[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 9213]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-4671]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Intent to Prepare a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (PEIS) for the Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) for 
the Port of New York and New Jersey

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The action being taken is the evaluation of the dredged 
material management alternative-types through the promulgation of a 
draft PEIS for the Port of New York/New Jersey. The purpose of this 
PEIS is to use a tiering approach that will address the existing 
environment and impact of alternative types on a generic level. This 
approach is being undertaken to continue the process of scoping with 
the public, prior to the promulgation of individual NEPA review 
associated with specific sites and their associated alternatives. The 
PEIS will allow a step by step decision making approach to be used. 
This will allow highlighting of key issues to aid the decision-making 
process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Robert J. Kurtz, phone (212) 264-2230, Corps of Engineers, New York 
District, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278-0090.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action is the promulgation of a 
draft PEIS to address the existing environment, and the kinds of 
impacts to be expected for the proposed range of alternative types for 
the disposal of dredged material associated with sediment removal in 
Federal and non-Federal channels of the Port of New York/New Jersey. 
The authority for the draft PEIS is under the existing Operations and 
Maintenance authority of the New York Harbor Navigation Project in 
accordance with EC 1165-2-200 (National Harbor Program: Dredged 
Material Management Plans).
    Generic impact analysis will be conducted for the following 
alternative types: no action alternative, aquatic remediation-category 
one material, containment islands, nearshore containment, confined 
aquatic disposal such as existing and new borrow pits, sub-channel 
pits, land remediation-treated/stabilized material decontamination 
technologies, beneficial uses such as wetland creation, and contract 
management.
    Scoping has been ongoing and has included eight meetings in a 
poster session format to inform the public of the process used to 
create the initial array of options from the alternative types 
available. The sessions were held from February through April 1997, in 
New York City, Kingston, and northeast New Jersey.
    A draft PEIS is scheduled for circulation at the end of June 1998. 
A revised outline of the PEIS is scheduled to be sent out early in 1998 
after the final revisions have been completed. Public meetings are 
planned for summer 1998, after the circulation of the draft PEIS. The 
draft PEIS will provide the next tier of the examination of impacts of 
the various alternative types from which the options for disposal of 
dredged material will be drawn.
    The second tier of the process is the promulgation of individual 
NEPA documents for the options chosen by decision-makers. Scoping will 
continue throughout the process.
Gregory D. Showalter,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 98-4671 Filed 2-23-98; 8:45 am]
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