The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 as amended (42 U.S. Code USC 4321 et seq.) the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations CFR 1500-1508) Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 4715.9 Environmental Planning and Analysis, and the applicable Service environmental regulations that implement these laws and regulations direct DoD officials to consider environmental consequences when authorizing and approving federal actions. Accordingly this EIS examines the potential for impacts to the environment as a result of the proposed construction operation and test activities associated with the proposed Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Extended Test Range (ETR). Under this Proposed Action additional test facilities including the Sea-Based Test X-Band Radar (SBX) test equipment infrastructure and communications links would be constructed and operated for the purpose of providing more realistic GMD flight testing in the North Pacific Region. Existing range facilities would be enhanced and additional launch and support sites would be established to support more robust missile flight tests.

Within the Department of Defense, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) (formerly the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization) is responsible for developing and testing the Ballistic Missile Defense System There are three segments currently under development: Boost Phase Defense, Midcourse Defense, and Terminal Defense. An element of the Midcourse Defense Segment is the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), formerly known as the National Missile Defense (NMD). The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and technology of long-range missiles is increasing the threat to our national security. The GMD is designed to protect all 50 States of the United States against limited ballistic missile attack by intercepting long-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse (ballistic) phase of their flight, before their reentry into the earth's atmosphere. The MDA completed the NMD Deployment Environmental Impact Statement in July 2000 to support a future deployment decision. The Secretary of Defense has not yet made a decision to deploy the GMD. However, the need has been identified to gain a higher level of confidence in GMD's capabilities through tests under realistic operational conditions. Validation of the operational concept (VOC) through ground testing of the GMD is a vital part of operationally realistic testing.

The Strategic Targets Project Office, within the Ballistic Missile Targets Joint Project Office of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, proposes to use vanous configurations of a seedant (deuterium fluoride), high explosive, and sensor instrumentation payload package on several target missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) to independently verify Ground-based Midcourse Defense Element interceptor effectiveness. The proposed action consists of three main activities. The first would be the transport of the seedant and payload to Vandenberg AFB. The second would be integration of the seedant into the target vehicle. The third activity would be flight testing with the seedant payload aboard the target vehicle. The interceptor missile would be launched from the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll/Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site with intercept occurring over the Pacific Ocean.