A great blue heron perches on a log at Dogue Creek on Fort Belvoir. (Photo by Marny Malin)

Fort Belvoir announced Friday that the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the installation’s realignment is available for a 30-day review period.

“This is an opportunity to get one last look at the preferred site plan,” said Don Dees, Fort Belvoir Media Relations chief. “The FEIS does not represent a decision by the Army; the decision comes after the 30-day review period, when Army representatives sign the Record of Decision.”

The publication of the FEIS begins a 30-day public review period.

“The 30 days is called a ëwaiting period,’ and folks will see how their comments on the Draft EIS were responded to and addressed in the Final EIS,” said Sue Holtham, EIS study manager for Fort Belvoir with the Base Realignment and Closure NEPA Support Team. “Any letters or communications that do come in during the 30 days will be reviewed by Army leadership to see if the information contained in the communications needs to be considered in the preparation of the Record of Decision.”

Currently, the FEIS states the preferred alternative for BRAC implementation and includes comments made during the comment period, with responses.

“Basically, at this point, the preferred alternative isn’t changed from the draft EIS,” said Dees. “Our environmental resources division received in the neighborhood of 900 comments on the Draft EIS and the Final EIS includes several mitigations as a result of finding several unavoidable impacts.

“Members of the current Belvoir workforce, those who are coming to Belvoir and our neighbors in surrounding communities, are all concerned about transportation, some of the road projects have already been certified as defense access road projects, others will have to be financed by local and federal government.”

The Environmental Impact Statement is a requirement by the National Environmental Policy Act that is prepared when a major federal action will significantly affect the quality of the human environment, said Holtham.

“The purpose of an EIS is to assess the environmental impacts of a proposed major federal action. It also evaluates all reasonable alternatives,” she added.

When Congress passed BRAC into law in 2005, it stated that approximately 22,000 servicemembers and government employees would realign to Fort Belvoir by 2011, the FEIS states the environmental impacts of that move and the preferred alternative for the locations of the buildings and parking required to support the move.

“We know the BRAC undertaking is a very ambitious project and the Corps of Engineers, Belvoir New Vision Planners and our own planners within the Directorate of Public Works have all worked, burning the midnight oil, to turn this thing around so quickly,” said Dees. “Every step of the way we have included the stakeholders from outside the gate - and they have been instrumental in identifying for us the community concerns over what Belvoir has been asked to do.”

To view the FEIS visit http://www.hqda.army.mil/acsim/brac/nepa_eis_docs.htm. For additional information contact Don Carr, 703-805-5001.