Extended Scoping Period and Public Involvement Open Houses for the Supplemental Environmental Assessment for the Wellesley Island Border Patrol Station, New York (June 2024)

United States (U.S.) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) invites you to attend a public involvement open house regarding the Supplemental Environmental Assessment (SEA) to address the proposed construction, operation, and maintenance of a new Border Patrol Station (BPS) in the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Buffalo Sector, Wellesley Island Station Area of Responsibility (AOR), Jefferson County, New York. The open houses will be held in-person on June 25 and 26, 2024 from 4-7 pm Eastern Time at Cerow Recreation Park Arena, located at 615 E Line Road, Clayton, New York 13624. The two open houses will be identical in content and are being provided to accommodate schedules of interested parties.

Due to public interest in the project, CBP will host these two open houses and extend the deadline for all comments to Friday, July 12, 2024. Comments may be submitted via email or U.S. Mail per the instructions below.

Email: Mr. John Petrilla at BPAMNEPA@cbp.dhs.gov

U.S. Mail:
Mr. John Petrilla
Execution Team | Energy and Environmental PMO
85 Enterprise
Suite 450 (4th Floor)
Aliso Viejo, CA, 92656

Project Background
CBP prepared a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) in February 2022, that analyzed the potential effects resulting from proposed construction and operation of a new BPS in the USBP Buffalo Sector, Wellesley Island Station 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 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 Summer 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.