Draft Program Comment Regarding World War II and Cold War Era Ammunition Storage Facilities, 18708-18711 [06-3511]

Agencies

• Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• Historic Preservation, Advisory Council

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18708-18711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3511]


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ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION


Draft Program Comment Regarding World War II and Cold War Era 
Ammunition Storage Facilities

AGENCY: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to issue program comment on World War II and 
Cold War era ammunition storage facilities.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Defense (DoD) is formulating its plan on how 
to manage its inventory of World War II (1939-1946) and Cold War (1946-
1974) era ammunition storage facilities. In order to better meet its 
Federal historic preservation responsibilities in managing these 
properties, DoD has requested the Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation (ACHP) to comment on the overall management of such 
properties, as opposed to submit each individual undertaking under such 
management to separate review. DoD and ACHP have drafted such a comment 
and now seek public input on it. ACHP will take into account this 
public input prior to deciding whether to issue the program comment.

DATES: Submit comments on or before May 12, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this proposed program 
comment to Dave Berwick, Army Program Manager, Office of Federal Agency 
Programs, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 1100 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, Suite 809, Washington, DC 20004. Fax 202-606-8672. You may 
submit electronic comments to dberwick@achp.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Berwick (202) 606-8505.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act requires Federal agencies to consider the effects of 
their undertakings on historic properties and provide the Advisory 
Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) a reasonable opportunity to 
comment with regard to such undertakings. ACHP has issued the 
regulations that set forth the process through which Federal agencies 
comply with these duties. Those regulations are codified under 36 CFR 
part 800 (``Section 106 regulations'').
    Under Section 800.14(e) of those regulations, agencies can request 
ACHP to provide a ``Program Comment'' on a particular category of 
undertakings in lieu of conducting individual reviews of each 
individual undertaking under such category, as set forth in 36 CFR 
800.4 through 800.6. An agency can meet its Section 106 
responsibilities for those undertakings by taking into account ACHP's 
Program Comment and by following the steps set forth in those comments.
    The Department of Defense (DoD) has requested such a Program 
Comment to cover management of its World War II and Cold War era 
ammunition storage facilities. A copy of the draft Program Comment can 
be found at the end of this notice. Once the public input resulting 
from this notice is considered, ACHP will decide whether to issue a 
final Program Comment to DoD.

[[Page 18709]]

