Department of Defense March 4, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Subsection (e)(12) of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), requires agencies to publish advance notice of any proposed or revised computer matching program by the matching agency for public comment. The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of the Department of Defense (DoD), as the matching agency under the Privacy Act is hereby giving notice to the record subjects of a computer matching program between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and DMDC that their records are being matched by computer. The purpose of this match concerns Reserve pay reconciliation.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) San Francisco District, the Port of Stockton, and the Contra Costa County Water Agency are preparing an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) to evaluate the efficiency of the movement of goods along the existing deep-draft navigation route extending from the San Francisco Bay to the Port of Stockton. This Notice of Intent (NOI) represents a supplemental notice to the March 12, 2008, NOI released for the San Francisco Bay to Stockton Navigation Improvement Study. This supplemental NOI also provides an update to the description of the study and discusses current phasing of the project. Because of the amount of time that has passed since 2008, this supplemental NOI is being released to notify the public that work will begin on an EIS/EIR, which is anticipated to be issued for public review in 2016. This NOI also re-opens the public scoping period. The 2008 NOI discussed the project as a single navigation improvement study/project, proposing to deepen the John F. Baldwin channel from the West Richmond Channel to New York Slough Channel to a maximum depth of -45 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) and the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel to a maximum depth of -40 feet MLLW. The forthcoming EIS/EIR proposes to reevaluate the unconstructed portions of the original project described in the 1965 Chief of Engineers Report (House Document 89-208) and authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-298), which will be referred to in the EIS/EIR as Phase I (or the proposed project). Additional study authority exists for the entire channel from San Francisco Bay to Stockton, provided by the 2014 United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Committee Resolution and specifying ``navigation, ecosystem restoration, flood risk reduction, and other water related resource purposes.'' This additional study authority will be discussed programmatically in the EIS/EIR. The study area for the overall project consists of two reaches: The Western Reach and Eastern Reach. The Western Reach extends from Central San Francisco Bay to Avon and includes the West Richmond Channel, Pinole Shoal Channel, and Bulls Head Reach portion of the Suisun Bay Channel. The Eastern Reach extends from Avon to the Port of Stockton and includes the remaining portions of the Suisun Bay Channel (east of Avon), New York Slough Channel, and the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel. The Western Reach is authorized to a depth of -45 feet mean lower low water (MLLW), but is currently maintained to -35 feet MLLW. Additional deepening of the Eastern Reach requires separate Congressional authorization for construction. The forthcoming EIS/EIR for which this NOI is prepared proposes to separate the overall project into two separate phases (Phase I and Phase II) under a navigation improvement programmatic analysis. Under the programmatic analysis, two reaches and two phases are identified. Phase I of the study is a single purpose navigation improvement project to evaluate incremental deepening to a maximum depth of -40 feet MLLW in the Western Reach. Phase II is a subsequent multipurpose navigation and ecosystem restoration study that would evaluate deepening the Eastern Reach to a maximum depth of -40 feet MLLW. Phase II will also revisit if further deepening of Western Reach up to its authorized depth of -45 feet MLLW is warranted. The Eastern Reach is maintained at its authorized depth of -35 feet MLLW, and any additional deepening in this reach will require a new project authorization through a subsequent Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). The EIS/EIR will include both a project-level feasibility analysis for implementation of Phase I and a programmatic-level analysis for Phase II. Analysis of Phase II will be conducted using only existing information (i.e., additional studies or data collection will not be conducted). Additional project-level feasibility analysis of Phase II will require execution of a separate Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement with the local sponsor and pending receipt of federal study funds.