[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 190 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53366-53367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25533]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Corps of Engineers; Department of the Army


Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the 
New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study

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

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the New York 
and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study. The purpose of the study is to 
establish and evaluate the range of navigation channel development 
alternatives and to identify the National Economic Development (NED) 
and recommend a plan. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) 
was prepared to evaluate those alternatives identified in the 
Feasibility Report. Additional information on the study is provided in 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section as indicated below.

DATES: The DEIS will be available for public review on or about October 
1, 1999. The review period of the document will be for forty five days 
from the publication date of the DEIS. To request a copy of the DEIS 
please call (212) 264-5746.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the 
DEIS, please contact Jenine Gallo, Project Biologist, telephone (212) 
264-0912, Planning Division, ATTN: CENAN-PL-EA, Corps of Engineers, New 
York District, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, New York, 10278-0090.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    1. A DEIS for the New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study 
was prepared and the study was authorized by Section 435 of the Water 
Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1996. The section reads: The 
Secretary shall conduct a comprehensive study of navigation needs at 
the Port of New York-New Jersey (including the South Brooklyn Marine 
and Red Hook Terminals, Staten Island, and adjacent areas) to address 
improvements, including deepening of existing channels to depths of 50 
ft or greater, that are required to provide economically efficient and 
environmentally sound navigation to meet current and future 
requirements.
    2. The existing depths of the Harbor's navigation channels, 
anchorages, and berthing areas are insufficient to allow the safe and 
timely passage of economically efficiently loaded containerships and 
liquid bulk vessels (tankers) willing to call on container terminals 
and bulk cargo facilities in the region, and the oil refineries/
terminals, located primarily on the Arthur Kill. The current mode of 
operation calls for the tankers to lighter off in anchorages or at sea 
and, at reduced operating draft, and enter the channel during high 
tides. Containerships must be loaded to less than their design capacity 
at their prior ports of call and sail without a full load, or off-load 
at deeper-draft ports prior to calling on the Harbor. The proposed 
project plans were analyzed in the Feasibility Report, which is 
included

[[Page 53367]]