Background on World War II and Cold War Era Ammunition Storage 
Facilities

    Ammunition and explosives storage structures, usually called 
magazines, are present at most former and present U.S. military 
installations. The structures generally have an utilitarian form. Prior 
to the mid-1920s, magazines were generally warehouse-type structures 
constructed to house the volatile materiel. They were built of stone 
and brick and provided mostly dry, ventilated, and secure storage for 
ammunition and explosives. However, in 1926 at Lake Denmark, New 
Jersey, a set of chain reaction explosions changed the way ammunitions 
and explosives would be stored.
    A new earth-covered concrete magazine was designed that directed 
the force of the explosion upward rather than outward, decreasing the 
chances of sympathetic, chain reaction explosions. This igloo-type 
magazine was then used throughout the military and was modified a few 
times, but generally was the predominant type of magazine after the 
1920s. The underground igloos, although exhibiting considerable 
variation, share a very basic design plan: That of an arched barrel-
shaped vault. Some partially bermed (covered with earth) facilities, 
such as the Richmond Magazine, were designed during World War II (WWII) 
as a wartime substitute for the practical igloo designs prompted by 
material shortages and mobilization needs and lacked the arched 
concrete roof and concrete front wall. The general design of igloo 
storage did not change much until modified once again in the late 
1980s.
    Modern ammunition storage facilities reflect the spacing and 
construction technique lessons learned in the 1926 Lake Denmark 
disaster, in which ammunition bunkers exploded in a chain reaction. 
There are six standardized underground igloo magazine designs that were 
used during WWII to store high explosives, and several types of 
aboveground magazines for particular classes of ammunition. The Cold 
War period saw only minor modifications to existing designs to satisfy 
the needs of newer technology.
    DoD has identified 29,425 ammunition storage facilities that fall 
within the category being considered under this Program Comment. These 
ammunition storage facilities can be found at most military 
installations nationwide.
    The Department of the Army (Army) has 76% of the DoD inventory, 
totaling 22,407 facilities. The Army's inventory consists of 19,409 
WWII era facilities and 2,998 Cold War era facilities. Of the combined 
total, 15,301 are underground storage facilities.
    The Department of the Navy (Navy), which includes the Marine Corps, 
has over 17% of the total DoD inventory with 5,108 facilities. The 
Navy's inventory consists of 4,143 WWII era facilities and 965 Cold War 
era facilities. Of its combined total, 4.084 are underground storage 
facilities.
    The Department of the Air Force (Air Force) has just over 6% of the 
total DoD inventory with 1,910 facilities. The Air Force's inventory 
consists of 263 WWII era facilities and 1,647 Cold War Era Facilities. 
Of its combined total, 1,311 are underground facilities.
    This Program Comment will include all buildings and structures that 
were designed and built as ammunition storage facilities within the 
years 1939-1974, regardless of current use, and that are identified by 
a DoD Category Group (2 digit) Code of 42, Ammunition Storage (category 
code 42XXXX), in the Military Service's Real Property Inventory 
currently or at the time of construction.
    DoD anticipates that all of its WWII and Cold War era ammunition 
storage facilities will be subject to the following categories of 
undertakings: Ongoing operations, maintenance and repair, 
rehabilitation renovation, mothballing, cessation of maintenance, new 
construction, demolition, deconstruction and salvage, remediation 
activities, and transfer, sale, lease, and closure. DoD is requesting 
that the ACHP issue a Program Comment on these categories of 
undertakings for all WWII and Cold War Era DoD ammunition storage 
facilities. Therefore, there is a potential for adverse effects to 
historic properties.
    Under the Ammunition Storage Program Comment, a possible, though 
not likely, outcome would be the alteration or demolition of the entire 
group of Ammunition Storage property types built between 1939 and 1974. 
Because many of these properties are still being actively used by the 
Military Departments to store ammunition, it is more likely that many 
of these buildings will remain in use and in the inventory. However, as 
alteration or complete demolition is an option under the Program 
Comment, the proposed mitigation must reflect and address that 
possibility. Because the significance of these properties lies not only 
in their association with the history surrounding the development of 
ammunition and ammunition storage during the WWII and Cold War eras, 
but also in their engineering and design qualities, the loss of this 
entire class of properties would be significant if the record of the 
association and design features was not completed before the buildings 
are irreversibly altered or demolished. In this case, however, the 
proposed documentation will record both the historical associations and 
the design features of the properties. Consequently, because the 
important aspects of these properties will be well documented through 
the history, plans, and photographs, even if all the properties are 
demolished, the effect of the loss should not be historically 
significant.

Text of the Proposed Comment

    The following is the full text of the draft Program Comment:

Program Comment for World War II and Cold War Era Ammunition Storage 
Facilities

I. Introduction

    This Program Comment provides the Department of Defense (DoD) and 
its Military Departments with an alternative way to comply with their 
responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act with regard to the effect of the following management 
actions on World War II and Cold War Era ammunition storage facilities 
that may be listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of 
Historic Places: Ongoing operations, maintenance and repair, 
rehabilitation, renovation, mothballing, cessation of maintenance, new 
construction, demolition, deconstruction and salvage, remediation 
activities, and transfer, sale, lease, and closure of such facilities.
    In order to take into account the effects on World War II and Cold 
War Era ammunition storage facilities, DoD and its Military Departments 
will conduct documentation in accordance with The Secretary of the 
Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic 
Preservation. As each Military Department will be responsible for 
conducting its own mitigation actions, the following required 
documentation is structured by Military Department, followed by DoD-
wide requirements.

II. Treatment of Properties

A. Army Mitigation
    1. The Army shall expand and revise its existing context study, 
Army Ammunition and Explosives Storage in the United States, 1775-1945 
to include the Cold War Era. This document provides background 
information and criteria for evaluating the historic significance of 
such buildings. The updated context study will:

--Identify the changes in ammunition storage during the Cold War;

[[Page 18710]]

--Focus on the changes required for ammunition storage due to 
technological advancement in weaponry;
--Consider the importance of major builders, architects or engineers 
that may have been associated with design and construction of 
Ammunition Storage Facilities throughout the Army or at specific Amy 
installations; and
--Describe the inventory of Ammunition Storage Facilities in detail, 
providing information on the various types of buildings and 
architectural styles and the quantity of each.

    2. The Army shall undertake in-depth documentation on Ammunition 
Storage Facilities at nine installations. The existing context study 
concluded that the Army possessed ``only a few basic types and an 
abundance of examples'' of Ammunition Storage Facilities, due to the 
standardization of ammunition storage facilities beginning in the 
1920s. The context study suggests that six geographically dispersed 
installations contain an array of primary examples of both aboveground 
and underground magazines with a high degree of integrity:

--Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada--early igloos;
--McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, Oklahoma--Corbetta Beehive;
--Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas--biological and chemical igloos;
--Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant, Ohio--standard World War II and 
aboveground magazines;
--Blue Grass Army Ammunition Plant, Kentucky--standard World War II 
igloos and aboveground magazines; and
--Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, Louisiana--Stradley special weapons.

