Department of the Navy April 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Announcement of the Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel meeting scheduled for April 20, 2015, (Federal Register, Volume 80, No. 67, Wednesday, April 8, 2015) did not comply with 41 CFR 102-3.150(a). After subsequent review and pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.150(b), the Advisory Committee Management Officer for the Department of the Defense waives the 15-calendar day notification requirement. The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Advisory Panel will meet 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to review ways to establish a culture of innovation in the Department of the Navy. This meeting is opened to the public.

Pursuant to Section (102)(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 United States Code [U.S.C.] Sections 4321-4370h); the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R) Parts 1500-1508); Department of the Navy (DoN) Procedures for Implementing NEPA (32 CFR part 775); and Marine Corps NEPA directives (Marine Corps Order P5090.2A), the United States Marine Corps (Marine Corps) has prepared and filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that evaluates the potential environmental consequences that may result from implementation of repair, renovation, and construction projects at Marine Barracks Washington (MBW), District of Columbia (DC) anticipated to occur within an approximately 5-year planning horizon from the publication of the Record of Decision anticipated in 2016). The principal project analyzed in this Draft EIS is the replacement of a Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (BEQ) Complex (including supporting facilities and parking) currently housed in Building 20 at MBW. Depending on the alternative selected, the BEQ Complex replacement project may include land acquisition in DC. The Draft EIS also evaluates renovation and improvement projects to Building 7 at the Main Post; improvements to the MBW Annex gate at 7th and K Streets; and improvements to building facades, fencing, infrastructure, pedestrian amenities, and landscaping throughout the installation. The Draft EIS includes a programmatic evaluation of several additional projects anticipated to occur beyond the 5-year planning horizon for which information sufficient to conduct detailed NEPA analysis is not yet available. Principal among these projects is the potential reuse of Building 20 or the Building 20 site once the BEQ Complex has been relocated. Other longer-term projects include renovation of Building 9 to accommodate the consolidation of various administrative functions, as well as some additional landscaping and maintenance projects. Once these actions become sufficiently ripe for detailed analysis, additional NEPA analysis will be completed. A Notice of Intent to prepare this EIS was published in the Federal Register on September 6, 2013 (Vol. 78, No. 173, p. 54873). With the filing of the Draft EIS, the DoN is initiating a 45-day public comment period and has scheduled a public open house meeting to receive written and verbal comments on the Draft EIS. Federal, state, and local agencies and interested individuals are encouraged to attend the public meeting. This notice announces the dates and locations of the public meeting, and supplementary information about the environmental planning effort.

The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Advisory Panel will meet 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to review ways to establish a culture of innovation in the Department of the Navy. This meeting is opened to the public.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) reaffirms its August 15, 2012, Record of Decision to employ up to four Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) sonar systems with certain geographical restrictions and mitigation monitoring designed to reduce potential adverse effects on the marine environment, including operating LFA sonar systems in the waters in which the Hawaiian Islands Stock Complex of common bottlenose dolphins could occur. The August 15, 2012, Record of Decision implemented the preferred alternative, Alternative 2, identified in the 2012 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS)/Supplemental Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (SOEIS) for SURTASS LFA sonar. Following litigation challenging the adequacy of the 2012 FSEIS/ FSOEIS, the District Court for the Northern District of California determined that the DoN failed to use the best available data when it determined potential impacts from the employment of SURTASS LFA sonar systems on one stock of common bottlenose dolphins in Hawaiian waters rather than the more current information that shows five stocks of common bottlenose dolphins in Hawaiian waters. Accordingly, DoN prepared a narrowly-tailored FSEIS/SOEIS to remedy this deficiency. The National Marine Fisheries Service was a cooperating agency in accordance with 40 CFR 1501.6 for the development of the narrowly- tailored FSEIS/FSOEIS.