SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental ConsequencesWildfire emissions. The addition of a BAX range at both SBMR and PTA would increase the use oflarger caliber munitions. The BAX at PTA would be located in a previously disturbed site andoriented towards pre-existing ordnance impact areas. As a result, both live- and nonlive-fire trainingwould increase, resulting in the potential to increase the frequency of wildfires. At KTA, nonlive-fireand live-fire training using SRTA, which still has the potential to ignite wildfires, would increase butwould not likely produce a significant wildfire risk because the ammunition has a plastic tip and doesnot include tracer rounds. Overall, SBCT training would increase the number of Soldiers training atall ranges, thus increasing the total number of rounds fired and potential increased frequency ofwildfires With implementation of the mitigation measures detailed in the Wildfire Managementsection, emissions from wildfires would be minimized and thereby mitigated to less than significant.Emissions from controlled burns. Controlled burns are sometimes used to manage vegetation onrange areas or to prepare areas for UXO clearance. Controlled burns are not frequent events, and sothe resulting emissions have not been estimated. These emissions would be considered in theprescribed burn plans prior to the actual burns.5.2.11.4 Impacts from Maneuver TrainingSignificant ImpactsImpact 2: Military vehicle use and emissions. Vehicle use would be distributed among different areas,but all vehicles would be based at SBMR. Estimated annual MIMs for training use of militaryvehicles at under Alternative A would increase by 166 percent in MIMs traveled.Maneuver training would occur at SBMR, DMR, KTA, and PTA. Training at SBMR would occur onexisting off-road areas on SBER and on 1,300 new acres at SRAA. Training at DMR would occur inareas currently used for off-road maneuvers. Training would occur on 3,384 new acres at KTA.Training at PTA would occur on 1,800 acres of existing off-road areas. The training area would beexpanded on the Keamuku Parcel to include 23,000 new acres. SBCT maneuver training typicallycovers a larger area, potentially extending training into areas that have not been used as frequently.The net increase in military vehicle engine emissions would be 3 tons per year for reactive organiccompounds, 28.5 tons per year for nitrogen oxides, 8.8 tons per year for carbon monoxide, 0.3 ton peryear for sulfur oxides, and 2.6 tons per year for PM 10 . Because the increase in emissions for anypollutant would result in too small a net increase in ozone precursor emissions to have a measurableeffect on ozone levels, they would not affect the attainment status of the area. Therefore, emissionsfrom increased military vehicle use at SBMR would be less than significant.Off-road vehicle activity would reduce or eliminate vegetation cover in affected areas, resulting inincreased susceptibility to emissions from vehicle travel and wind erosion. PM 10 would be generatedby these actions from the affected areas. The amount of off-road vehicle activity would increase dueto proposed training activities. In addition, the area available for off-road vehicle maneuvers wouldincrease. Most of the additional land that would become available for off-road vehicle maneuvers hasa very high potential for wind erosion if vegetation cover is reduced.Data from the January 2006 through June 2007 air-quality monitoring for particulate matter at PTAsuggest maneuver training itself is unlikely to result in significant impacts. The data indicate that evenduring maneuver training, concentrations of TSP and PM 10 along the PTA’s boundary are well belowfederal and state 24-hour and annual average standards (see Section 3.1.10.8 for discussion).Consequently, generation of fugitive dust during maneuver training is of less concern than fugitivedust generated from wind erosion.February 2008 5-57 2/25th SBCT Final EIS