On April 12, 1991. Castle AFB was announced for closure pursuant to the Base Closure and Realignment Act. The base is scheduled to close in September 1995. This EIS was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act to analyze the potential environmental consequences of the disposal of the base. Although disposal will create few direct impacts, reuse by others will create indirect impacts. The EIS analyzes the effects a range of reasonable foreseeable alternative reuses may have on the local community; including land use and aesthetics, transportation, utilities, hazardous materials/wastes, geology and soils, water resources, air quality, noise, biological resources, and cultural resources. The document also addresses use of emission conformity offsets to support Navy realignment impacts at NAS Lemoore in addition to the impacts that would result from reuse of Castle AFB. Presentation covenants within the disposal document could eliminate or reduce any negative environmental effects to a non-adverse level. Because the Air Force is disposing of the property, some of the mitigation measures are beyond Air Force control. Remediation of Installation Restoration Program sites will continue to be the responsibility of the Air Force.-BKA.

The purpose of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is to analyze the potential environmental consequences of the disposal decisions to be made by the Air Force. This ROD addresses whether portions of the base will be transferred as excess property to other Federal agencies; whether surplus property (property no longer needed to meet Federal requirements) at the installation will be disposed of as a single parcel or as several smaller parcels; the methods of disposal; and the actions, if any, the Air Force will take to avoid or mitigate adverse environmental consequences from its disposal actions.-BKA.