include: (1) The stationing of 

approximately 1,775 new CSICSS 

Soldiers to include a new MEB 

headquarters at Fort Richardson, Alaska; 

(2) The stationing of approximately 425 

new CS/CSS Soldiers at Fort 

Wainwright, Alaska; (3) The stationing 

of approximately 1,680 new CS/CSS 

Soldiers including new Military Police 

and Engineer Brigade Headquarters 

units at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; (4) 

The stationing of approximately 300 

additional CS/CSS Soldiers at Fort 

Shafter, Hawaii; (5) The validation of 

the stationing of the ESC at Fort Lewis, 

Washington; (6) The validation of 

decisions to divert a MEB from 

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii to Fort 

Drum, New York. 

The full text of the ROD and Final 

SPEIS are available at http:// 

www.aec.army.mil. 

Dated: September 10, 2008. 

Addison D. Davis, IV, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, 

(Environment, Safety and Occupational 

Health). 

[FR Doc. E8–21679 Filed 9–16–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3710–08–M 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES