Proposed Action

Naval Postgraduate School Students

The Proposed Action is to construct and operate a Naval Innovation Center at NPS.

To meet service requirements, the Naval Innovation Center would be designed to promote collaboration with industry partners, providing a facility for hands-on experimentation with emerging technologies for the development of defense-focused, naval-relevant solutions.
 

Purpose of and Need for the Naval Innovation Center

Autonomy

The purpose of the proposed Naval Innovation Center at NPS is to enhance its graduate education and research mission to include innovation for the development of defense-focused, naval-relevant solutions. The Naval Innovation Center at NPS would bring interdisciplinary research together with industry partners, faculty, staff, and graduate students from specific areas of education to cultivate innovations that address current and future challenges and national security obligations.

The Naval Innovation Center at NPS would prioritize collaboration and project-based research that creates solutions at greater speed and scale. NPS would serve as a catalyst and central connector for the work conducted at the Naval Innovation Center. With spaces and capabilities not found anywhere else in the Department of Defense, it would lower barriers to collaboration with naval forces, industry, and academic partners, while leveraging NPS faculty and students to accelerate technology solutions and cognitive advantage.

Alternatives Analyzed

The purpose of the EA is to help inform decisions that are based on an understanding of the human and physical environmental consequences of the proposed Naval Innovation Center and take actions in the location and design of the project to mitigate potential impacts. The public review and comment period for the Draft EA helped the Navy to identify local concerns and address them in the Final EA.

After reviewing several proposed sites at Naval Support Activity Monterey (Figure 1), the Navy analyzed multiple sites as potential locations for the Naval Innovation Center. Sites were reviewed as potential locations for the Naval Innovation Center. The Boiler Plant Site (Site 4) meets the largest number of criteria of the five sites identified based on 12 environmental screening factors and the ability to meet the purpose of and need for the Proposed Action.

In addition, a No Action Alternative was analyzed, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Under the No Action Alternative, a Naval Innovation Center facility would not be constructed.

Sites were reviewed as potential locations for the Naval Innovation Center based on 12 environmental screening factors and the ability to meet the purpose of and need for the Proposed Action. Only Sites 4 and 5 meet these criteria and were identified as the lead cases to be analyzed in the Draft EA.
Figure 1. Sites were reviewed as potential locations for the Naval Innovation Center. The Boiler Plant Site (Site 4) meets the largest number of criteria of the five sites identified based on 12 environmental screening factors and the ability to meet the purpose of and need for the Proposed Action.
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Environmental Resources Analyzed

The Navy analyzed the potential environmental impacts of the Proposed Action and alternatives. The environmental resource areas analyzed in the Final EA include:

  • Air quality
  • Water resources
  • Geological resources
  • Cultural resources
  • Biological resources
  • Land use
  • Visual quality
  • Airspace
  • Noise
  • Infrastructure
  • Transportation
  • Public health and safety
  • Hazardous materials and waste management
  • Socioeconomics
  • Environmental justice

The Final EA also includes an analysis of cumulative environmental impacts that have the potential to occur as a result of the Proposed Action and alternatives.

Download the project fact sheet booklet to learn more about the project.
Download the project fact sheet booklet to learn more about the project.