SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Appendix D ⎯ Responses to Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statementeffect based on this modeling is not valid. The Army must provide some real data from actualStryker vehicles from which the Army assessed the potential impacts on soils and conditionssimilar to Hawaii.Response: The Army’s Center for Engineering Research and Development (ERDC) hasextensively modeled and analyzed the conversion factors for calculations ofmaneuver impacts and assessments of maneuver damage. Calculations ofMIMs take into account the weight of different Army vehicles, tire or trackpressure, damage during pivot steering, and many other factors. The Army hasincluded a reference to explain better how MIMs and the Army’s Training andTesting Carrying Capacity (ATTACC) methodologies are used. This is includedin the Chapter 8 of the FEIS. The use of MIMs provides the Army witha common way to evaluate the effects of different vehicles in the field. TheMIMs that would occur with an SBCT are evaluated throughout Chapter 5 (asin Section 5.2.2.4 for example) and are presented in Sections 2.5 through 2.8of this EIS.The Stryker is lighter than an M1 Tank and it is a wheeled rather than trackedvehicle. It obviously travels farther than an Abrams Tank for the same numberof MIMs. This method helps the Army to avoid the comparison of “apples andoranges” that a straight comparison of mileage for radically different vehicleswould cause.49. The Army needs to explain and describe what the 2/25 th IBCT light would actually look likeand how its operations would impact Hawaii.Response: The Army has modified the No Action Alternative in the FEIS to ensure a descriptionof equipment and training requirements is included in Section 2.8 ofthe FEIS. In addition, this EIS incorporates the 2004 Transformation FEIS byreference and additional description of the 2/25 th ID (L) can be found in thisdocument.50. The Army needs to list exactly which lands and their precise acreages make up the 121,702acres of current training lands in Hawaii shown on Table 2–10 of the DEIS. In the 2004 FEIS,the Army only lists 96,180 acres of available maneuver lands. What changed? Also, the Armyneeds to explain better the formula used to produce its land deficit figures and why thebenchmark for the amount of maneuver lands required for an SBCT changed since the 2004Transformation FEIS.Response: The table below shows the acreages that the Army used to calculate maneuvertraining land holdings in Hawaii. The Army has recently recalculated its maneuverland totals in Hawaii in response to Congressional inquiry. Followingthis inquiry, the Army has slightly revised its maneuver land totals to reflectthe most accurate information it has to date, which are based on recent surveysof its training areas. The Army has 123,868 acres of maneuver traininglands in its inventories in Hawaii that could be used to support training of theSBCT. This does not include MMR, which the SBCT does not need to meet itstraining requirements and the use of which is currently not permitted.February 2008 D–19 2/25th SBCT Final EIS