SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Executive SummaryAs discussed, these areas of need are all explicitly or implicitly addressed throughout the guiding nationalsecurity and defense policy documents and are non-discretionary elements of Army decision making forthe permanent stationing of the 2/25 th SBCT.Purpose of the Proposed ActionThe purpose of the Proposed Action is to station the 2/25 th SBCT permanently at an installation that isable to meet the SBCT’s training, Soldier and Family quality of life, and operational and strategic deploymentrequirements. The installation must be capable of providing adequate training ranges for maneuverand live-fire training, and the installation must be able to provide the support infrastructure necessaryto provide a sound quality of life for Soldiers and their Families and support garrison-based SBCToperations. In addition, the stationing action must provide for the National Security requirements outlinedin the NSS, NDS, and QDR and provide the necessary strategic response capabilities to satisfy nationalsecurity requirements and obligations.Scope of AnalysisThis EIS has been developed in accordance with NEPA and the regulations issued by the Council on EnvironmentalQuality (CEQ), and Army implementing regulations. This EIS is also designed to address thedeficiencies in the 2004 FEIS identified by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The purposeof the EIS is to inform Army decision makers and the public of the likely environmental consequences ofthe Proposed Action and reasonable alternatives to meet the purpose and need for permanently stationingthe 2/25 th SBCT. This EIS will assist Army decision makers in more fully understanding the environmentalissues and social concerns connected with the stationing action. There is sufficient informationregarding the existing condition and impacts to environmental resources for all reasonable stationing alternativesconsidered in this EIS. This information allowed the Army to take a fair, objective, and comparativehard look at the environmental effects of the Proposed Action and all reasonable alternatives.It should be noted that a full and detailed EIS has been carried out in its entirety to analyze the environmentalimpacts to Hawaii at a project-specific level of detail. Design and construction of 2/25 th SBCTfacility projects are underway or even completed in some cases to the extent permitted by the U.S. DistrictCourt. The purpose of this EIS is to present a comparative analysis of the Proposed Action and alternatives.It therefore includes only the level of detail necessary to perform that analysis and to inform thedecision maker of the environmental trade-offs among alternatives. This approach permits the decisionmaker to take a “hard look” at environmental impacts among alternatives prior to making a final decisionselecting a home-stationing site for the 2/25 th .If Army decision makers choose a site other than Hawaii for the permanent home stationing of the 2/25 thSBCT, additional site-specific NEPA analysis will be prepared for those additional construction projectsneeded to support the SBCT. If an Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) moves to Hawaii under thisaction and additional facilities are required in Hawaii, additional NEPA documentation may be required.If the Army decides to keep the SBCT in Hawaii, no additional NEPA documentation is anticipated becausethe 2004 Transformation FEIS and this EIS provide sufficient analysis.This EIS supplements the 2004 FEIS, and that FEIS is incorporated by reference. This EIS updates the2004 FEIS by adding new information about the affected environment. It also includes new informationabout impacts. The Proposed Action has also changed to some degree because the standard design for theSBCT has been modified. This results in relatively minor changes to equipment, number of Soldiers, andmunitions usage. For that reason, there is considerable updated analysis in this EIS. The special focus ofthis EIS is to examine the impacts of Stryker-specific projects because it is these projects that would notFebruary 2008 xiv 2/25th SBCT Final EIS