Department of Defense March 13, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to section (102)(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, and the regulations implemented by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 1500-1508), the Department of the Navy (DoN) announces its intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the July 2016 Final EIS for Land-Water Interface (LWI) and Service Pier Extension (SPE), Naval Base (NAVBASE) Kitsap Bangor, Washington. The Final EIS for LWI and SPE resulted in a Record of Decision (ROD) that was signed on September 8, 2016 for the LWI project only. The SPE proposed action is to extend the existing Service Pier and construct associated support facilities. The purpose is to provide additional berthing capacity and improve associated support facilities for existing homeported and visiting submarines at NAVBASE Kitsap Bangor. The SPE project is needed to provide alternative opportunities for berthing to mitigate restrictions at NAVBASE Kitsap Bremerton, Washington, on navigating SEAWOLF Class submarines through Rich Passage under certain tidal conditions and to improve long-term operational effectiveness for the three SEAWOLF Class submarines on NAVBASE Kitsap. The Supplemental EIS will address the SPE project only and will evaluate resources based upon changes in design and new information relevant to environmental concerns per 40 CFR 1502.9. The DoN will evaluate this new, relevant information and incorporate that information into revised analyses where appropriate. The analysis will address, among others, changes to the Alternative 2 design and new regulatory guidance and requirements.