Supplemental Environmental Assessment Planned for Border Patrol Station Wellesley Island, New York (December 2023)

United States (U.S.) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) prepared a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) in February 2022, that analyzed the potential effects resulting from proposed construction and operation of a new Border Patrol Station (BPS) in the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Buffalo Sector, Wellesley Island Station Area of Responsibility (AOR), New York.  The proposed BPS project would include the construction of a new 48,000 square foot facility to accommodate current and near-future staff and operational requirements, with modernized technology and infrastructure to fulfill the border security mission of USBP within the Wellesley Island BPS AOR along the international border with Canada.

The proposed location for the BPS evaluated in the Draft EA is an approximately 20-acre parcel in Orleans, New York which is approximately 4 miles north of the town of Clayton and 6.5 miles south of Alexandria Bay.  The site proposed and evaluated in the EA remains a potential location for a new BPS and CBP remains committed to the project.  To address questions and concerns raised in public comments to the draft EA, CBP will conduct additional environmental surveys at the site and develop a draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA).  However, real estate access restrictions at the proposed location have delayed completion of the necessary species-specific surveys in accordance with guidelines until at least Spring 2024.  Data from the additional surveys is necessary to complete a thorough and accurate analysis of the potential environmental effects of the proposed project.

In addition to follow-up surveys at the location, CBP is considering alternative locations for the proposed project.  CBP requires the property abuts the St. Lawrence River for mission readiness and adequate USBP agent response times.  CBP identified an alternative site that meets this, and other, CBP requirements and recently completed environmental resource and due diligence surveys at that location.  The alternative site is an approximately 19-acre parcel in Clayton, New York, with frontage along New York State Route 12 and the St. Lawrence River.  CBP will include the results of the surveys and an evaluation of the alternative in the draft SEA.

CBP will conduct public scoping for the draft SEA in early 2024.  At that time, interested or affected parties will have the opportunity to provide information to CBP pertaining to proposed and alternative locations and suggest other locations that CBP has not yet considered. Alternative locations meeting CBP requirements for the proposed project may be identified by CBP or interested parties during the draft SEA scoping process. These locations may be surveyed and evaluated in the draft SEA.  CBP will notify the public of the availability of the draft SEA and provide an opportunity for review and comment.  CBP anticipates releasing the draft SEA in 2024.