Department of Air Force 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Air Force is issuing this notice to advise the public of its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Gulf Regional Airspace Strategic Initiative (GRASI) Landscape Initiative (GLI) is a U.S Air Force-led partnership with the State of Florida and other state and federal agencies to expand the capacity of the region to safely host military test and training operations. Under the GLI EIS, the Air Force's Proposed Action is to utilize Blackwater River State Forest (BRSF) and Tate's Hell State Forest (THSF) for establishing helicopter landing and drop zones, airstrips, and a number of different land and air training activities which currently occur within the interstitial (areas between designated test/ training sites) areas of the Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) Range. The Air Force is also proposing to establish up to 12 radar, telemetry, and training emitter sites throughout northwest Florida. The emitter sites would support development of an integrated air defense system, which would provide unique, viable, and robust air training. Scoping: In order to effectively define the full range of issues to be evaluated in the EIS, the Air Force will determine the scope (i.e. what will be covered and in what detail) by soliciting comments from interested state and federal agencies and interested members of the public through the Federal Register and various media in the local communities near the Proposed Action. The Air Force will also hold a series of scoping meetings to further solicit input regarding the scope of the proposed action and any reasonable alternatives.