Army: NGIC expansion OK

Jeremy Borden / Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: January 4, 2008

The U.S. Army has found that expansion plans for the National Ground Intelligence Center in northern Albemarle County will have "no significant" environmental impact, according to a recent report.

The three-page report also said the Army is seeking to buy land around the federal intelligence facility to "prevent future encroachment around the Station by private development." Considered a part of Fort Belvoir, NGIC is referred to as Rivanna Station by the Army.

With plans to add between 650 and 800 jobs, as well as a $62 million facility, employees from the D.C. area will be relocated here. Most of the jobs will be filled upon arrival and some will come from a hiring process that could include a worldwide search, officials have said. It's unclear how many jobs might be available for local residents.

Many of the employees at the new Joint Use Intelligence Analysis Facility will come from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. The new facility was created by the Base Realignment and Closure commission, which recommended changes to push federal employees out of the Washington area as the nation's vast network of military bases is realigned.

When the NGIC expansion is built, the environmental impact report said, 8.5 acres of wildlife habitat would be eliminated from the 123-acre site. Trees lost

during construction would be replaced at a 2 to 1 ratio.

Lee Catlin, a county spokeswoman, said county staff would be analyzing the larger report that the three-page summation was based on. She said the county had also sent Albemarle's environmental guidelines to the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the project.

"Because it's a federal installation we have very little ability to require them to respond to these regulations," said Catlin, but she's hopeful they will.

The move into the new facility is supposed to improve the flow of information while locating critical intelligence functions outside of the D.C. area. Analysts with NGIC, which provides intelligence on foreign ground troops and resources, will work with those at JUIAF.

Albemarle Supervisor Sally H. Thomas, who had not yet seen the report, said she's hopeful the Army is a good steward of the environment.

"When I've talked to people who are involved with Army bases elsewhere, I find the Army is increasingly aware of … environmental issues," she said. "So I'm optimistic that the Army will do a good job, but we can't require them to, and I don't think we should take it for granted they will."