Engineers Corps April 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Corps) and the Los Angeles Harbor Department (LAHD) have prepared a joint Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/SEIR) for the Port of Los Angeles Channel Deepening Project, Los Angeles County, California. The Corps and the LAHD have reviewed the written and oral comments received during the August 6, 2008 public hearing and during the public comment period for the Draft SEIS/SEIR. The Corps is publishing a Notice of Availability for the Final SEIS/EIR and Draft CD in the Federal Register for public review. The document will also be placed at public libraries in the vicinity of the project area and distributed to the concerned resource agencies and the public who has provided comment on the Draft SEIS/SEIR.

In November 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, Regulatory Division (Corps) in coordination with the Los Angeles Harbor Department (LAHD) completed and published a joint Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/ EIR) for the Berths 136-147 [TraPac] Container Terminal Project (Project) in the Port of Los Angeles. On November 14, 2008, the Corps published an Addendum to the Final EIS, including a Draft General Conformity Determination, for the Federal action associated with the Project. Comments were received on the Addendum to the Final EIS and Draft General Conformity Determination until December 15, 2008. A General Conformity Determination was required because Project construction would require Federal action (i.e., issuance of a Corps permit for work and structures in and over navigable waters, discharges of fill into waters of the U.S., and transport and disposal of dredged material in ocean waters) and not all the Federal action's direct and indirect air emissions would be below specified de minimis thresholds (40 CFR 93.153(b)). On March 12, 2009, the Corps completed its environmental review and made a Final General Conformity Determination, executed the Record of Decision (ROD), and issued a Standard Individual Permit for the Federal action associated with the Project, pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the River and Harbor Act, and Section 103 of the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. The Corps considered and responded to all comments received in making the Final General Conformity Determination, executing the ROD, and issuing the Corps permit. The pubic can request copies of the Final General Conformity Determination document or the

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, Regulatory Division, has received a 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 of 1899, from the Town of Nags Head to dredge up to 4.6 million cubic yards of beach-quality sediment from an offshore borrow source, and deposit the material along approximately 10 miles of ocean shoreline in the Town of Nags Head.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Wilmington District, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office has received a 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 the Town of Topsail Beach to conduct a one-time interim beach fill project to protect oceanfront development and infrastructure until such time that a Federally authorized shore protection project can be implemented. The Corps has prepared a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This FSEIS was developed as a supplement to the West Onslow Beach and New River Inlet (Topsail Beach), NC, General Reevaluation Report (GRR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (USACE, 2008) prepared by the Wilmington District Corps of Engineers (USACE or the Corps) to evaluate resources and environmental considerations involved with the proposed Federal Beach nourishment project. The purpose of this supplement is to fully evaluate the potential impacts of the private action proposed as an addition to the Federal Project and to evaluate alternatives to the proposed action. The private action is proposed to respond to current, substantial erosion occurring along the oceanfront shoreline of the Town of Topsail Beach, NC. While Federal budget priorities have made it difficult to obtain funds for civil works projects in general and beach protection projects in particular, the projected earliest construction date for the Federal project is 2012. State and agency review and comment on Final GRR and EIS were completed in summer 2008. The Recommended Plan outlined in the Final GRR and EIS includes use of all the identified borrow sites over the next 50 years pending further investigations during the development of detailed plans and specifications. Given the current status of the GRR-EIS and the need for Congressional authorization, funding, preparation of plans and specifications, and right-of-way acquisition, the Federal project may not be implemented until Fiscal Year 2012, or possibly later. Accordingly, the Town of Topsail Beach would like to construct an interim beach fill project to protect its development and infrastructure during the period between now and the time the Federal project is constructed. In order to account for any possible delays in the construction of the Federal project, a construction date of 2016 was used in the development of the alternatives and economic analysis for the interim project. This would maintain the baseline conditions described in the Final GRR and FSEIS.