Engineers Corps 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Ispat Inland Mining (Ispat) has applied to the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers (Corps) for a permit to discharge dredged or fill material into wetlands to facilitate the construction and operation of a taconite mine consisting of two conventional open pits in a deposit known as the East Reserve (formerly known as the J&L East Reserve) between Biwabik and McKinley in St. Louis County, MN. The combined area of the two open pits would be 364 acres. The proposed pits contain an estimated 116,000,000 long tons of ore. The ore would be hauled by truck approximately 1.9 miles on a proposed new haul road spur and then an additional 5.5 miles on an existing haul road to Ispat's currently permitted and operating Minorca taconite processing facility north of Virginia, MN. Tailing waste would be disposed of in Ispat's currently permitted and operating Minorca and Upland tailings basins. The mining process would require the construction of overburden, waste rock, and lean ore stockpiles on the north side of the proposed pits. The total stockpile area would cover approximately 375 acres. Project plans call for the mining of an average of just over six million long tons of crude ore per year over the proposed 18-year life of the mine. The project would allow mining operations and taconite processing at the Minorca Plant to continue until 2024. The project would require the discharge of dredged or fill material into approximately 75.7 acres of wetlands. While some of the wetlands may be isolated, the majority of the wetlands are adjacent to an unnamed tributary to the Embarrass River, which is a tributary to the St. Louis River, which is a navigable water of the U.S., or the wetlands are adjacent to an unnamed tributary to the Pike River, which is a navigable water of the United States. Ispat proposes to utilize wetland credits from the existing Ispat Inland wetland mitigation bank in Aitkin County, MN to compensate for the lost wetland functions and values that would be caused by the proposed project. The discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States requires a permit issued by the Corps under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The final environmental impact statement will be used as a basis for the permit decision and to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The study area is located within the Los Angeles Basin on a broad alluvial plain flanked by the Santa Monica Mountains, to the west, and by the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The Los Angeles River flows from the headwaters of Bell Creek and Calabasas Creek in the San Fernando Valley community of Canoga Park southeast through the San Fernando Valley some 35 miles to downtown Los Angeles. From there it continues in a southerly direction until it empties into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. The specific study area comprises the 32 miles of the River within the City of Los Angeles that extends from Owensmouth Avenue, in the upper reaches of northwest San Fernando Valley, to the border of the City of Vernon, at the southern end of Downtown Los Angeles. The study proposes to consider a range of activities to restore riparian and aquatic habitat, and related habitat functions, in and adjacent to the Los Angeles River. Compatible activities to conserve cultural resources, and to provide recreational and interpretive amenities, will also be considered. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify a range of opportunities to improve the general environment of the Los Angeles River through ecosystem restoration and related measures. The study area includes several locations where potential exists for restoring a more natural riverine environment along the Los Angeles River, while maintaining and improving levels of flood protection. Creation of treatment wetlands in and around the river, to treat effluent river flows and to restore missing linkages of fragmented habitat, would also be pursued. Restored areas would provide natural riparian habitat to support indigenous wildlife and avifauna along a corridor transecting most of the San Fernando Valley, and extending into downtown Los Angeles. Other purposes include provision of public access to the river, identification of incidental recreation space, and delineation of trails. Site-specific Environmental Impact Statement-Environment Impact Reports (EIS/EIR) would be prepared in the future to evaluate and document individual projects that may result from this study.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is issuing this notice to advise the public that the Final Supplement II to the Final Environmental Impact Statement has been completed for the City of Marion, Illinois, and is available for review and comment.

In accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District has prepared a Final Tiered Environmental Impact Statement (FTEIS) and Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) to analyze dredged material placement for the Port of Baltimore for 20 years of maintenance and new work dredging. USACE is making the document available to the public through a Notice of Availability published in the Federal Register. The overall goal of the DMMP is to develop a plan to maintain, in an economically and environmentally sound manner, channels necessary for navigation for the Port of Baltimore, conduct dredged material placement in the most environmentally sound manner, and maximize the use of dredged material as a beneficial resource. The recommendations which will provide a minimum of 20 years of dredged material placement capacity for the Port of Baltimore are: Continued maintenance dredging of the Virginia channels and use of the existing open-water placement sites in Virginia (Dam Neck Open Water Placement; Rappahannock Shoal Deep Alternate Open Water Placement; and Wolf Trap Alternate Open Water Placement). Continued maintenance dredging of the Maryland channels and use of the existing sites in Maryland including Pooles Island Open Water Site, Hart-Miller Island Dredged Material Containment Facility (HMI DMCF), Cox Creek Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) (+36 ft dike height), and Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project (PIERP). Multiple confined disposal facilities for harbor material in Patapsco River. PIERP Expansion in Talbot County, Maryland. Large Island Restoration in Middle Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Wetland Restoration in Dorchester County, Maryland. Continue to pursue opportunities to innovatively use dredged material.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Sacramento District, is preparing a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/EIR) to reevaluate the previously authorized plan and other alternatives to reduce flood damages and restore riparian and aquatic habitat in the lower Yuba River Basin, part of the Feather River Basin, and the city of Marysville, in Yuba County, CA. This notice replaces the one previously published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2004 (69 FR 12646). The general reevaluation is needed because recent technical, environmental, and economic studies have indicated that additional refinement and reformulation are needed to determine the feasibility and extent of Federal and non-Federal interest in the project. The basic study authority for the Yuba River Basin study was provided under the Flood Control Act of 1962.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Westminster watershed ecosystem and look for multipurpose recommendations for how to more effectively manage its natural resources. There is a need for both flood control improvements as well as ecosystem habitat restoration. The study area is located in western Orange County, CA, approximately 25 miles southeast of the City of Los Angeles. The Westminster watershed lies on a flat coastal plain, is approximately 90 square miles in area, and is almost entirely urbanized with residential and commercial development. There are two main channel systems that collect runoff from portions of urbanized areas in the cities of Anaheim, Stanton, Cypress, Orange, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Huntington Beach. The East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Channel (EGGW), with its principal tributary, the Ocean View Channel (OV), drains into Bolsa Bay. Two retarding basins (Haster and West Street) exist at the upstream reach of the EGGW channel. Bolsa Bay includes the Bolsa Chica Lowlands and Ecological Reserve, and is a major environmental resource in southern California. The Bay has been designated as an area of national significance, and is host to a wide assemblage of resident and migratory waterfowl and marine species including over 30 Federal and/or State listed sensitive species that utilize the wetlands during all or part of their annual cycle. The Bolsa Chica Flood Control Channel (BCFC), with its principal tributaries, the Anaheim-Barber City Channel and Westminster Channel, drains to Huntington Harbour. The BCFC Channel drains the western portion of the study area, with a significant portion of property adjacent to the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station of the U.S. Navy and 1.5 miles runs through and adjacent to the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Training Base. Aside from the military facilities, this portion of the watershed is almost entirely urbanized. Agriculture is still practiced under leases granted by the Navy on portions of their property. The BCFC Channel outlets into Huntington Harbour, but unlike EGGW, does not outlet into Bolsa Bay. The sole ocean outlet for both Bolsa Bay and Huntington Harbour is to the north at Anaheim Bay and the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. Tidal influence in the lowermost portion of the BCFC and East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Channels extended approximately 2 miles inland.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) intend to prepare a joint project- level integrated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact Report (EIR)/Feasibility Report, hereafter called the Report, to address the potential impacts of the first Interim Feasibility Study component of the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study, San Francisco Bay, CA. This study is closely interrelated with the ongoing South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project, discussed in the Notice of Intent dated November 9, 2004. It will function as a project-level EIS/EIR tiered under that programmatic EIS/EIR and will be issued subsequently to the programmatic document. The California State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy) will be the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Federal Lead Agencies Proposed Actions and Related Programmatic EIS/EIR. The Corps, in cooperation with the USFWS, is proposing to study flood protection and ecosystem restoration for the Alviso portion of the South San Francisco Bay (South Bay) Salt Ponds and adjacent areas to determine whether there is a federal interest in constructing a project with flood protection and/or ecosystem restoration components in this area, and if so, to determine the optimum project to recommend to Congress for authorization. The Report will recommend a plan which will provide for long-term restoration for these salt ponds and adjacent areas as well as flood protection and recreation components, if these actions are justified under Federal criteria. The Report and its alternatives will be tiered to the programmatic EIS/EIR for the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project. One public scoping meeting will be held to solicit comments on the environmental effects of the range of potential projects and the appropriate scope of the Report. The public is invited to comment during this meeting on environmental issues to be addressed in the Report.