Environmental Policy Act

The 1990 Base Closure Act specifies that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is applicable to military base closures and the processes of property disposal.  The process is intended to help the Military Department make informed and environmentally responsible disposal decisions.  The NEPA process requires the Army to conduct environmental analysis concerning:

• The environmental impact of the proposed disposal action, including reasonably anticipated reuse activities.
• Alternatives to the proposed disposal and reuse action, including the "no-action" alternative.
• Adverse impacts.
• Any appropriate environmental impact mitigation actions.

The NEPA process (described in 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) is typically completed in one of the following three ways:

1. Categorical Exclusion - Military Department transfer to another Federal Agency.
2. Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact - based on the analysis, the disposal action would have no significant affect on the environment and a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would not be necessary.
3. EIS/Disposal Record of Decision - Involves a more formal and in-depth public and regulatory agency involvement process and analysis.

The EIS is normally appropriate for proposed BRAC actions involving the disposal and reuse of real property because of the potential significant impacts is common.  The Army prepared a Final EIS (FEIS) in June 1993 which analyzed the impacts of base closure and the Local Reuse Authority redevelopment plan.  A Supplemental EIS was completed in June 1996.  The EIS/SEIS analyzed a wide range of reuse alternatives to include (1) high, medium, and low-density mixed-use alternatives; (2) an alternative composed of primarily institutional uses (educational, government, and public/quasi-public; (3) an open-space alternative; and (4) an anticipated reuse alternative.  The EIS identified a need to develop and implement a Habitat Management Plan (HMP) as a mitigation measure for impacts on vegetation and wildlife resources in accordance with the Endangered Species Act.

The Army published an HMP initially, in February 1994, and again in April 1997, in response to both the biological opinion issued by the U.S.  Fish and Wildlife Service and mitigation measures identified in the EIS Record of Decision and the Supplemental EIS.  The final plan presented in the HMP requires the Army to implement and monitor mitigation measures to minimize the impacts to special-status species during the Army's predisposal actions.  Army predisposal actions include the cleanup of unexploded ordnance as well as excavation of lead-contaminated soil and landfill closure.

In addition to the Army's requirements for predisposal actions, the HMP assumes a reuse development scenario for the base that will result in the removal of up to 6,300 acres of existing vegetation and wildlife habitat including many of these rare and endangered species and their habitats.  However, more than 16,000 acres of habitat reserves with about 400 additional acres of connecting habitat corridors have been established in perpetuity to offset the loss of other areas to support the reuse of former Fort Ord.  In addition to the establishment of specific reserve areas and corridors, the HMP further conditions development on approximately 1,800 additional acres by requiring reserve areas or specific restrictions on those lands.  Along the development/reserve interface lands bordering the Bureau of Land Management reserve area, management requirements such as development of fire breaks, control of invasive species and limitations to vehicle access are required.