[Federal Register: February 25, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 37)]

[Notices]               

[Page 8745-8746]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr25fe03-37]                         



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE



Department of the Navy



 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 

Navy Air-To-Ground Training at Avon Park Air Force Range 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, as implemented by the Council on 

Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), the 

Department of Navy (Navy) announces its intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential 

environmental consequences of utilizing Avon Park Air Force Range 

(APAFR) as a location for high explosive air-to-ground ordnance 

training for East Coast Carrier-based strike/fighter aviation 

squadrons. Squadrons would use APAFR in combination with other 

available air-to-ground range assets to meet the operational 

requirements of its structured aircrew-training program called the 

Inter-Deployment Training Cycle (IDTC). IDTC air-to-ground training 

will encompass operations associated with Navy intermediate and 

advanced level training exercises and combat certification. The EIS 

will focus on air-to-ground training alternatives within APAFR. These 

alternatives will encompass varying mixtures of ordnance types among 

three different ranges within APAFR.



DATES AND ADDRESSES: Three public scoping meetings will be held in Avon 

Park, Florida; Sebring, Florida; and in Frostproof, Florida to receive 

oral and written comments on environmental concerns that should be 

addressed in the EIS. Public scoping open houses will be held at the 

following dates, times, and locations:



--Tuesday, March 18, 2003, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Frostproof High 

School Cafeteria, Frostproof, FL.

--Wednesday, March 19, 2003, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sebring Civic 

Center, Sebring, FL.

--March 20, 2003, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., The City of Avon Park 

Community Center, Avon Park, FL.





FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Will Sloger, Southern Div., Naval 

Facilities Engineering Command, PO Box 190010, North Charleston, SC 

29419-9010; telephone (843) 820-5797; facsimile (843) 820-7472.



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet prepares 

Carrier Battlegroups (CVBGs) for deployment using a training process 

known as the ``Inter-deployment Training Cycle (IDTC).'' The IDTC 

prepares Navy personnel to function as a part of a coordinated fleet or 

joint fighting force with the capacity to accomplish multiple missions 

in a hostile environment. The IDTC is highly structured and features a 

three-phased building-block approach including basic, intermediate, and 

advanced phases. Mission activities conducted during the IDTC include 

integrated strike, close air support, combat search-and-rescue, unit 

level bombing, helicopter unit level terrain flight, and helicopter 

unit level air-to-ground training.

    The Navy must deploy combat ready forces and considers training 

with live ordnance to be indispensable to achieving and maintaining 

combat readiness. The handling of live ordnance and the decision-making 

in the use of this ordnance provides Fleet sailors and airmen the 

greatest degree of combat training realism. Exposure to live ordnance 

is known to rivet the attention of those who manage, handle, and employ 

it with a combination of fear and respect that non-explosive ordnance 

cannot impart. Moreover, employment of explosive ordnance onboard an 

aircraft carrier involves the hazardous end-to-end weapons regime; to 

include breakout, build-up, and loading; to weapons release, impact, 

aircraft return and recovery, both day and night. On the ground, 

redundancy in the availability of disparate explosive targets helps 

reduce the likelihood of fratricide and collateral damage by ensuring a 

rigorous, combat-like training regimen prior to overseas deployment. In 

the end, tactical pilots and flight officers must have full confidence 

in their support personnel, their equipment and weapons systems, and in 

their ability to safely and effectively prosecute difficult target 

sets.

    Explosive ordnance-capable ranges are limited to the Navy's 

Pinecastle Range and the Air Force's Eglin Air Force Base (Air Armament 

Center) on the East Coast of the United States. At these ranges, 

limitations exist with regard to range dimensions, run-in lines, the 

number of explosive ordnance target sets, fire index restrictions, and 

scheduling lead times, changes, and priorities. Consequently, explosive 

ordnance range capabilities must be expanded to a location proximate to 

planned Carrier Battlegroup Training in the Southeastern U.S. 

(Jacksonville and Gulf of Mexico Operational Areas) to reduce the 

potential for a single point of failure should the existing ranges be 

unavailable or unsuitable for a particular exercise. This location must 

have sufficient range area and suitably sized special use airspace to 

accommodate safe aircraft operations and ordnance delivery across the 

full spectrum of IDTC training.

    The purpose of the proposed action, therefore, is to provide 

flexibility across the full spectrum of the IDTC for U.S. Atlantic 

Fleet aircrews. Navy use of APAFR as a location for explosive air-to-

ground training would provide redundancy for explosive ordnance 

capabilities; increase combat realism, scheduling flexibility, and 

aimpoint variety; reduce undue operational impacts at any one location; 

and promote the benefits of multiple DOD,



[[Page 8746]]



Navy, and community partnerships. Navy will consider possible 

alternatives using a combination of ordinance target locations within 

the APAFR.

    The EIS will evaluate the environmental effects associated with: 

Airspace; noise; range safety; earth resources; water resources; air 

quality; biological resources, including threatened and endangered 

species; land use; socioeconomic resources; infrastructure; and 

cultural resources. The analysis will include an evaluation of the 

direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts. No decision will be made to 

implement any alternative until the NEPA process is completed.

    The Navy is initiating the scoping process to identify community 

concerns and local issues that will be addressed in the EIS. Federal, 

state, and local agencies, and interested persons are encouraged to 

provide oral and/or written comments to the Navy to identify specific 

issues or topics of environmental concern that should be addressed in 

the EIS. Written comments must be postmarked by April 15, 2003, and 

should be mailed to: Avon Park Air-to-Ground Training EIS, c/o 

Commanding Officer, Southern Div., Naval Facilities Engineering 

Command, PO Box 190010, North Charleston, SC 29419-9010, Attn: Code 

ES12/WS (Will Sloger), telephone (843) 820-5797, facsimile (843) 820-

7472.



    Dated: February 20, 2003.

J.T. Baltimore,

Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, 

Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 03-4411 Filed 2-24-03; 8:45 am]