Welcome to the official website for the Comprehensive Airspace Initiative Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at Moody Air Force Base (AFB), Georgia. The Air Force has created this website to:
The Public Scoping Period concluded on January 6, 2020. This was the deadline to ensure that the Air Force has sufficient time to consider public input in the preparation of the Draft EIS.
The public comment period for the Draft EIS has closed.
The Air Force invites you to participate in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The Air Force prepared a Draft EIS to assess the potential environmental effects of providing additional low-altitude training airspace at Moody AFB, Georgia. The Air Force invites you to review and submit comments on the Draft EIS through November 24, 2020.
The NEPA process provides multiple opportunities for public review and input.
The Proposed Action is needed to provide access for training missions operating at low altitudes from Moody AFB and to optimize the Moody Airspace Complex to enable effective training to achieve real-world combat readiness and survivability. The purpose of the Proposed Action is to provide a more realistic and regularly accessible airspace training environment to meet the need for aircrew training in Close Air Support and Combat Search and Rescue.
The Air Force has identified three alternatives that meet the project’s purpose and need.
There would be no changes to the existing special use airspace. Under the No Action Alternative, the operational floors of the Moody Airspace Complex would remain at 10,000 feet MSL in R-3008D; 8,000 feet MSL in the Corsair North, Corsair South, Hawg North, Hawg South, Mustang, Sabre, Thud, and Warhawk MOAs; at 500 feet AGL in the Moody 2 North MOA and R-3008C; at 100 feet AGL in the Moody 2 South MOA and R-3008B; and at the surface in R-3008A.
New low-altitude MOAs would be charted beneath and within the lateral confines of existing MOAs and Restricted Areas of the Moody Airspace Complex:
The floor of the existing Moody 2 North MOA would be lowered from 500 feet AGL to 100 feet AGL.
Under Alternative 1, there would be neither a change in the number of sorties at Moody AFB airfield nor would there be any change in the number of aircraft operations in the Moody Airspace Complex. However, there would be a change in the distribution of training operations at low altitudes within the Moody Airspace Complex, as training operations at low altitude currently limited to Moody 2 North and Moody 2 South MOAs would be redistributed to the new low-altitude MOAs. There would be no change in the quantity or type of defensive countermeasures used during training; however, chaff and flares would be permitted for use within the new proposed low-altitude MOAs except for the Corsair North Low MOA where the use of chaff would not be permitted. The use of flares would be limited to 2,000 feet AGL. No ordnance, other than chaff and flares, would be expended in the new low-altitude MOAs. There would be no change in urban Close Air Support training operations.
Proposed Action | Alternative 2 | Alternative 3New low-altitude MOAs would be charted beneath and within the lateral confines of existing MOAs and Restricted Areas of the Moody Airspace Complex:
Besides the creation of new low-altitude MOAs with an altitude floor of 2,000 feet AGL instead of 1,000 feet AGL, all other aspects of Alternative 2 are the same as described for Alternative 1.
Under this alternative, there would be neither a change in the number of sorties at Moody AFB airfield nor would there be any change in the number of aircraft operations in the Moody Airspace Complex. However, there would be a change in the distribution of training operations at low altitudes within the Moody Airspace Complex, as training operations at low altitude currently limited to Moody 2 North and Moody 2 South MOAs would be redistributed to the new low-altitude MOAs.
New low-altitude MOAs would be charted beneath and within the lateral confines of existing MOAs and Restricted Areas of the Moody Airspace Complex:
Besides the creation of new low-altitude MOAs with an altitude floor of 4,000 feet AGL instead of 1,000 feet AGL, all other aspects of Alternative 3 are the same as described for Alternative 1.
Under this alternative, there would be neither a change in the number of sorties at Moody AFB airfield nor would there be any change in the number of aircraft operations in the Moody Airspace Complex. However, there would be a change in the distribution of training operations at low altitudes within the Moody Airspace Complex, as training operations at low altitude currently limited to Moody 2 North and Moody 2 South MOAs would be redistributed to the new low-altitude MOAs.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guides the Air Force public involvement and impact analysis processes.
NEPA has many ways to be involved:
This website:
The Air Force hosted a scoping meeting in Tifton, Georgia, on 5 December 2019. Once the Draft EIS is published, the Air Force will host a public hearing, the date and location of which have not been finalized at this stage in the process. The location will be based on the areas potentially affected by the proposed action, as well as input received during the scoping process.
The availability of the Draft EIS will be announced in the Federal Register and through newspaper advertisements. All individuals that have requested a copy of the Draft EIS will receive a CD in the mail at the address they provided during scoping.
Although comments can be submitted to the Air Force any time during the EIS process, scoping comments were requested by January 6, 2020, to ensure full consideration in the Draft EIS.
The public comment period for the Draft EIS has closed.
The Notice of Intent to prepare the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published in the Federal Register on November 29, 2019. Click here to download the document.
Public comments are being requested in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the President’s Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 1500-1508), and 32 CFR 989, Environmental Impact Analysis Process (EIAP). The EIAP provides an opportunity for public input on Air Force decision making, allows the public to offer inputs on alternative ways for the Air Force to accomplish what it is proposing, and solicits comments on the Air Force’s analysis of environmental effects. Public commenting allows the Air Force to make better-informed decisions. Letters or other written or oral comments provided may be published in the EIS. As required by law, comments provided will be addressed in the EIS and made available to the public. Providing personal information is voluntary. Any personal information provided will be used only to identify your desire to make a statement during the public comment portion of any public meetings or hearings or to fulfill requests for copies of the EIS or associated documents. Private addresses will be compiled to develop a mailing list for those requesting copies of the EIS; however, only the names of the individuals making comments and specific comments will be disclosed. Personal home addresses and phone numbers will not be published in the EIS.
Session cookies are used to provide a more secure experience on the comment form. Session cookies are small digital signature files that are stored by your web browser and expire when you close your browser. This website does not use persistent cookies (cookies which track personal information and/or exist beyond a user’s browser session).
Comments