82 FR 44556 - National Telecommunications and Information Administration; Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
First Responder Network Authority

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 184 (September 25, 2017)

The First Responder Network Authority (``FirstNet'') announces its intent to prepare a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (``PEIS'') and conduct scoping for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. The Supplemental PEIS will address the processes FirstNet will follow for National Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA'') compliance and assessing potential impacts at the site- specific scale.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 184 (Monday, September 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44556-44557]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-20408]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

First Responder Network Authority

[Docket Number 170912896-7896-01]
RIN 0660-XC037


National Telecommunications and Information Administration; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping for the Nationwide Public Safety 
Broadband Network

AGENCY: First Responder Network Authority, National

[[Page 44557]]

Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The First Responder Network Authority (``FirstNet'') announces 
its intent to prepare a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (``PEIS'') and conduct scoping for the Nationwide Public 
Safety Broadband Network. The Supplemental PEIS will address the 
processes FirstNet will follow for National Environmental Policy Act 
(``NEPA'') compliance and assessing potential impacts at the site-
specific scale.

DATES: The scoping period for this notice will begin on September 25, 
2017 and will end on October 24, 2017. Submit comments on or before 
October 24, 2017.

ADDRESSES: The public is invited to submit written comments to this 
Notice. Written comments may be submitted electronically via email to 
[email protected] or by mail (to the address listed in FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Comments received will be made part of 
the public record and may be posted to FirstNet's Web site 
(www.firstnet.gov) without change. Comments should be machine readable 
and should not be copy-protected. All personally identifiable 
information (e.g., name, address) voluntarily submitted by the 
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential 
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Goebel Pereira, NEPA 
Coordinator, First Responder Network Authority, National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, M/S 243, Reston, VA 20192.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation 
Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-96, Title VI, 126 Stat. 256 (codified at 47 
U.S.C. 1401 et seq.)) (the ``Act'') created and authorized FirstNet to 
take all actions necessary to ensure the building, deployment, and 
operation of an interoperable, nationwide public safety broadband 
network (``NPSBN'') based on a single, national network architecture. 
The Act meets a longstanding and critical national infrastructure need, 
to create a single, nationwide network that will, for the first time, 
allow police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical service 
professionals, and other public safety entities to effectively 
communicate with each other across agencies and jurisdictions. The 
NPSBN is intended to enhance the ability of the public safety community 
to perform more reliably, effectively, and safely; increase situational 
awareness during an emergency; and improve the ability of the public 
safety community to effectively engage in those critical activities.
    The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347) 
(``NEPA'') requires federal agencies to undertake an assessment of 
environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making a final 
decision and implementing the action. NEPA requirements apply to any 
federal project, decision, or action that may have a significant impact 
on the quality of the human environment. NEPA also establishes the 
Council on Environmental Quality (``CEQ''), which issued regulations 
implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508).
    Due to the geographic scope of FirstNet (all 50 states, the 
District of Columbia, and five territories) and the diversity of 
ecosystems potentially traversed by the project, FirstNet has prepared, 
and is in the process of publishing, five regional Final PEISs. The 
five Final PEISs are divided into the East, Central, West, South, and 
Non-Contiguous Regions, and each analyzes potential impacts of the 
deployment and operation of the NPSBN on the natural and human 
environment based on impact significance criteria developed at the 
programmatic level. FirstNet has also recently prepared and published 
for public and agency comment a draft document outlining its revised 
Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, the 
public comment period for which ended July 24, 2017.
    Now that FirstNet has selected a network partner for building out 
the NPSBN and the draft revised implementing procedures have been 
published, a Supplemental PEIS will be prepared that will (1) 
incorporate the final version of FirstNet's revised implementing 
procedures and will assess any changes to potential impacts to the 
human or natural environment at the programmatic level as a result of 
those revised procedures and (2) will describe the processes FirstNet 
will follow in accordance with NEPA to assess potential impacts at the 
site-specific scale using impact significance criteria to be developed 
using a resource-appropriate framework.

    Dated: September 20, 2017.
Amanda Goebel Pereira,
NEPA Coordinator, First Responder Network Authority.
[FR Doc. 2017-20408 Filed 9-22-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-TL-P