BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Earlier this month, the Department of Veterans Affairs published a new letter regarding various elements of the new Bakersfield VA Clinic.
- According to a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs, "VA concluded that implementing the Proposed Action will not have a significant adverse environmental impact; therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required."
- The Final Environmental Assessment addresses various potential environmental issues that could arise as a result of the construction of the new building, and various scenarios regarding wildlife, and what the future of care for Veterans could look like with and without the new VA building.
- The latest developments surrounding the new Bakersfield VA building can be read on the Department of Veterans Affairs' Environmental Program Office website.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For years, the fate of the new Bakersfield VA clinic has been hotly contested, but it appears as if there's now some movement. I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter, after a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs was released earlier this month stating that no environmental impact study is required to move the new location through.
The letter, in short, says that after consulting with various state, county, and local entities, the construction of the proposed facility off of Knudsen and Olive Drive will not "have a significant adverse environmental impact," which is one of the many hurdles this building has needed to clear over the last several years.
The latest reports responding to allegations that the proposed facility would disrupt the San Joaquin kit fox habitat in the area, a federally endangered species, in turn, the VA asked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service to determine if the project would disrupt the habitat disproportionately.
In a response to the VA, and used as part of the final environmental assessment put out by the VA this month, the USFWS said in part, "After reviewing the current status of the kit fox, the environmental baseline for the species within the action area, the effects of the project on the species, and the cumulative effects to the species, it is the Service's biological opinion that the project is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the kit fox."
According to the Final Environmental Assessment, it effectively leaves the Department of Veterans Affairs with two choices: build the facility or don't build it and force veterans in the area to travel elsewhere for care.
For area veteran, Chris Quinones, to find out that there's potential movement regarding the new facility is incredible news, but it's something many like him have heard before.
"That is a big relief. Again, a lot of us local veterans do talk, and so when we find out things again, there's still even distrust with it, where it's like, okay, yeah, even though that's one less hurdle, we're still like, well, here you are about what, 15 years later, almost practically, where we're just like, okay, well, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. It just—it's—hopefully this promise does finally come into fruition."
So what does this mean for area veterans? That's still unfortunately up in the air. We reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs for comment on Tuesday afternoon regarding this matter. A member of their media relations department acknowledged our request but said they would not be able to provide an answer to our questions on such short notice.
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