Engineers Corps September 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On September 22, 2008, 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 the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for the San Pedro Waterfront Project (Project) in the Port of Los Angeles. The Corps and LAHD considered all comments received in preparing the Final EIS/EIR, which is available for a 30-day review. The Final EIS/ EIR includes a draft general conformity determination (see Section 3.2 and Appendix D.7), pursuant to Section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act. A general conformity determination is necessary because Project construction would require Federal action (i.e., issuance of a Corps permit for activities proposed in and over navigable waters and waters of the U.S.) and not all the Federal action's direct and indirect emissions would be below specified de minimis thresholds (40 CFR 93.153(b)). Pursuant to the general conformity regulations (40 CFR part 93, subpart B), general conformity determinations do not have to be included in the EIS and can be separately noticed, but the draft general conformity determination for the Federal action associated with the Project is being included in the Final EIS/EIR in this case.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Inc. (EKPC) has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to authorize unavoidable impacts to jurisdictional waters of the U.S. pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Section 404) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (Section 10). EKPC is proposing to construct and operate a 278 megawatt circulating fluidized bed electric generating unit (CFB) and associated infrastructure at the existing J.K. Smith Power Station (the Smith Site) in southern Clark County, Kentucky (Proposed Action). In addition to the CFB unit, other components of the Proposed Action on the Smith Site include: An approximately one-mile, 345 kV electric transmission line; two (2) beneficial reuse structural fills using coal combustion by-products (CCB); two (2) landfills for the on-site disposal of CCB; an emergency drought water storage reservoir; several soil borrow areas for landfill cover and other site development uses; and a new water intake/outfall structure in the Kentucky River.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore (NAB) and Norfolk (NAO) Districts published a Notice of Intent (NOI) (71 FR 14857) for the Chesapeake Bay Native Oyster Recovery study on March 24, 2006. That NOI announced that the USACE Baltimore and Norfolk Districts would prepare a single, integrated Native Oyster Restoration Master Plan (NORMP) and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for native oyster recovery in the entire Chesapeake Bay (including both Maryland and Virginia). The USACE is undertaking native oyster recovery in the Chesapeake Bay to support efforts to reverse the ongoing decline in oyster resources throughout the Bay.

In accordance with section 105(h) of the Estuary Restoration Act of 2000, as amended (Title I, Pub. L. 106-457), announcement is made of the forthcoming meeting of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Council. The meeting is open to the public.

In the July 15, 2009, issue of the Federal Register (74 FR 34311) the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a proposal to take two actions concerning Nationwide Permit 21, which authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities. The two proposed actions are to suspend NWP 21 to prohibit its use to authorize surface coal mining activities in the Appalachian region of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, and then to modify NWP 21 to make that prohibition permanent until NWP 21 expires on March 18, 2012. In the July 15, 2009, notice we also offered commenters opportunity to request a public hearing. In the August 13, 2009, issue of the Federal Register (74 FR 40815), we extended the comment period to September 14, 2009. We have received several requests to hold public hearings, and have determined that hearings would afford us the opportunity to gain additional information to assist us in reaching decisions on these two proposed actions. Therefore, we will be holding public hearings in each of the six affected states. Written comments to supplement the hearing records may be submitted until October 26, 2009.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) intends to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA)Louisiana, Modification of Davis Pond Diversion Project. This modification project will be designed to increase wetland restoration outputs. This supplemental EIS will be tiered off of the programmatic final EIS for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA)Louisiana, Ecosystem Restoration Study, November 2004, and the final EIS for the LCALouisiana, Freshwater Diversion to Barataria and Breton Sound Basins Study, September 1984. The record of decision (ROD) for the programmatic final EIS was signed on November 18, 2005 and the ROD for the freshwater diversion final EIS was signed on July 16, 1987.