    The Army shall document these six as well as three additional 
installations that possess Cold War Era Ammunition Storage Facilities. 
Documentation at the three additional installations will be determined 
after completion of the expended context study described in section 
II.A.1., above. This study will include a brief history of the 
installation and the surrounding community, if appropriate, and a 
detailed history of the storage facilities and documentation of the 
buildings. The documentation will primarily consist of historic 
photographs and existing plans. Documentation will be tailored to 
address the different natures of aboveground and underground storage.
B. Navy Mitigation
    1. The Navy will develop a supplemental context study that will be 
attached as an appendix to the Army's existing context study, Army 
Ammunition and Explosives Storage in the United States, 1775-1945. The 
final product will be a separately bound volume of additional 
information and photographs and tabular appendices that, when presented 
with the Army's and Air Force's context studies, provide a clear 
picture of the Department of Defense's Ammunition Storage facilities. 
This context study appendix will:

--Cover both World War II and the Cold War Era, form 1939-1974;
--Explore the changes in ammunition storage resulting from World War 
II;
--Examine the changes required for ammunition storage due to 
technological advancement in weaponry during the Cold War;
--Consider the importance of major builders, architects or engineers 
that may have been associated with design and construction of 
Ammunition Storage Facilities; and
--Describe the inventory of Ammunition Storage Facilities in detail, 
providing information on the various types of buildings and 
architectural styles and the quantity of each.

    2. The Navy shall document a representative sample of the basic 
types of both aboveground and underground ammunition storage 
facilities. The Navy will choose three geographically dispersed 
installations with the greatest number and variety of such resources. 
The Marines will choose one such installation. The sample chosen shall 
be the best representative examples of the range of Ammunition Storage 
types constructed during World War II and the Cold War era. This 
documentation will include collecting existing plans and drawings, 
writing a historic description in narrative or outline format, and 
compiling existing historic photographs of the structures. 
Documentation will be tailored to address the different natures of 
aboveground and underground storage.
C. Air Force Mitigation
    1. The Air Force will develop a supplemental context study that 
will be attached as an appendix to the Army's existing context study, 
Army Ammunition and Explosives Storage in the United States, 1775-1945. 
The final product will be a separately bound volume of additional 
information and photographs and tabular appendices that, when presented 
with the Army's and Navy's context studies, provide a clear picture of 
the Department of Defense's Ammunition Storage facilities. The context 
study appendix will:

--Cover the Cold War Era, from 1946-1974;
--Explore the changes in ammunition storage resulting from the Cold 
War;
--Examine the changes required for ammunition storage due to 
technological advancement in weaponry during the Cold War;
--Consider the importance of major builders, architects or engineers 
that may have been associated with design and construction of 
Ammunition Storage Facilities; and
--Describe the inventory of Ammunition Storage Facilities in detail, 
providing information on the various types of buildings and 
architectural styles and the quantity of each.

    2. The Air Force shall document a representative sample of the 
basic types of both aboveground and underground ammunition storage 
facilities. The Air Force will choose three geographically dispersed 
installations with the greatest number and variety of such resources. 
The sample chosen shall be the best representative examples of the 
range of Ammunition Storage types constructed during the Cold War era. 
This documentation would include collecting existing plans and 
drawings, writing a historic description in narrative or outline 
format, and compiling existing historic photographs of the structures. 
Documentation will be tailored to address the different natures of 
aboveground and underground storage.
    3. The Air Force will not be required to consider its World War II 
Era facilities in these mitigation actions. The Air Force was 
established in September 1947 and therefore was not associated with 
structures constructed during this era. Rather the Air Force has 
inherited its current inventory of 263 World War II Era Ammunition 
Storage facilities from former Army installations. Given the 
substantial mitigation actions that will be undertaken by the Army to 
document its facilities, further documentation for the small number of 
similar facilities located at Air Force installations provides no 
additional historic value. While no documentation will be done on World 
War II facilities under the Air Force's control, all of the 263 
facilities in its inventory are covered under this Program Comment.
D. DoD-Wide Mitigation
    1. Copies of the documentation described above will be made 
available electronically, to the extent possible

