CBP Says It Will Use Improved Detection, Communication Along Canadian Border, in Environmental Notice
CBP has made available the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and Draft Record of Decision (ROD) for its Northern Border Activities. The PEIS analyzes the potential environmental and socioeconomic effects associated with its ongoing and potential future activities along the border between the U.S. and Canada, covering about 4,000 miles from Maine to Washington and 100 miles south of the U.S.-Canada Border. The Draft ROD announcing CBP's decision on which alternative to select is available for review until Aug. 27. CBP received 123 pieces of correspondence providing comments, which contained over 700 comments on the Draft PEIS, it said. Some recurring themes include:
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- the sufficiency of the range of alternatives proposed and
- their comparative analysis;
- potential impacts to transboundary areas and transboundary movement of species;
- belief that CBP would use this PEIS to justify building a fence along the border;
- potential impacts to specific cultural resources identified by commenters;
- the extent of public outreach conducted by CBP for the PEIS.
CBP said some of the alternatives considered included:
- No Action Alternative -- continue with the same facilities, technology, infrastructure, and approximate level of personnel currently in use. It said that alternative would not meet the purpose and need of the proposed action to allow CBP the flexibility to improve its capability.
- Facilities Development and Improvement Alternative would provide new permanent facilities or improvements. This alternative would help meet CBP's goals and decrease waiting times. The applicability of this alternative would be limited, as most roads crossing the northern border already have a crossing facility.
- Detection, Inspection, Surveillance, and Communications Technology Expansion Alternative would focus on deploying more effective detection, inspection surveillance, and communication technologies in support of CBP activities. This alternative would meet CBP's goals by improving CBP's situational awareness.
- Tactical Security Infrastructure Deployment Alternative would focus on constructing additional barriers, access roads, and related facilities, including selective fencing and vehicle barriers. This alternative would help discourage cross-border violators and improving CBP's capacity to respond to threats, but would not assist CBP in identifying and classifying threats.
- Flexible Direction Alternative would allow CBP to follow any of the above directions in order to employ the most effective response to the changing threat environment.
The Final PEIS identifies the Detection, Inspection, Surveillance, and Communications Expansion Alternative as the environmentally preferred alternative. However, it said changes in the nature, intensity, or locations of cross-border threats, or changes in national security or trade, travel, and economic priorities may compel CBP to adopt the Flexible Direction Alternative in the future. If that happens within five to seven years of the issuance of a final ROD, CBP would notify the public that it was changing its selected alternative with a new Draft ROD and a 30-day waiting period. Copies are available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/about/sr/ and www.dhs.gov/nepa, by contacting CBP at 202-325-4191 or at cbpenvironmentalprogram@cbp.dhs.gov, or by writing to: Jennifer DeHart Hass, Environmental and Energy Division, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 1220N, Washington, DC 20229.