Missile Defense EIS Available

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 6, 1999 (703)697-5737(public/industry) 


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NATIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE 
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT RELEASED

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's National Missile Defense
(NMD) Joint Program Office announced today the public availability of
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for potential
ground-based system element sites in North Dakota and Alaska. No
decision has been made to deploy a NMD system, nor has a decision been
made regarding the selection of a basing location. 

The President is scheduled to make a deployment decision next summer
after a Deployment Readiness Review conducted by the Department of
Defense. The President's decision will be based upon the technical
success of the NMD testing program; analysis of the ballistic missile
threat to the U.S.; system cost and the status of arms reduction
negotiations with Russia. The potential environmental impacts of
deploying and operating the NMD system will also be considered. The NMD
decision will include the selection of deployment sites from among the
alternatives considered in the Final EIS, which is scheduled for
completion next Spring. 

The Draft EIS is the result of more than a year of extensive analysis of
potential environmental impacts which could occur due to the proposed
action of locating up to 100 ground-based interceptor missiles in
underground silos in North Dakota and/or Alaska. Also analyzed were the
potential impacts resulting from construction of a new X-Band Radar,
which would be used to perform tracking, discrimination and target hit
assessments of incoming ballistic missile warheads. Under the proposed
action, only one X-Band Radar would be constructed. The DEIS evaluates
the potential impacts associated only with new construction activities,
and does not include analysis of existing space-based early warning
sensors and ground-based early warning radars. It also does not include
site-specific analysis of new communications systems which could be
built at a later date. The early warning elements and site-specific
analysis of new communications systems will be covered by future
environmental documentation. 

The sites analyzed are: 

Ground Based Interceptor and Battle Management, Command and Control 

Clear Air Station, Alaska 

Fort Greely, Alaska 

Yukon Training Area/Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska 

Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. 

Missile Site Radar, N.D. 

X-Band Radar Eareckson Air Station, Alaska (Aleutians) 

Cavalier Air Station, N.D. 

Missile Site Radar, N.D. 

Remote Sprint Launch Sites 1, 2, 4, N.D. 

Overall, the expected environmental impacts resulting from potential NMD
deployment are minimal. Areas analyzed in the DEIS include: potential
electromagnetic radiation effects to airspace, biological resources, and
humans from operation of the X-Band Radar; construction and operation
impacts on vegetation, wildlife, threatened and endangered species,
wetlands and fisheries; health and safety issues to the public
associated with transportation and operation of the Ground-Based
Interceptor; potential impacts to geology and soils and water resources;
noise related impacts from both construction and operation; increases in
hazardous waste generation and air emissions; and socioeconomic impacts
and benefits resulting from both construction and operation of the NMD
system. 

Public hearings are scheduled to take place in North Dakota, Alaska and
Arlington, Va. in late October to mid November. The comment period on
the Draft EIS will close on November 15, 1999. These hearings will
permit state and local government agencies, interest groups and citizens
to comment on the Draft EIS, and their comments will be reviewed,
considered and included in the Final EIS. 

News media inquiries should be directed to Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, BMDO
External Affairs, at (703) 604-3186. All other inquiries, as well as
requests for copies of the EIS, should be directed to Julia Hudson, U.S.
Army Space and Missile Defense Command, at (256) 955-4822. The EIS can
also be accessed on the Internet at www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo . 
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org