[[Page 18711]]

under security concerns, and hard copies will be placed in a permanent 
repository, such as the Center for Military History.
    2. In addition, as a result of on-going consultations, each 
Military Department will provide a list of properties covered by the 
Program Comment, by State, to State Historic Preservation Officers, 
Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and other interested parties, as 
appropriate. Each Military Department will be responsible for 
determining how to convey its information.
    3. All Military Departments will encourage adaptive reuse of the 
properties when feasible, as well as the use of historic tax credits by 
private developers under lease arrangements. Military Departments will 
also incorporate adaptive reuse and preservation principles into master 
planning documents and activities.
    The above actions satisfy DoD's requirement to take into account 
the effects of the following management actions on World War II and 
Cold War Era ammunition storage facilities that may be listed or 
eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places: 
Ongoing operations, maintenance and repair, rehabilitation, renovation, 
mothballing, cessation of maintenance, new construction, demolition, 
deconstruction and salvage, remediation activities, and transfer, sale, 
lease, and closure of such facilities.

III. Applicability

    A.1. This Program Comment applies solely to World War II and Cold 
War Era DoD ammunition storage facilities. The Program Comment does not 
apply to the following properties that are listed, or eligible for 
listing, on the National Register of Historic Places: (1) Archeological 
properties, (2) properties of traditional religious and cultural 
significance to federally recognized Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, and/or (3) ammunition storage facilities in National 
Register of Historical Places districts where the ammunition storage 
facility is a contributing element of the district and the proposed 
undertaking has the potential to adversely affect such historic 
district. This third exclusion does not apply to historic districts 
that are made up solely of ammunition storage facility properties. In 
those cases the Program Comment would be applicable to such districts.
    Since the proposed mitigation for the Ammunition Storage facilities 
documents site plans, building designs, and the spatial arrangement of 
ammunition storage facilities, along with the events and actions that 
lead to the development of standardized ammunition storage facilities 
in DoD, the important aspects of ammunition storage, whether single 
buildings or districts made up entirely of ammunition storage, will be 
addressed regardless of the type of undertaking that may affect this 
particular property type. The one currently known ammunition storage 
district, at Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant, has been identified for 
further study, as outlined in Section II(A)(2) above.
    2. An installation with an existing Section 106 agreement document 
in place that addresses ammunition storage facilities can choose to:
    (i) Continue to follow the stipulations in the existing agreement 
document for the remaining period of the agreement; or
    (ii) Seek to amend the existing agreement document to incorporate, 
in whole or in part, the terms of this Program Comment; or
    (iii) Terminate the existing agreement document, and re-initiate 
consultation informed by this Program Comment if necessary.
    3. All future Section 106 agreement documents developed by the 
Military Departments related to the undertakings and properties 
addressed in this Program Comment shall include appropriate provisions 
detailing whether and how the terms of this Program Comment apply to 
such undertakings.

IV. Completion Schedule

    On or before 60 days following issuance of the Program Comment, 
DoD, its Military Department and ACHP will establish a schedule for 
completion of the treatments outlined above.

V. Effect of the Program Comment

    By following this Program Comment, DoD and its Military Departments 
meet their responsibilities for compliance under Section 106 regarding 
the effect of the following management actions on World War II and Cold 
War Era ammunition storage facilities that may be listed or eligible 
for listing on the National Register of Historic Places: Ongoing 
operations, maintenance and repair, rehabilitation, renovation, 
mothballing, cessation of maintenance, new construction, demolition, 
deconstruction and salvage, remediation activities, and transfer, sale, 
lease, and closure of such facilities. Accordingly, DoD installations 
are no longer required to follow the case-by-case Section 106 review 
process for such effects.
    As each of the Military Departments is required under this Program 
Comment to document their own facilities, failure of any one Military 
Department to comply with the terms of the Program Comment will not 
adversely affect the other Departments' abilities to continue managing 
their properties under the Program Comment.

VI. Duration and Review of the Program Comment

    This Program Comment will remain in effect until such time as the 
Office of the Secretary of Defense determines that such comments are no 
longer needed and notifies ACHP in writing, or ACHP withdraws the 
comments in accordance with 36 CFR 800.14(e)(6). Following such 
withdrawal, DoD and its Military Departments would be required to 
comply with the requirements of 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.7 regarding 
the effects under this Program Comments' scope.
    DoD and ACHP will review the implementation of the Program Comment 
ten years after its issuance.

    Authority: 36 CFR 800.14(e).

    Dated: April 7, 2006.
John M. Fowler,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 06-3511 Filed 4-11-06; 8:45 am]
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