Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Implementation of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Decision To Relocate Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) Activities from Washington, DC to the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD and To Announce Public Scoping Meetings, 67343-67344 [E6-19635]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
• Department of the Navy
• Navy Department

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 224 (Tuesday, November 21, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67343-67344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19635]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for Implementation of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure 
(BRAC) Decision To Relocate Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) 
Activities from Washington, DC to the National Naval Medical Center 
(NNMC) in Bethesda, MD and To Announce Public Scoping Meetings

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, the regulations implemented by the Council 
on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the Department 
of the Navy NEPA regulation (32 CFR part 775), the Department of the 
Navy (DON) announces its intent to prepare an EIS to evaluate the 
potential environmental impacts associated with relocation of certain 
WRAMC activities from Washington, DC, to the NNMC in Bethesda, MD per 
Public Law 101-510, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 
1990 (BRAC Law). Potential impacts associated with normal future growth 
expected from changes in mission, force protection, improved security, 
and accessibility for disabled persons will also be evaluated and will 
contribute to the alternatives considered.
    The DON will hold public scoping meetings for the purpose of 
further identifying the scope of issues to be addressed in the EIS. 
Written and recorded comments will be accepted during this time. To 
ensure that the full range of issues related to this proposed action 
will be addressed, representatives from NNMC Bethesda will be available 
to answer questions and solicit public comments from interested parties 
during the scheduled public scoping meetings. Following publication of 
the draft EIS, at a time to be determined, further public meetings will 
be held to address comments on the draft document.

DATES: The DON will conduct public scoping meetings in Bethesda, 
Montgomery County, MD, to receive oral and/or written comments. The 
public meetings will be conducted in English. Both comment sheets and a 
recorder will be made available to document individual comments 
received at the public scoping meetings scheduled below:
    1. Open House: Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., Bethesda 
Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD.
    2. Open House: Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m., 
Bethesda Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD. Open house will 
begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by a brief Navy presentation at 7:30 p.m.
    3. Open House: Thursday, December 21, 2006, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., Bethesda 
Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD.
    4. Open House: Thursday, December 21, 2006, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., Bethesda 
Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Officer in Charge--BRAC, NNMC, 8901 
Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20889, telephone 301-295-2722, fax 301-
474-5419, e-mail: NNMCEIS@bethesda.med.navy.mil.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Defense BRAC Commission was established 
by Public Law 101-510, the BRAC Law, to recommend military 
installations for realignment and closure. Recommendations of the 2005 
BRAC Commission were included in a report presented to the President on 
September 8, 2005. The President approved and forwarded this report to 
Congress on September 16, 2005, which became effective as public law on 
November 9, 2005, and must be implemented in accordance with the 
requirements of the BRAC Law.
    The BRAC Law exempts the decision-making process of the Commission 
from the provisions of NEPA. The Law also relieves the DoD from the 
NEPA requirement to consider the need for closing, realigning, or 
transferring functions, and from looking at alternative installations 
to close or realign. The DON is preparing environmental impact analyses 
during the process of relocating functions from military installations 
being closed or realigned to other military installations after the 
receiving installations have been selected, but before functions are 
relocated. The analyses will consider direct and indirect environmental 
and socioeconomic effects of these actions and cumulative impacts of 
other reasonably foreseeable actions affecting receiving installations.
    The BRAC recommendations for realignment of WRAMC, Washington, DC, 
are as follows: Relocate all tertiary (sub-specialty and complex care) 
medical services to NNMC, Bethesda, MD, establishing it as the Walter 
Reed National Military Medical Center Bethesda, MD; relocate Legal 
Medicine to the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center 
Bethesda, MD; relocate sufficient personnel to the new Walter Reed 
National Military Medical Center Bethesda, MD, to establish a Program 
Management Office that will coordinate pathology results, contract 
administration and quality assurance, and control of DoD second opinion 
consults worldwide; relocate all non-tertiary (primary and specialty) 
patient care functions to a new community hospital at Ft. Belvoir, VA.
    NNMC Bethesda is a Navy-owned 243-acre military health care, 
medical education, and research installation located in Bethesda, MD. 
The National Institutes of Health main campus is directly west of NNMC. 
Other neighbors surrounding NNMC include Stone Ridge School of the 
Sacred Heart, residential housing, North Chevy Chase Recreation Center, 
Rock Creek Park, and the Columbia Country Club. Interstate 495 is 
adjacent to the northeastern corner of NNMC.
    The proposed action for this EIS is to accommodate the BRAC 2005 
law. The BRAC-directed action includes various mission relocations from 
WRAMC which result in movement of medical, educational, and support 
services to NNMC. The BRAC-directed action must be completed on or 
before September 15, 2011. Upon completion of the merger, the existing 
WRAMC will close and the new premier medical center will be renamed the 
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda.

[[Page 67344]]

    The EIS will consider the possible combinations of locations on 
base that are reasonable to accomplish the proposed action: The 
adaptive reuse of existing facilities through renovation, with emphasis 
on preservation of the historic context and integrity of existing 
buildings; the use of new construction; the potential long-term growth 
in installation missions; and identification of cost-effective and 
timely means of meeting mission requirements, the BRAC deadline, and 
other deadlines. These factors are currently under evaluation by an 
Installation Master Plan effort, which will cover a 10-year planning 
period that extends to the year 2016. The Master Plan and the EIS are 
subject to a formal review process under the authority of the National 
Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC). The Master Plan will include a 
separate document, referenced in the EIS, to comply with NCPC traffic 
management analysis requirements.
    Alternatives were developed to assess the proposed action and 
potential additional development that may occur at NNMC. Alternatives 
to be considered include: (1) Implement the BRAC recommendation; (2) 
implement the BRAC recommendation and provide for future anticipated 
growth, support activities, and changes to the installation; and (3) no 
action, with NNMC continuing to maintain and repair existing facilities 
without additional growth.
    Alternative 1 will meet the requirements of the BRAC Law by 
providing additions and alterations to NNMC such as additional parking 
and alterations to administrative and physical training facilities to 
accommodate functions and activities relocating from WRAMC. Road and 
utility improvements would be included. Additional facilities and 
infrastructure needed to re-establish the relocating mission and allow 
the installation to function are provided in this alternative. These 
include temporary and permanent lodging facilities, and improvements to 
access gates to accommodate added traffic volume and meet current Anti-
terrorism/Force Protection standards. It is anticipated that completion 
of this action will result in NNMC facility additions and alterations 
totaling approximately 1,100,000 square feet, additional appropriate 
parking facilities totaling about 900,000 square feet, the addition of 
approximately 1,400 full-time staff members, and about 435,000 
additional patients and visitors using the facilities per year.
    Alternative 2 includes all items considered under Alternative 1 and 
adds anticipated future growth of other missions performed at the 
installation. This will include expansion of DoD medical education and 
research facilities, improved or replacement athletic facilities, a 
potential pedestrian bridge across Wisconsin Avenue, security 
enhancements, and added retail space. It is anticipated that 
Alternative 2 would result in the following increases over those 
described in Alternative 1: Facility additions and alterations totaling 
approximately 650,000 square feet; additional appropriate parking 
facilities totaling approximately 130,000 square feet; the addition of 
approximately 1,100 full-time staff members; and about 100,000 
additional patients and visitors using the facilities per year.
    Alternative 3 is required by statute and will evaluate the impacts 
at NNMC in the event that additional growth from BRAC and non-BRAC 
action does not occur. NNMC would continue to maintain and repair 
facilities in response to requirements from Congressional action or 
revisions to building codes. Implementation of Alternative 3 would 
require the Congress to change the existing BRAC Law.
    The EIS will address potential direct, indirect, short-term, long 
term, and cumulative impacts to the human and natural environment, to 
include potential impacts to topography, geology, and soils, water 
resources, biological resources, air quality, noise, infrastructure and 
utilities, traffic, cultural resources, land use, socioeconomics, 
environmental justice, and hazardous waste and materials. Known areas 
of concern associated with the BRAC action include providing required 
space and facilities at NNMC in consideration of historic 
characteristics, and impacts to local traffic and on-base parking 
associated with increases in personnel and patient visits.
    The DON is initiating the scoping process to identify community 
concerns and issues that should be addressed in the EIS. Agencies and 
the public are encouraged to provide written comments in addition to, 
or in lieu of, oral comments at scheduled public scoping meetings. 
Comments should clearly describe specific issues or topics that the EIS 
should address. Written comments must be postmarked or e-mailed by 
midnight January 04, 2007, and should be sent to: Officer in Charge--
BRAC, NNMC, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20889, telephone 301-
295-2722, fax 301-474-5419, e-mail: NNMCEIS@ bethesda.med.navy.mil. 
Requests for inclusion on the EIS mailing list may also be submitted to 
this address.
    Requests for special assistance, sign language interpretation for 
the hearing impaired, language interpreters, or other auxiliary aids 
for scheduled public scoping meetings must be sent by mail or e-mail by 
December 06, 2006, to Ms. Amanda Goebel, The Louis Berger Group, Inc., 
telephone 202-912-0267, e-mail: agoebel@louisberger.com.

    Dated: November 15, 2006.
M.A. Harvison,
Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, 
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. E6-19635 Filed 11-20-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P