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Site-wide Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for expanding operations at Wallops's Flight Facility (WFF)

• National Environmental Policy Act
• Background
• Proposed Action
• Alternatives
• Public Involvement
• Cooperating Agencies

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National Environmental Policy Act

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) established a national policy to protect the environment by requiring Federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on the human environment prior to implementing said action(s) and to give the public the opportunity to participate in the planning process. The National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) is in the process of preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to consider the potential effects from its Proposed Action. This PEIS is being written to fulfill NASA's obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500 through 1508), and NASA's Procedural Requirements (NPR) for implementing NEPA (NPR 8580.1).

Background

WFF is a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center field installation located in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The facility consists of three distinct landmasses - the Main Base, Wallops Mainland, and Wallops Island - totaling nearly 2,630 hectares (6,500 acres). It is the oldest active launch range in the continental United States and the only range completely under NASA management. For over 65 years, WFF has flown thousands of research vehicles in the quest for information on the characteristics of airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft, and to increase the knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere and the near space environment. The flight programs and projects currently supported by WFF include sounding rockets, scientific balloons, manned and unmanned experimental aircraft, space shuttle and orbital tracking, next-generation launch vehicle development, expendable launch vehicles, and small and mid-size orbital spacecraft. To meet the safety and technical requirements of its various missions, many of WFF's primary launch support facilities reside on Wallops Island (island) which is located directly on the Atlantic Ocean.

In keeping with the principles, goals, and guidelines of the 2010 National Space Policy, WFF not only fulfills its own mission, but also provides unique services to NASA, commercial customers, defense, and academia. One guiding principle of the National Space Policy is for Federal agencies to facilitate the commercial space industry. The recent growth of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island is a real-world example of WFF's commitment to making commercial access to space a reality. Another goal of the 2010 National Space Policy is that Federal agencies will improve their partnerships through cooperation, collaboration, information sharing, and/or alignment of common pursuits with each other. WFF supports aeronautical research, science technology, and education by providing other NASA centers and government agencies access to resources such as special use (i.e., restricted) airspace, research runways, and launch pads. Additionally, WFF regularly enables a wide array of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) research and development and training missions, including target and missile launches, and aircraft development.

In January 2005, NASA issued a Final Site-Wide Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact for WFF. However, since then substantial growth has occurred and NASA has prepared several supplemental NEPA documents including the 2008 EA for the Wallops Research Park, the 2009 EA for the Expansion of the Wallops Flight Facility Launch Range, the 2010 Shoreline Restoration and Infrastructure Protection Program PEIS, the 2011 Alternative Energy Program EA, and the 2011 Draft EA for the Main Entrance Reconfiguration. Additionally, WFF has recently updated its 20-year Master Plan, which proposed several new facilities and numerous infrastructure improvements. As such, NASA is initiating the preparation of one consolidated Site-wide PEIS for its current and future missions and operations.

Additional information about NASA's WFF may be found by clicking here

Proposed Action

The Proposed Action is to increase WFF's ability to support a growing mission base in the areas of civil, defense, and academic aerospace. To accomplish this, NASA is proposing to provide facilities and infrastructure that would directly support existing missions as well as modernized functionality to meet future operational mission requirements in direct support of WFF's strategic goals.

To achieve these goals, WFF is proposing to change the physical environment of the installation by constructing new facilities and removing old, out-dated facilities on the Main Base, Mainland, and Island; changing existing land uses on the Island to permit concurrent hazardous activities; and focusing new construction to the maximum extent practicable to previously disturbed and developed sites.

Alternatives

The PEIS will evaluate the potential environmental impacts from a range of reasonable alternatives that meet NASA's need to ensure continued growth at WFF while also preserving the ability to safely conduct its historical baseline of operations. Currently under consideration are two action alternatives and a No Action alternative.

• Alternative One would support a number of facility projects ranging from new construction, demolition, and renovation; enlargement of the restricted airspace; addition of two rocket launchers on Wallops Island; replacement of the Wallops causeway bridge; maintenance dredging between the boat docks at the Main Base and Wallops Island; and the introduction of new opportunities and expansion of existing NASA and DoD programs at WFF including Navy pilot proficiency training and Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS).
  
  
• Alternative Two would include all activities described in Alternative One and also comprise additional construction projects and several new mission opportunities, including the introduction of commercial manned space flight from WFF, and a land use exchange with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) discussed below under 'Cooperating Agencies.'
  
  
• Under the No Action Alternative, WFF and its partners would continue the existing operations and programs previously discussed in the 2005 Site-Wide EA.

NASA anticipates that the public will be most interested in the potential environmental impacts of each alternative on protected and special status species, wetlands, noise, and socioeconomics.

Public Involvement

NASA published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the Site-wide PEIS and conduct scoping in the July 11,2011 edition of the Federal Register.

Interested parties are invited to submit comments on environmental issues and concerns, preferably in writing, on or before September 02, 2011 to assure full consideration during the scoping process.

Comments submitted by mail should be addressed to:

Shari A. Silbert
Manager, Site-wide PEIS
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's
Wallops Flight Facility, Code 250.W
Wallops Island, Virginia 23337

Comments may also be submitted via e-mail to:

Shari.A.Silbert@nasa.gov.

As the EIS is prepared, the public will be provided several opportunities for involvement, the first of which is during scoping. Even if an interested party does not have input at this time, other avenues, including reviews of the Draft and Final EIS, will be offered in the future. The availability of these documents will be published in the Federal Register and through local news media to ensure that all members of the public have the ability to actively participate in the NEPA process.

Cooperating Agencies

The Site-wide PEIS will serve as a decision-making tool not only for NASA but also for its Federal Cooperating Agencies. Each of these agencies will be involved closely in NASA's NEPA process given the potential for their undertaking actions related to NASA's as summarized below:

• Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST): issuing licenses for operation of additional commercial launch pads or operation of new commercial launch vehicles;
  
  
• FAA Air Traffic Organization Office (FAA-ATO): granting a proposed increase in restricted airspace allocation;
  
  
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA-NESDIS): undertaking facility improvements at the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station;
  
  
• Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA): undertaking additional operations, improvements to infrastructure, and target launches at the Surface Command System Center, and providing oversight of the Virginia Capes Operating Area offshore of WFF;
  
  
• Department of the Navy, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR): increasing existing research, development, test, and evaluation mission tempos and new missions including pilot proficiency training and unmanned aerial systems including BAMS;
  
  
• Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (USACE): issuing permits for proposed work occurring within U.S. waters, including wetlands, design and oversight of WFF's Shoreline Restoration and Infrastructure Protection Program;
  
  
• United States Coast Guard (USCG): undertaking improvements to infrastructure at the Coast Guard residential housing, issuing a permit for proposed Wallops Island causeway bridge reconstruction, and assuming Captain of the Port Authority for clearing the launch range during operations; and
  
  
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS): issuing incidental take statements and providing management of special status species, partnering with NASA on mutually beneficial projects related to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and participating in a land use exchange that would enable the operation of a low-impact, temporary launch pad on the northernmost 300 meters (1,000 feet) of USWFS-owned Assawoman Island in exchange for the conservation of a NASA-owned wooded, upland parcel south of the Wallops Visitor Center adjacent to the Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge.
  
  
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): participation in the issuance of USACE permits for proposed work occurring within waters of the U.S., per its authority under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
  
  

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