Welcome to the United States Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter East Coast Basing Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Website. The comment period for the Draft EIS ended on July 12, 2010. Comments received during the 45-day review and comment period (May 28 - July 12, 2010) are being reviewed and will be addressed in the Final EIS. Thank you for your participation and comments.

The Marine Corps proposes to base, operate, and maintain 11 F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (F-35B) operational squadrons and establish an F-35B Pilot Training Center (PTC) (composed of two Fleet Replacement Squadrons [FRS]) at East Coast air stations. The F-35B replaces the Second Marine Air Wing’s (2d MAW) legacy F/A-18A/C/D (F/A-18) Hornet and AV-8B Harrier aircraft currently based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Beaufort, South Carolina (SC) and MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina (NC), respectively.

This website provides information about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and actions that are necessary to prepare an EIS. The Draft EIS evaluated the potential impacts that may result from basing, maintaining, and operating F-35B squadrons under four Action Alternatives at MCAS Beaufort and MCAS Cherry Point. Please visit the Public Involvement Materials page for materials disseminated during the 45-day comment review period.