Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers August 24, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On April 6, 2011, the Jackson County Port Authority (JCPA) submitted a joint application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Mobile District, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) for authorization to impact wetlands and other waters of the United States associated with the proposed widening of the Pascagoula Lower Sound/Bayou Casotte Channel (the proposed project). The proposed project is located in the Pascagoula Lower Sound/Bayou Casotte, Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi (Latitude 30.365[deg] North, Longitude 88.556[deg] West). The Corps prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed project and to promote informed decision- making by appropriate agencies; the DEIS was released April 13, 2012. The Corps is now publishing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed project. The proposed project is the dredging of approximately 38,200 feet (7.2 miles) of the existing Pascagoula Lower Sound/Bayou Casotte Channel segment to widen the channel from the Federally authorized width of 350 feet and depth of -42 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) (with 2 feet of allowable over-depth and 2 feet of advanced maintenance) to a width of 450 feet, parallel to the existing channel centerline and to the existing Federally authorized depth of - 42 feet MLLW. The proposed project would include the placement of approximately 3.4 million cubic yards of dredged material resulting from the channel modification.