Western Hem Sphere Travel in T at Ve N the Land and Sea Env Ronments
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Western Hemsphere Travel Intatve n the Land and Sea Envronments: Fnal Programmatc Envronmental Assessment Table of Contents Executve Summary ........................................................................ .1 List of Tables Acronyms and Abbrevatons .......................................................... 5 Clarifications and Updates ............................................................... 7 Table 1 The top 39 land ports by volume account for 95% of the total volume of land border crossngs ............... 20 1 Introducton ............................................................................... 9 Table 2 The measured processng tme (No-Acton) and 2 Purpose and Need .................................................................... 11 estmated processng tme for the acton alternatves.. 41 3 The Alternatves ...................................................................... 15 Table 3 Ar mpacts by mplementaton stage and border (Northern/Southern).................................................... 47 4 Establshng the Baselne ........................................................ 19 Table 4 Nose mpacts by mplementaton stage and border 5 Methods and Drvers ............................................................... 33 (Northern/Southern).................................................... 54 6 Envronmental Resources of Concern ..................................... 47 7 Envronmental Resources Not Impacted ................................. 59 List of Figures 8 Sea Ports-of-Entry and Recreatonal Craft ............................. 65 Fgure 1 Map of the Northern Border LPOEs rank-ordered by average border crossngs per day ................................ 21 9 Transboundary Impacts ........................................................... 69 Fgure 2 Map of the Southern Border LPOEs rank-ordered by 10 Cumulatve Impacts Summary ................................................ 71 average border crossngs per day ................................ 22 11 Conclusons ............................................................................. 73 Fgure 3 Noncommercal border crossngs by year for the Northern and Southern Borders .................................. 25 12 Publc Involvement ................................................................. 75 Fgure 4 Transportaton method of entry at the Canadan border 13 References ............................................................................... 77 n 2005 ........................................................................ 25 14 Lst of Preparers ...................................................................... 83 Fgure 5 The composton of travelers along the Northern and Southern Borders in 2004 (includes truck traffic) ....... 26 Appendices Fgure 6 Transportaton method of entry at the Mexcan border n 2005 ........................................................................ 27 A. Trusted Traveler Programs ...................................................... 85 Fgure 7 Average daytme wat tmes for hgh-volume LPOEs B. Levels of Impact by Resource Area ......................................... 85 on the Canadan border from 2003 to 2006 ................ 29 C. Estmatng the WHTI-Affected Travelers’ Crossngs Fgure 8 Average daytme wat tmes for hgh-volume LPOEs into the United States .............................................................. 86 on the Mexcan border from 2003 to 2006.................. 29 D. Publc Involvement Materals ................................................. 88 Fgure 9 The percentage of people below poverty level n 2005 E. Federally Recognzed Trbes on the Border ............................ 94 (for whom poverty status s determned) .................... 31 Fgure 10 Installaton of RFID technology at a typcal LPOE .... 35 WHTI Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment v Fgure 11 Causal factors that affect vehcle wat tme n Prmary and Secondary Inspectons at LPOEs ......................... 38 Fgure 12 Inbound land-border crossngs from 2000 to 2006 ..... 39 Figure 13 Average processing times and traffic volume at selected LPOEs for U.S. citizens and visitors .......................... 40 Fgure 14 The alternatves rank-ordered by processng tme ...... 41 Fgure 15 The relatonshp between vehcle emssons and wat tmes at LPOEs by county on the Southern Border..... 49 Fgure 16 The relatonshp between vehcle CO emssons and wat tmes at LPOEs by county on the Southern Border .......................................................... 50 Fgure 17 The relatonshp between vehcle emssons and wat tmes for LPOEs by county on the Northern Border .......................................................... 