SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental ConsequencesClimate change is largely a global phenomenon that includes actions that are outside of the Armycontrol. Nevertheless, Army actions in Hawaii contribute incrementally to this global situation.Stationing the SBCT in Hawaii would produce greater emissions of carbon dioxide and othergreenhouse gasses from both the use of explosives and the running of vehicle engines. Theseemissions can combine with carbon emissions throughout the world to contribute to one of the causesof global warming. As discussed in Sections 5.2.14, 5.3.14, and 5.4.14, however, the Army isproactively working to reduce its overall consumption of energy and fossil fuels at all of itsinstallations. It can be argued that by reducing its consumption of energy and fossil fuels, the Army isreducing its contribution to "global warming."Fugitive dust sources and wildfires are the major contributors to PM 10 emissions. Fugitive dustsources include construction activity, vehicle traffic on unpaved roads or off-road areas, and winderosion from areas with exposed soils. As discussed above, the identified projects that would at leastpartially overlap the timeframe of construction projects identified for Alternative A. Spatialseparation among these various construction projects would minimize or eliminate cumulative PM 10effects from those projects with overlapping construction timeframes. Military training, particularlymaneuver training, will be a recurring activity contributing to fugitive dust. With implementation ofthe DuSMMoP impacts would reduce air quality impacts; however, given the resulting increase inoverall PM 10 levels, the uncertainties associated with any estimate of potential wind erosionconditions, and public perceptions of the potential magnitude of this impact, the Army considers winderosion to be a significant air quality impact. Combined with other projects, the cumulative air qualityeffects from primary air pollutants, such as PM 10 , could be significant.5.6.1.11 NoiseThe steady development in the state has continued to contribute to noise. Urban and militarydevelopment and operations produce major noise from vehicles, aircraft, military training, andconstruction activities. Noise conditions near proposed activities associated with Alternative A are notlikely to have substantively changed in recent years because activity levels for major noise sourceshave not grown or declined substantively.Noise effects are inherently localized because sound levels decrease relatively quickly with increasingdistance from the source. Cumulative noise effects would occur when multiple projects affect thesame geographic areas simultaneously or when sequential projects extend the duration of noise effectson a given area over a longer period of time.Cumulative noise effects under Alternative A would stem primarily from temporary constructionactivities and military training. Private development construction projects, highway improvementprojects, and military construction projects at sites other than USAG-HI installations would notproduce cumulative noise effects because of distance or differences in construction timing.Nonetheless, project-related activities will not reduce noise levels at the affected installations, butrather continue to contribute to an already significant level of noise at some on-post receptors.Therefore, the cumulative noise effects under Alternative A would be significant.5.6.1.12 Airspace ResourcesNo significant cumulative effects would occur to airspace resources under this alternative. Theaddition of 4 UAVs would add a minor amount of air traffic. None of the reasonably foreseeablefuture actions identified for Hawaii would directly or indirectly affect airspace resources. Therefore,Alternative A’s direct and indirect impacts to airspace resources would not overlap those of theFebruary 2008 5-255 2/25th SBCT Final EIS