Public Hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Increased Flight and Related Operations in the Patuxent River Complex, Patuxent River, MD

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

Public Hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for

Increased Flight and Related Operations in the Patuxent River Complex,

Patuxent River, MD

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DOD.

ACTION: Announcement of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy has prepared and filed with the

Environmental Protection Agency the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement (DEIS) for Increased Flight and Related Operations in the

Patuxent River Complex, Patuxent River, MD. A public hearing will be

held for the purpose to receive oral and written comments on the DEIS.

Federal, state and local agencies, and interested individuals are

invited to be present or represented at the hearing.

DATES: Hearing dates are as follows:

1. June 10, 1998, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., Lusby, MD

2. June 15, 1998, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., Cambridge, MD

3. June 17, 1998, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., Heathsville, VA

[[Page 28377]]

ADDRESSES: Hearing locations are as follows:

1. Lusby--Patuxent High School, 12485 Rousby Hall Road, Lusby, MD

2. Cambridge--Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, 2474 Cambridge

Bypass, Cambridge, MD

3. Heathsville--Northumberland High School, 6234 Northumberland Highway

(US Route 360), Heathsville, VA

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Sue Evans or Ms. Kelly Burdick,

(888) 276-5201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Council on Environmental Quality

regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) implemental procedure provisions

of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the

Navy has prepared and filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Increased

Flight and Related Operations in the Patuxent River Complex, Patuxent

River, MD. This notice announces the dates and locations of the public

hearings.

The DEIS identifies and evaluates the potential environmental

impacts of increasing flight and related ground operations in test

areas of the Patuxent River Complex that are controlled and scheduled

by the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). The

complex includes all the flight and ground test facilities at NAS

Patuxent River and OLF Webster Field Annex, as well as the restricted

airspaces, aerial and surface firing range, and targets (Hooper,

Hannibal, and Tangier Island) comprising the Chesapeake Test Range

(CTR). The DEIS assesses the impacts of the no action alternative and

three proposed future operations workload alternatives. The no action

alternative would maintain the complex's current level of flight hours

into the future (18,400 annually, which represents an approximate ten-

year average of annual flight hours). The three workload alternatives

propose increases in baseline operations by as few as 2,500 annual

flight hours or as many as 6,200 annual flight hours.

A Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS was published in the Federal

Register on April 1, 1997 and five public scoping meetings were held

between May 6 and May 15, 1997. A Notice of Availability of the DEIS

was published in the Federal Register on May 15, 1998.

The DEIS has been distributed to various federal, state, and local

agencies, elected officials, special interest groups, the public, and

the media. In addition, copies are available for review at 18

repositories around the Chesapeake Bay:

--Anne Arundel South County Branch Library, Deale, MD.

--Caroline County Public Library, Denton, MD.

--Calvert County Public Library, Prince Frederick, MD.

--Dorchester County Central Library, Cambridge, MD.

--Somerset County Libraries, Deale Island, Princess Anne, and Ewell

(Smith Island), MD.

--St. Mary's County Libraries, Lexington Park and Leonardtown, MD.

--St. Mary's College Library, St. Mary's City, MD.

--Talbot County Libraries, Easton and Oxford, MD.

--Worcester County Library, Pocomoke City, MD.

--Eastern Shore Public Library, Accomac, VA.

--Central Rappahannock Law Library, Fredericksburg, VA.

--Northumberland County Library, Heathsville, VA.

--Tangier Island Public School Library, Tangier, VA.

--Laurel Public Library, Laurel, DE.

Three public hearings will be held to inform the public of the DEIS

findings and to solicit and receive oral and written comments. From

5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the Navy will set up information stations that

will describe the findings of the DEIS. Navy staff will be available to

answer questions from meeting attendees and receive comments. At 7:00

p.m., a formal public hearing will be held where oral statements will

be heard and transcribed by a stenographer; however, to ensure accuracy

of the record, all statements delivered at the public hearing should be

submitted in writing. All comments, both oral and written, will become

part of the public record in the study. In the interest of available

time, each speaker will be asked to limit oral comments to three

minutes. Longer comments should be summarized at the public hearing and

submitted in writing either at the hearing or mailed to Ms. Sue Evans

at Office of Legal Counsel, 47031 Liljencrantz Road, Bldg. 435, Mail

Stop 39, Patuxent River, MD 20670-5440, fax (301) 342-1840. Written

comments are requested not later than June 29, 1998.

Dated: May 19, 1998.

Lou Rae Langevin,

LT, JAGC, USN, Alternate Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 98-13781 Filed 5-21-98; 8:45 am]

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