MANA — The Pacific Missile Range Facility announced the availability of the PMRF Land-based Training and Testing Final Environmental Assessment in a Friday press release.
The public can download the Final EA and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) at www.nepa.navy.mil/pmrflbttea. Printed copies are available for viewing at the Waimea or Lihue public libraries.
In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Navy is consulting with Native Hawaiian Organizations and the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Officer to develop a memorandum of agreement that will minimize or mitigate adverse effects on Kaula Island, a recently identified traditional cultural place.
While this consultation is pending, no training will take place on the island unless the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, authorizes it for national defense or national security purposes.
The U.S. Navy, in cooperation with the Missile Defense Agency, prepared a Final Environmental Assessment for land-based training and testing at PMRF. The Navy evaluated the potential environmental impacts of the Proposed Action to continue conducting land-based, multi-domain that include air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace training and testing, including an increase in activities among the military services on lands under federal jurisdiction at PMRF and Kaula Island.
No new types of training or testing activities are proposed at PMRF or Kaula Island; the activities proposed are currently being, or have previously been conducted at these locations and are similar to those previously analyzed.
In the press release, the Navy thanked all who participated in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for this important project. Public involvement is an integral part of the NEPA and NHPA, Section 106 processes.
Members of the public, Native Hawaiian organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and State of Hawaii agencies provided valuable input and shared their cultural, ecological and traditional knowledge of Kauai and Kaula Island to improve and strengthen the environmental impact analysis.
The Final EA contains changes, such as the consideration of eliminating training on Kaula Island, the incorporation of additional bird survey information, a thorough explanation of the cultural understanding of Kaula Island, how the Navy addressed other applicable laws and consultations, and inclusion of the Navy’s responses to comments submitted on the Draft EA by the public and local, state, and federal stakeholders.
Based on the analysis presented in the Final EA, consideration of public comments received on the Draft EA, and potential effects on historic properties, the Navy determined that implementation of its Proposed Action would not have reasonable foreseeable significant effects on the quality of the human or natural environment.
As a result, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared. A FONSI has been signed and is available at www.nepa.navy.mil/pmrflbttea.
Information regarding the ongoing process will be available on the PMRF Land-Based Training and Testing EA website at www.nepa.navy.mil/pmrflbttea.
Source: The Garden Island