51 Fgure 18 The locatons of major sea ports-of-entry across the United States ............................................................... 65 Fgure 19 Dagram of typcal cruse-shp passenger nspecton process ........................................................................ 67 v WHTI Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment Executive Summary Implementaton of the land and sea phase of the Western Hemsphere changes to technology and operatons to meet the requrements for Travel Intatve (WHTI) plan, as drected by the Intellgence Reform standardized, secure travel documents under WHTI. Specifically, and Terrorsm Preventon Act of 2004 (IRTPA), s antcpated to the PEA analyzes the potental envronmental mpacts of four alter- enhance the security of the United States (U.S.) borders, while facili- natve ways to mplement the land and sea phases of the WHTI plan tatng the movement of legtmate travel and trade across borders. and the three related stages of mplementaton actvty. The analyss The WHTI plan would require that citizens of the United States, focuses on mplementng the land phase of the WHTI plan, snce Canada, Mexco, and Bermuda use a passport or other desgnated LPOEs are the most senstve to changes n actvty n terms of alternatve document that establshes the traveler’s dentty and ct- potental envronmental mpacts. Changes to processng travelers zenship to enter the United States at ports-of-entry. Currently, a range at sea ports-of-entry would happen entrely wthn exstng buld- of different forms of identification, including oral declarations, are ngs and other nfrastructure whle cruse shps are docked, and as accepted, resulting in difficulty for border officials in detecting fraud- a result no envronmental mpacts to land or coastal areas around ulent documents, ncreased tme to assess the valdty of documents, the sea ports-of-entry are antcpated. and consequential delays in traffic passing through U.S. borders. The alternatves for mplementng WHTI at POEs are lsted below. The WHTI plan is already in place at U.S. airports. Currently, Each alternatve ncludes the exstng Trusted Traveler Programs the Department of Homeland Securty (DHS) and Customs and already in place (NEXUS, Secure Electronic Network for Travelers’ Border Protecton (CBP) are consderng how to best mplement Rapd Inspecton (SENTRI), and Free and Secure Trade (FAST)). the WHTI plan at sea ports-of-entry and at land border ports-of- The alternatves nclude a No-Action Alternative and three acton entry (LPOEs). As part of that decson-makng process, CBP alternatves: analyzed the potental envronmental mpacts of alternate ways to apply and mplement the land and sea phases of the WHTI plan. 1. Mantan the status quo (the No-Action Alternative as The Natonal Envronmental Polcy Act (NEPA) establshes how requred by NEPA); envronmental analyses should be framed. In the case of the WHTI plan, a natonal or programmatc analyss s approprate, gven the 2. Accept a lmted number of document categores for adms- natonal geographc scope of the LPOE locatons and the natonal son at a Land or Sea Port-of-Entry (POE) (Standardized applcaton of WHTI. Documents Alternative); 3. Accept standardzed documents that contan a Machne CBP conducted a Programmatc Envronmental Assessment (PEA) Readable Zone (MRZ Alternative); and to serve as the bass for the determnaton of whether the docu- ments and use of the documents for mplementaton of IRTPA wll 4. Accept standardzed documents that contan Rado have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and an MRZ, such that t would requre further analyss under NEPA. The PEA for the use of RFID-enabled readers at the busest LPOEs documents a revew of the potental envronmental mpacts from and MRZ at all LPOEs (RFID Alternative). WHTI Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment 1 Executive Summary Potental envronmental mpacts would occur n varyng degrees ncome, mnorty, or Natve Amercan populatons. No potental durng the three stages of actvty assocated wth WHTI. The stages mpacts to energy, land use, waste, water, bologcal resources, of actvty are lsted below: health and safety, or hstorc propertes are antcpated for any of the acton alternatves. 1) Implementaton Stage; 2) Early Operatonal Stage; and Summary of Drivers for Environmental Impacts for the 3) Steady State Operatonal Stage: The stage that s consdered Action Alternatives: the drver for envronmental mpacts n ths analyss. • No potential for significant upgrades or substantial new To assess the potental envronmental mpacts of the WHTI plan constructon alternatves, CBP consdered the two man drvers, or aspects of mplementaton, that would cause envronmental change: con- • Potental to reduce processng tme and wat tme slghtly struction and traffic flow. Each alternative would require differing amounts of construction and result in different traffic flow rates at varous