Replacement St. Marys Airport Environmental Assessment

The St. Marys Airport (4J6 or Airport) is located in the City of St. Marys, Georgia which is situated in the southeast corner of Camden County, Georgia. Camden County is located in the southeast quadrant of the State of Georgia, approximately 45 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida and 40 miles south of Brunswick, Georgia, see Figure 1.1. The Airport is located approximately two (2) miles north of the central business district of the City. The exact coordinates are 30°45'16.849 (North Latitude) and 81°33'26.349 seconds West Longitude).

In 2005, the City of St. Marys initiated a project to evaluate the feasibility of relocating the Airport to a new site (i.e., an Airport Feasibility and Site Selection Study). Currently, Kings Bay Naval Base (Kings Bay) is located approximately two miles north of the Airport, and is home of the Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic (SWFLANT), a missile assembly and production facility, along with Submarine Group Ten. Kings Bay is also home to the Trident Refit Facility and Trident Training Facility. As a result of the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, national security concerns have directed that Prohibited Airspace 1 be implemented over Kings Bay which not only severely restricts current operations at the Airport, but virtually eliminates any future expansion possibilities. As a result of the implementation of these airspace restrictions it was determined that the Airport cannot fulfill its role in the State or Federal aviation system plan and must be relocated. The purpose of this report is to document the environmental impacts associated with the development of those sites identified in the Airport Feasibility and Site Selection Study as possible candidates for construction of a replacement airport.

Federal participation in the relocation of the Airport requires environmental approval pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), in the form of an Environmental Assessment. An Environmental Assessment (EA) is a document that assesses and evaluates the effects of a proposed project on the surrounding natural, social, human and economic environments. This EA has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Airport and Airways Improvement Act of 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Order 5050.4A, Airport Environmental Handbook (1985), and FAA Order 1050.1E, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures, dated June 2004.