with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Recommended Plan 
(also the NED plan) for the New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation 
Study has been divided into the following paths which have the Ambrose 
and Anchorage Channels as common elements and is as follows:
    a. The Ambrose and Anchorage channels combined form the main 
entrance channels to the Port of New York and New Jersey. Extending 
from the Atlantic Ocean through the Lower Bay; they are currently 
maintained at depths of 45-ft MLW. The District recommends deepening 
the Ambrose channel to a depth of 53-ft MLW and the Anchorage channel 
to a depth of 50-ft MLW.
    b. The Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay Channels are currently 
maintained at a depth of 40-ft MLW, and are under construction to 45-ft 
MLW. The evaluation of the navigation alternatives assumes these 
channels will be at a depth of 45-ft MLW. The District recommends 
deepening the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay channels to a depth of 52-ft 
MLW.
    c. The Port Jersey Channel extends from the Upper Bay's Anchorage 
Channel to the Global Marine Terminal and the Military Ocean Terminal 
in Bayonne, New Jersey. Some of the Port Jersey Channel is currently at 
a depth of 38-ft MLW, although the present study assumes that the 
channel will be dredged to its authorized depth of 41-ft MLW. The 
District recommends a depth of 52-ft MLW.
    d. The Bay Ridge Channel, which extends along the western shore of 
Brooklyn, allows ship access to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. 
This channel is currently maintained at a depth of 40-ft MLW and the 
District recommends deepening this channel to a depth of 50-ft MLW.
    e. The Arthur Kill Channel is currently at a depth of 35-ft MLW, 
although the present study assumes that the channel will be dredged to 
its authorized depth of 41-ft MLW. The District recommends deepening 
this Channel to the Howland Hook Marine Terminal to a depth of 52-ft 
MLW.
    3. Following excavation, with the exception of the Ambrose Channel, 
all project channels will be maintained at a depth of 50-ft MLW. The 
Ambrose Channel will be maintained at a depth of 53-ft MLW.
    4. Potential impacts, including indirect and cumulative impacts, 
were evaluated in the DEIS for the proposed action and the other action 
alternatives. The analysis indicates that short-term adverse 
environmental impacts, such as benthic habitat disruption, would be 
balanced by beneficial impacts, such as revitalization of the maritime 
industry and permanent removal of contaminated material from the 
aquatic ecosystem.
    5. The DEIS has been prepared under the direction of the USACE in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 
and is submitted in compliance with NEPA and USACE regulations. The 
USACE is the Federal agency responsible for preparation of the DEIS 
because the project involves improvements and/or modifications to 
Federal navigation channels. The DEIS will be available for public 
review on or about October 1, 1999. The review period will be for 
forty-five (45) days from publication of this notice. The document may 
be obtained from the Army Corps of Engineers, Planning Division at the 
above address.
    6. The New York and New Jersey Harbor portion of the Hudson-Raritan 
Estuary is located at the apex of the New York Bight. It serves as the 
port for the greater metropolitan New York area, providing maritime 
access to shipping via a network of channels and anchorages that have 
historically been dredged and maintained throughout the harbor. The 
Harbor is shallow, with natural depths of less than 30 ft, and has 
dredged areas as deep as 45 ft. The shoal and channel areas provide 
diverse habitats that are used by different species on a seasonal 
basis. The rivers and tidal straits that form part of the Harbor offer 
habitat with higher tidal currents. Taken together, the different 
habitat types provide a complex estuarine system that has been greatly 
influenced by human activities.
    7. The Harbor comprises four large embayments: Upper New York Bay, 
Newark Bay, Lower New York Bay, and Raritan Bay. Upper New York Bay and 
Lower New York Bay are separated by a constriction: the Verrazano 
Narrows. Newark Bay, the smallest of the four, is linked to the other 
embayments by narrow, natural channels. Newark Bay is connected to 
Upper New York Bay by the Kill Van Kull, and to Raritan Bay/Lower New 
York Bay by the Arthur Kill. The Harbor also contains a network of 
public and private channels and berths, including those constructed and 
maintained by agencies of Federal, state, and local governments and by 
private companies.
    8. The New York and New Jersey Harbor is an estuary, a semi-
enclosed coastal body of water having a free connection with the open 
sea. It is thus strongly affected by tidal action, and within it 
seawater is mixed (and usually measurably diluted) with fresh water 
from land drainage. Estuaries are transition zones between freshwater 
and marine habitats. The core area of the New York and New Jersey 
Harbor estuary is the Hudson-Raritan estuary, which extends from the 
Piermont Marsh in New York State to the Sandy Hook-Rockaway Point 
Transect. This region of the Harbor includes the bi-state waters of 
Raritan Bay, Lower New York Bay, Upper New York Bay, Hudson River, Kill 
Van Kull, Arthur Kill, and smaller New Jersey tributaries such as the 
Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, which enter Newark Bay; the Raritan 
River, which enters Raritan Bay; and New York's East River, which 
enters Upper New York Bay at the southern end of Manhattan. The 
estuary, which includes approximately 298 square miles of surface 
water, has an average depth of 21 ft.
    9. Habitat types found in the Harbor include; tidal rivers, salt 
and freshwater tidal marshes, woodlands, shallow bays, barrier beaches, 
and sand dunes. Water is the predominant habitat type. Salt and 
freshwater tidal marshes cover 180,000 acres in New Jersey and 25,000 
acres in New York. The greatest percentage of the Harbor's marshes is 
located outside the proposed study area. The New York and New Jersey 
Harbor supports diverse and productive finfish, crustacean, and 
shellfish populations, with over 100 species of fish (many of 
commercial and recreational importance, commercially important 
crustaceans (including lobster and blue crab), and commercially 
important shellfish populations (including the clam, Mercenaria 
mercenaria). Over the last 100 years aquatic populations have 
experienced dramatic declines due to overfishing, deteriorating water 
quality, and loss of habitat. The leading commercial fisheries in the 
estuary are winter flounder, menhaden, bluefish, weakfish, blue crab, 
and baitfish. Ocean quahogs (clams), sea scallops, and blue mussels are 
commercially valuable shellfish.
    10. The waterways are intensively used navigation channels, and 
with the recent dredging and re-opening of the Howland Hook Marine 
Terminal and deepening of the Kill Van Kull/Newark Bay Channels, there 
is no reason to believe that the level of maritime activity in the 
Harbor will decrease in the immediate future.
Joseph Vietri,
Acting Chief, Planning Division.
[FR Doc. 99-25533 Filed 9-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-06-P