Army Department June 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Clear Creek watershed drains portions of Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston, and Brazoria counties, Texas, including portions of Houston and the smaller towns of League City, Friendswood and Pearland, among others. The watershed also forms part of the boundary between Harris County to the north and Galveston and Brazoria counties to the south. Clear Creek flows into the west side of upper Galveston Bay through Clear Lake. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will evaluate several flood detention and conveyance features to reduce flooding of homes and businesses in the Clear Creek Watershed. The study will focus on environmental and social conditions currently present and those likely to be affected by the proposed changes in the watershed. The flood-control project includes construction of several miles of high flow channel adjacent to the existing channel, while preserving the existing channel and floodplain forest. Detention of flood waters would also be provided in some areas where the high flow channel diverges from the low flow channel and in off-line detention areas adjacent to the creek. All flood control measures on Clear Creek occur upstream of the Dixie Farm Road crossing. The proposed project also includes widening three tributaries to Clear Creek, Mud Gully, Turkey Creek, and Mary's Creek, for improved conveyance of flood flows, with detention basins constructed adjacent to Mary's Creek and between Clear Creek and Mud Gully.

The Department of the Army announces its intent to prepare an EIS for expanded activities on WSMR. This EIS will analyze the impacts of new mission requirements and development of new test and training capabilities and associated land use changes to support Army Transformation, the Army Campaign Plan, Future Combat Systems, Grow the Army, and other Army initiatives. This includes the stationing of a Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT) of approximately 3,800 Soldiers at WSMR. This action also supports WSMR as a test bed for rapid development and deployment of new systems in response to rapidly changing world conditions and long-term Department of Defense, U.S. Army Developmental Test Command, and Army planning. Specifically, this EIS will assess environmental impacts associated with changing land uses to allow for expanded off-road maneuver in some areas, to support new testing capabilities and requirements, and continuing off-post to on-post tests. It will also address new weapons firing ranges and capabilities, as well as Soldier and Family housing, schools, infrastructure, utilities, and administrative and related facilities needed to support stationing of the HBCT at WSMR. The proposed action would result in a flexible, capabilities-based airspace and land use plan able to accommodate rapidly evolving customer needs, support current and future mission activities, and support a full range of test and training efforts from individual components up through major joint and multinational programs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, Wilmington Regulatory Division is amending the request for Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, from Carolinas Cement Company LLC (a subsidiary of Titan America LLC) to construct the Carolinas Cement Company LLC Castle Hayne Project. This project will include quarrying to support cement manufacturing in northern New Hanover County, NC. The amendment is a change in date and location of the scoping meeting and an extension of the comment period deadline. The original Notice of Intent was published in the Federal Register on May 30, 2008 (73 FR 31072), with a comment deadline of June 30, 2008.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is proposing to amend the existing regulations for a restricted area at Blount Island Command, located on Marine Corps Support Facility-Blount Island, Jacksonville, Florida. Blount Island Command is responsible for managing the United States Marine Corps Prepositioning Programs. Due to the importance of this mission, the current restricted area in this section must be extended due to Department of Defense (DoD) directives that require the implementation of specified force protection measures by all DoD components. This amendment to the existing regulation is necessary to protect U.S. government personnel, equipment, and facilities from potential terrorist attack by providing stand-off corridors encompassing the waters immediately contiguous to Marine Corps Support FacilityBlount Island.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Regulatory Division), in coordination with the Port of Los Angeles, has completed a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/ Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/SEIR) for the Pacific L.A. Marine Terminal LLC Crude Oil Terminal Project. The Port of Los Angeles requires authorization pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the River and Harbor Act for a new crude oil marine terminal at Berth 408 on Pier 400 including: Construction of a new marine terminal to receive crude oil from marine vessels and transfer the oil to tank farm facilities via a new 42-inch-diameter, high-volume pipeline; construction of two tank farms, Tank Farm Site 1 located on Pier 400 and Tank Farm Site 2 located on Pier 300 at Seaside Avenue/ Terminal Way; construction of new pipelines to connect the new tank farm facilities to existing pipeline facilities, with the new tank farm facilities connected to the existing ExxonMobil Southwest Terminal on Terminal Island, the existing Ultramar/Valero Refinery on Anaheim Street near the Terminal Island Freeway, and to Plains All American pipeline systems near Henry Ford Avenue and Alameda Street via new and existing 36-inch, 24-inch, and 16-inch pipelines, and with all new pipelines installed belowground, with the exception of the water crossings at the Pier 400 causeway bridge and at the Valero utility/pipe bridge that crosses the Dominguez Channel west of the Ultramar/Valero Refinery. The new tank farm facilities would provide a total of 4.0 million barrels (bbl) of capacity, primarily receiving crude oil, partially refined crude oil, and occasional deliveries of Marine Gas Oil (MGO).

In accordance with Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), announcement is made of the following committee meeting: