[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 46 (Friday, March 8, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10696-10697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-5515]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Mare Island Disposal Ponds--
Commercialization, Solano County, CA

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

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), San Francisco 
District has received an application for a Department of the Army 
authorization from Roy F. Weston, Inc. (Weston) on behalf of the City 
of Vallejo, California to deposit up to 11.4 million cubic yards of 
regionally-dredged material into seven dredged disposal ponds covering 
an area of 359-acres on the western side of Mare Island in the City of 
Vallejo in Solano County, California. In accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the 
USACE has determined that the proposed action may have a significant 
impact on the quality of the human environment and therefore requires 
the

[[Page 10697]]

preparation of the Environmental Impact State (EIS). A combined 
Environmental Impact Report (EIR)/EIS will be prepared with the USACE 
as the Federal lead agency and the City of Vallejo as the local lead 
agency (under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA).
    The purpose of the proposed action is to provide for the commercial 
operation of the former Naval dredge disposal ponds through a 50-year 
sublease from the City of Vallejo to Weston under the City's long-term 
lease of the property from the California State Lands Commission.

DATES: A scoping meeting for this project will be held on March 13, 
2002, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The Scoping meeting will be held at the Vallejo City Hall, 
555 Santa Clara, Vallejo, California, 94592. Mail comments to: 
Elizabeth Dyer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 333 Market Street, CESPN-
OR-R, San Francisco, California 94105-2197, or; Brian Dolan, City of 
Vallejo Planning Department, P.O. Box 3068, 555 Santa Clara Street, 
Vallejo, California, 94590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elizabeth Dyer, 415-977-8451, or electronic mail: 
[email protected].
Brian Dolan, 707-649-5458, or electronic mail: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    1. Description of Proposed Action: The project is limited to 
Weston's commercial operation of the former Naval dredge disposal ponds 
through a 50-year sublease from the City of Vallejo under the City's 
long-term lease of the property from the State Lands Commission. 
Individual dredging projects that select the proposed facility as a 
disposal site are not the subject of this permit application and would 
require separate review and authorization by the department of the 
Army. If alternative future uses for the ponds, such as community 
recreational uses or rehandling facilities are proposed, separate 
environmental assessments and permit evaluations will have to be 
conducted for those uses.
    The scope of this project is limited to using the seven ponds (2N, 
2M, 2S, 4N, 4M, 4S, and 7) during Weston's operation of the site.
    a. Install a permanent slurry pipeline from the Carquinez Straits 
near Pier 35 to Ponds 4S and 2S along the rights-of-way for Tyler and 
Ribeiro roads.
    b. Maintain existing roadways and improve infrastructure that may 
include roadway upgrades, pump facilities, piping and appurtenances.
    c. Use dredge material to increase pond capacity by raising the 
levees of the seven ponds. Increasing pond capacity will result in pond 
area loss of up to 17.9 acres of waters of the United States. No 
mitigation has been proposed for this permanent fill.
    d. Transport material in sealed trucks from Pier 35 and 
mechanically place material from smaller projects into the Pond 7, the 
one existing separate pond closest to the offloading area.
    e. Offload hydraulically or with a mechanical crane dredged 
material form scows in the vicinity of Pier 35. Fro large projects, the 
use of dilution water pumped from the Carquinez Straits would involve 
the temporary and periodic installation of hydraulic offloading 
equipment and a floating slurry discharge pipe in the waters of 
Carquinez Strait near Pier 35.
    f. Hydraulically place dredged material slurry into six contiguous 
ponds (2N, 2M, 2S, 4N, 4M, 4S) using a combination of existing and new 
distribution piping from the offloading area to the six contiguous 
ponds.
    g. Use of gravity settling methods on the placed dredged material 
slurry to allow solids to separate from excess water in the six 
contiguous ponds.
    h. Discharge clarified decants water by gravity to San Pablo Bay 
that will meet Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) waste 
discharge requirements for effluent.
    2. Reasonable Alternatives: In accordance with the requirements of 
Section 15124 of the State CEQA Guidelines and 40 CFR 1502.14, 
reasonable alternatives to the proposed action will be evaluated in the 
Draft EIR/EIS as listed below:
    a. Proposed Action (Preferred Alternative): This alternative is the 
proposed action and is described above.
    b. No Action Alternative: All seven ponds remain seasonal wetland 
habitat.
    c. Effluent Discharge into Carquinez Strait: In this alternative, 
effluent would be piped from the southern most perimeter of ponds 2S 
and 4S and discharge into Carquinez Strait in the vicinity of Pier 5.
    d. Effluent Water Recycling: In this alternative, effluent would be 
piped from the southern most perimeters of ponds 2S and 4S of Pond 7.
    3. Scoping Process: Pursuant to CEQA and NEPA, the City of Vallejo 
and the USACE must include a scoping process for the Draft EIR/EIS. 
Scoping primarily involves determining the scope of the issues to be 
addressed in the Draft EIR/EIS and identifying the anticipated 
significant issues for in-depth analysis. The scoping process included 
public participation to integrate public needs and concerns regarding 
the proposed action into the process.
    a. Public Involvement Program: Venues for public comment on the 
proposed action will include: a public workshop to be conducted jointly 
by the City of Vallejo and the USACE; the preparation of the Draft EIR/
EIS and receipt of public comment in response to the Draft EIR/EIS; and 
public hearings.
    b. Significant Issues to be Analyzed in Depth in the Draft EIR/EIS: 
The EIS will address the following issues: impacts to aquatic, wetland, 
and upland ecosystems; water flows; socio-economic impacts; hazardous 
and toxic waste; water quality; aesthetics and recreation; fish and 
wildlife resources, including protected species; cultural resources; 
and other impacts identified through scoping public involvement, and 
interagency coordination.
    c. Environmental Review/Consultation Requirements:
     National Environmental Policy Act
     Section 404 of Clean Water Act
     Section 10 of Rivers & Harbors Act
     Endangered Species Act
     Magnusun-Stevens Act Provisions; Essential Fish Habitat
     Clean Air Act
     National Historic Preservation Act
     Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
     Coastal Zone Management Act
     Council on Environmental Quality Memorandum--Analysis of 
Impacts on Prime and Unique Agricultural Lands
    4. Scoping Meeting/Availability of Draft EIR/EIS: The City of 
Vallejo and the USACE will hold a scoping meeting to provide 
information on the project and receive oral comments on the scope of 
the document. The scoping meeting for the project will be held at 7:00 
PM on Tuesday March 13th, 2002 at the Vallejo City Hall, located at 555 
Santa Clara in the City of Vallejo. The Draft EIR/EIS is expected to be 
available for public review in June 2002.

(Authority: 40 CFR part 1501.7)

    Dated: February 26, 2002.
Calvin C. Fong,
Chief, Regulatory Branch.
[FR Doc. 02-5515 Filed 3-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-19-M