Notice of meeting

Notice is hereby given that the Governing Board of the North Central Washington Regional Support Network will meet on Friday, September 19, 2008 at 10:00 am in the Lincoln County Commissioner's room, 450 Logan street, Davenport, WA. The meeting is open to the public.

LeRoy Allison, Chair

#09028

Pub.: September 4, 11, 2008

PUBLIC NOTICE

US ARMY at FORT LEWIS and YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER,

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Army at Fort Lewis, Washington, is proposing to train field artillery battalions at Fort Lewis and the Yakima Training Center (YTC) to include the launching of high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) rockets. The objectives of the proposed action are to:

* Support all training requirements of two Field Artillery (HIMARS) battalions.

* Conduct launch procedure certification training at Fort Lewis. This would require the launching of 54 rockets quarterly for a yearly total of 216 rockets.

* Allows battalion soldiers to spend more time with their families;

* Reduces overall unit deployment costs by travelling fewer times to YTC.

* At Fort Lewis, expand a firing point clear zone by 42 acres to facilitate rocket trajectory clearance.

An Environmental Assessment (EA) which further describes the proposed project and discusses the anticipated environmental impacts, is being prepared by the Army in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Open-house public meetings will be held to solicit comments on the proposed project on the following dates and locations:

September 9th, 2008 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Lacey Community Center, 6729 Pacific Hwy SE, Lacey, Washington 98503-1350.

September 10, 2008 from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Howard Johnsons Motor Inn, 9 North 9th Street, Yakima, Washington 98901 (phone 509-452-6511).

Posters will be on display and Army staff will be available to discuss the project during the first hour of the meeting. A formal presentation on the project will be given during the next half-hour, while the remainder of the meeting time will be devoted to taking public comments and providing additional time to view the posters and meet with Army staff.

Oral and written comments will be accepted at the public scoping meetings. Written comments regarding the proposed project will also be accepted until September 24, 2008. Comments may be sent to: Public Works, IMWE-LEW-PWE MS17, ATTN: Mr. Bill Van Hoesen, P.O. Box 339500, Fort Lewis, Washington 98433-9500 or by electronic mail to bill.vanhoesen@us.army.mil. The public scoping meeting is being conducted pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA, and U.S. Army Environmental Policies and Procedures.

#09019

Pub.: September 4, 2008