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For
additional information contact:
Lt. Col. Richard Jones at (317) 241-1714 ext 31 or
richard.w.jones@us.army.mil.
INDIANAPOLIS - The National
Guard Bureau (NGB) and the Indiana National Guard
announce the availability of the Final Environmental
Assessment (EA) for the Proposed Development and Use of
the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC),
Butlerville, Ind.
The NGB and the Indiana
Army National Guard (INARNG) propose to develop a new
center for required urban operations and homeland
security training at the former Muscatatuck State
Developmental Center in Butlerville, Ind. This EA
addresses the potential environmental, socioeconomic,
and cultural impacts of this proposal.
The Proposed Action is
necessary to support the INARNG federal, state, and
community mission. The Proposed Action will provide an
urban training center to serve the combat readiness
goals of military units as well as civilian homeland
security and natural disaster response training needs.
The Proposed Action
will fulfill a training capability shortfall of the
INARNG within the State of Indiana and within the
region.
The Camp Atterbury Joint
Maneuver Training Center, which is the only major
training area for INARNG units in Indiana, has limited
urban training facilities. The nearest suitable urban
training facility is the heavily-used Cassidy Urban
Combat Training Center at Fort Campbell, Ky.,
approximately 100 miles from the southern border of
Indiana.
Only four locations across
the U.S. are presently planned for this level of urban
operations and homeland security training center
development: MUTC (Indiana), Fort Irwin (California),
29 Palms (California), and Fort Polk (Louisiana). These
four sites are proposed to become the new
state-of-the-art Urban Warfare Training Centers. These
actions are proceeding independently based on the
specific needs of military units in each geographical
region.
This EA evaluates the
individual and cumulative effects of The Proposed Action
(development and use of the Muscatatuck Urban Training
Center) and the No Action Alternative with respect to
the criteria that the INARNG has established.
The evaluation performed in
this EA concludes that there would be no significant
adverse impact, either individually or cumulatively, to
the local environment or quality of life associated with
the implementation of The Proposed Action, provided that
mitigation measures specified in this EA are
implemented.
Consequently, this EA’s
analysis has determined that an Environmental Impact
Statement is unnecessary for the implementation of The
Proposed Action and that a Finding of No Significant
Impact is appropriate, should the INARNG elect to
implement this alternative. Positive impacts to the
local socioeconomic environment, onsite land use, and
onsite infrastructure would be anticipated.
The EA will be available
for public review and comment from January 14 to
February 14 at the Indiana Army National Guard
Environmental Office located at 3764 W. Morris Street,
Indianapolis, Ind., 46224, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-3
p.m. The EA will also be available at the Jennings
County Public Library, 2375 N. State Hwy 3, North
Vernon, Ind., 47265 Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m.,
Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m.-4
p.m. and the Bartholomew County Public Library, 536
Fifth Street, Columbus, IN 47201, Monday-Thursday 8:30
a.m.-9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
The EA will also be available on the Muscatatuck Urban
Training Center web site at http://www.mutc.org.
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