Environmental Assessment of Proposed Mixed-Use Business Park on an Enchanced Use Lease at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

摘要

This environmental assessment (EA) evaluates the potential environmental impacts of activities associated with the development of a mixed- use business park by Grand Forks County (County) under the United States (US) Air Force Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) Program under authority of 10 US Code 2667 on an underutilized, non-excess portion of Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB), North Dakota (ND). GFAFB proposes to lease approximately 217 acres (ac) to the County for the purpose of developing, constructing, and operating a mixed-use business park. The County would construct and develop the business park to support research and development, testing and evaluation, and operations of unmanned systems, as well as activities centered on the development of sensor technology and data management. The activities associated with the proposed action include development, construction, and operation of the proposed mixed- use business park upon execution of a 50-year land lease. The proposed action also includes the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to launch and recover remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) subject to notice to the County, written request to the Air Force for its review, and approval and compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. The EA evaluates the potential impacts of two action alternatives to the proposed action and the no action alternative on air quality, water resources, biological resources, cultural resources, hazardous materials and wastes, geology and soils, land use, noise, transportation, utilities, socioeconomics, environmental justice, and occupational health and safety. The only difference between the two alternatives is the layout of the buildings and roads. The County proposed a second layout of the business park in order to minimize wetland loss to the maximum extent practicable; this revised layout is analyzed as Alternative 2.