Department of the Army February 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Army (DA) and National Guard Bureau have proposed to transform the Pennsylvania Army National Guard (PAARNG) 56th Brigade into a Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT). This Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) discusses in-depth three alternatives: The Preferred Alternative, the Train Using Existing Army Facilities Alternative, and the No-Action Alternative, Under the Preferred Alternative, the PAARNG proposes construction of new training and support facilities at the National Guard Training CenterFort Indiantown Gap (NGTC-FTIG); at Fort Pickett, VA; and at local PAARNG facilities across the State of Pennsylvania, as well as conducting Annual Training (AT) at Fort A.P. Hill, VA, in order to accomplish requisite training. Under the Train Using Existing Army Facilities Alternative, no construction at NGTC-FTIG, Pennsylvania or Fort Pickett, VA would occur; the statewide facilities improvements would occur. Required SBCT Inactive Duty Training (IDT) and AT would be conducted at select regional Army training installations, using existing facilities. Other alternatives considered but eliminated from detailed study are also addressed in the EIS.

Section 302 of Public Law 99-662 established the Inland Waterways Users Board. The Board is an independent Federal advisory committee. The Secretary of the Army appoints its 11 members. This notice is to solicit nominations for four (4) appointments or reappointments to two-year terms that will begin after August 1, 2006.

The U.S. Army announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the construction and operation of new USAMRIID facilities and the decommissioning and demolition or reuse of existing USAMRIID facilities at Fort Detrick. This EIS is being prepared and considered in accordance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, regulations of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the Army's implementation of NEPA (32 CFR part 651), 29 March 2002. The proposed new USAMRIID facilities will provide biocontainment laboratory space, animal facilities, and administrative offices, as well as operational and administrative support facilities. These new facilities will be located adjacent to the existing USAMRIID facilities within the National Interagency Biodefense Campus on Area A of Fort Detrick and near the biomedical research facilities of mission partners, including the Agricultural Research Service Foreign Disease Weed Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the planned National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Integrated Research Facility, and the Department of Homeland Security's National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center. The existing USAMRIID facilities on Area A will be decommissioned and either demolished or reused following occupancy of the new USAMRIID facilities. The construction will occur in two stages. Stage 1 will provide approximately 700,000 gross square feet (gsf) of new building space for the replacement of outdated and compressed existing USAMRIID facilities in order to sustain the current mission and to expand medical testing and evaluation (T&E) capacity in support of immediate Department of Defense (DoD) and national demand. Stage 2 will encompass approximately 400,000 gsf of new building space for the balance of USAMRIID's expanded mission and for additional capacity to meet intensified national requirements for medical test and evaluation in support of biodefense research as well as to accommodate increased collaborative efforts among USAMRIID's mission partners. In addition, approximately 200,000 gsf of the existing USAMRIID facilities may be renovated and reused for laboratory or non-laboratory use, to be determined by evolving biodefense requirements.

The notice of an open meeting scheduled for February 8, 2006 published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2006 (71 FR 2193) has added one closed session.