Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers October 2, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Corps of Engineers (Corps) intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study within the Middle and Lower Pontchartrain Basin and areas of southern Mississippi. The Corps will evaluate a full range of comprehensive restoration measures to restore important estuarine components and ecosystem processes within the areas affected by the MRGO navigation channel and assess the impacts associated with implementing the plan. The MRGO was authorized by Congress in 1956 as a Federal navigation channel to provide a direct route between the Port of New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Construction began in 1958 and was completed in 1968 to authorized dimensions (36-foot depth by 500-foot width: 38-foot depth by 600-foot bottom width in Bar Channel). Construction of the MRGO channel created a direct deep water link between the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal and the Gulf of Mexico allowing higher salinity waters to enter Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain estuaries. Construction resulted in direct wetland losses, damages to the Bayou LaLoutre Ridge and alteration of the adjacent landscape and hydrology by placement of dredge material adjacent to the channel in upland confined disposal facilities. Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, the MRGO navigation channel has not been maintained. A June closure plan and accompanying Legislative EIS and Record of Decision titled ``Integrated Final Report to Congress and Legislative Environmental Impact Statement for the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Deep-Draft De-Authorization Study'' was signed on June 5, 2008, officially deauthorizing the MRGO navigation channel (from the Gulf of Mexico to Mile 60 at the southern bank of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) and authorizing construction of a closure structure at the south ridge of Bayou LaLoutre in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and development of plan to restore the areas affected by the MRGO Navigation channel.