City/County Concerns with Navy EIS

Send joint letter of concerns to Congressional Delegation --  by Rachel Dahl Churchill County Commissioners, along with the City of Fallon, have a sent a joint letter to the Nevada Congressional Delegation and the Navy outlining what the community is willing to support in the Fallon Range Training Complex Final Environmental Impact Statement and expressing their opposition to the proposal. The letter details specific concerns with the document and provides information for a Churchill County lands bill that would address certain mitigation measures for the community. Consultants Jeremy Drew from RCI in Nevada and by phone, from Cassiday and Associates in Washington D.C. made a presentation at the February 6th county commission meeting, discussing the county’s involvement in the Navy EIS process over the past few years as a cooperating agency, and reported on the current status of the EIS and the county response. The Navy is on schedule to sign the Record of Decision on the EIS by the end of February, choosing Preferred Alternative 3, which according to information given in the presentation, the county would like to support. However, there are still concerns over the document and commissioners are not supporting the Final EIS at this time. Consultants Jeremy Drew from Resource Cincepts, Inc., and Kia Anderson from Cassiday and Associates in Washington D.C., explained that once the ROD is signed, it becomes the Navy’s recommendation to Congress and starts the legislative process required to complete the land withdrawals and funding. The “likely home” of the EIS in the congressional process would be the National Defense Authorization Act, which is on track to pass in late summer, and will go to committees for mark-up in April. “Given the tight time-frame,” said Anderson, sending the letter will “provide a paper record for the delegation with some specificity, but allows flexibility for the delegation to reach solutions with the Navy that so far have been elusive.” Anderson also said that there are still many unresolved issues, “not because the Navy is unwilling, but they don’t have the ability to resolve some of the issues through the NAPA process.” Once the congressional delegation says the issues need to be resolved, the Navy can make concessions and provide mitigation. “They don’t want to negotiate this early in the process, and while that is frustrating to the community and the stakeholders…it doesn’t reflect bad faith negotiations, it’s just the way the world works.” Governor Sisolak has also sent a letter to the Navy detailing the position of the State of Nevada, and the stakeholders involved at the state level have sent a copy of what is being called the Nevada Consolidated Proposal. They Navy has responded to the Governor, as well as provided a detailed response to the Nevada Proposal. The joint letter from the City and the County states that the community is the proud home of Naval Air Station Fallon, and overwhelmingly supports the Navy’s mission. Involvement in the EIS process at the Cooperating Agency level, has been in an effort “to ensure that the Navy can continue to operate and train, while, at the same time, minimizing and mitigating the impacts of the proposed range expansion on our customs, culture, and economy for this and future generations.” While the joint letter details what the community can support it also provides extensive details to the congressional delegation to “make sure these specifics don’t get lost,” said Anderson. The letter also includes a list of concerns, errors, and omissions the county has with the FRTC Modernization Final EIS, begining with the county concerns that specific assurances and mitigation measures have yet to be secured and documented in the EIS. Those concerns are attached to the county letter and can be read here. Throughout the NEPA process that began in 2016, the Navy has been provided extensive input from local governments, stakeholders, the State of Nevada, and the letter acknowledged some of the resolutions the Navy made as the parties worked through that process. The letter expressed that during the lengthy process the hope was to arrive at a final EIS document that the community could support and advocate for through the legislative process. “The purpose of this engagement has been to try to improve the Navy’s project by identifying concerns raised by our staff, citizens, and stakeholders; offering proactive solutions to address those concerns; and seeking to improve the clarity and accuracy of the Navy’s EIS.” The letter states appreciation for the improvements that were made between the Navy’s original proposal and the Final EIS, but says at this time, the community “cannot offer support of the Navy’s Preferred Alternative.” The county and city will continue to be active in this process as the ROD moved to congress and goes through the legislative process.       Support local, independent news – contribute to The Fallon Post, your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon. 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