The U.S. Department of Energy prepared this EA for a proposal to tear down four World War II-era historic structures and a portion of one additional World War II-era historic structure at Idaho National Laboratory’s Central Facilities Area where the U.S. Naval Proving Ground was established in 1942. The structures had deteriorated and were no longer used.
The Naval Proving Ground facilities were built in the early 1940s to support the war effort. The location was one of six ordnance-testing sites across the country and the only one to test the 16-inch guns used on battleships in the Pacific Fleet during WW II. Ordnance manufactured, rebuilt, or repaired at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Plant in Pocatello were shipped by rail to the Naval Proving Ground and test-fired for accuracy.