[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 170 (Thursday, August 31, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52994-52995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-22223]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers


Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), 
Lock and Dam 3 Mississippi River Navigation Safety and Embankments 
Projects

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

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: Lock and Dam 3 is a navigation dam and lock on the Mississippi 
River six miles upstream from Red Wing, Minnesota. The lock and dam was 
built on a bend in the river, and completed in 1938. Its position on a 
bend in the river makes downbound navigation difficult, because of an 
outdraft current that tends to sweep towboats and barges away from the 
lock toward the gated part of the dam. The outdraft condition has 
resulted in a number of accidents, and has been cause for concern for 
many years. A related problem with Lock and Dam 3 is maintaining the 
structural integrity of a set of three earthen embankments that connect 
the gated part of the dam to high ground on the Wisconsin side. The 
upstream embankment is federally-owned and contains a series of rock 
overflow sections. The intermediate and downstream embankments are 
privately owned. These embankments impound Marsh and Gantenbein Lakes, 
and separate them from the Mississippi River. The three Wisconsin side 
embankments divide the eight-foot head at the dam into three steps, and 
work together as part of Lock and Dam 3. The downstream embankment is 
eroding and is expected to fail in the next decade or two. Failure of 
the downstream embankment would threaten the intermediate and upstream 
embankments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions pertaining to the issues 
about the DEIS may be addressed to Mr. Robert Whiting, Chief, 
Environmental and Economic Analysis Branch, St. Paul District, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, 190 5th Street East, St. Paul, MN 55101, 
Telephone: (651) 290-5264.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:   
    1. The potential exists for towboat operators to lose control of 
their tows because of the outdraft current. Barges have broken loose 
and lodged in the dam gate bays, rendering the dam gates inoperable, 
causing the water level in the navigation pool to rise, overflowing the 
earthen embankment. This kind of event occurred in 1993, resulting in 
significant erosion in the upper embankment near the gated part of the 
dam and in the lower embankment.
    2. Two projects to address the navigation safety and embankments 
concerns have been proposed by the St. Paul District and approved by 
Corps of Engineers Headquarters. A ported guardwall was proposed to 
guide downbound towboats into the lock. This project has not been 
funded. The St. Paul District also recommended reconstructing the 
Wisconsin-side embankment, following a downstream alignment along the 
tailwater and the southern boundary of Gantenbein Lake. Recent surveys 
in the tailwater identified the presence of a species-rich mussel bed, 
including state-listed endangered species. In an effort to address the 
navigation safety and embankment concerns at Lock and Dam 3, the St. 
Paul District is conducting a re-evaluation of these related problems.
    3. Significant resources and issues to be addressed in the DEIS 
will be determined through coordination with Federal, State, and local 
agencies, the general public; interested private organizations, 
industry, and the Prairie Island Dakota Community. Anyone who has an 
interest in participating in the development of the DEIS is invited to 
contact the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers.
    4. Major issues identified to date for discussion in the DEIS are:
    a. Structural integrity and operational reliability of Lock and Dam 
3.
    b. Risk of navigation accidents, erosion of embankments, and 
accidental drawdown of Pool 3.
    c. Recreational boating opportunity and safety.
    d. Natural resources including the fishery, native mussels, 
wildlife, aquatic and floodplain habitats.
    e. Water quality, contaminants, and sediment transport processes.
    5. Additional issues of interest may be identified through public 
and agency meetings. A notice of those meetings will be provided to 
interested parties and to local news media.
    6. The effort to jointly address the related navigation safety and 
embankments problems at Lock and Dam 3 is considered major in scope. 
Depending on the alternative plan proposed, the project could have 
significant effects on navigation, public safety, regional economics, 
floodplain wetlands, the fishery, native mussels and wildlife.
    7. An environmental review will be conducted according to National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Council of Environmental Quality

[[Page 52995]]

Regulations, and applicable laws and regulations. The DEIS will be 
available to the public in the summer of 2001.

Gregory D. Showalter,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-22223 Filed 8-30-00; 8:45 am]
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