[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 219 (Thursday, November 13, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64321-64323]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28322]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


The Release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the 
Announcement of a Public Hearing for the Relocation of Bogue Inlet 
Channel Between Emerald Isle and Hammocks Beach State Park, and the 
Placement of the Dredged Material onto Emerald Isle Beach, in Carteret 
County, NC

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

ACTION: Notice

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, 
Wilmington Regulatory Field Office has received a request for 
Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to section 404 of the 
Clean Water Act and section 10 of the Rivers and Harbor Act, from the 
Town of Emerald Isle for the relocation of Bogue Inlet Channel to 
protect residential homes and town infrastructures, and to place the 
dredged material on approximately 5.0 miles of beach for nourishment. 
The project is being proposed to move the main ebb channel in Bogue 
Inlet to a more central location between the west end of Bogue Banks 
and the east end of Bear Island (Hammocks Beach State Park). The main 
ebb channel through Bogue Inlet presently occupies a position 
juxtaposed to the west end of the Town of Emerald Isle and is causing 
severe erosion that threatens development in the subdivision known as 
The Pointe.
    The relocation of the main ebb channel to a central location would 
restore the channel to a position it occupied in the late 1970s and 
eliminate the erosive impact of tidal currents on the east shoulder of 
the inlet. A portion of the material removed to relocate the main ebb 
channel would be used to close the existing channel with the balance of 
the material used to nourish the shoreline on the west end of the Town 
of Emerald Isle.
    The channel through Bogue Inlet has been maintained by the COE for 
commercial and recreational boating interest since 1981. The COE is 
authorized to maintain the channel to a depth of 8 feet mean low water 
(mlw) over a width of 150 feet. Any changes in the location of the ebb 
tide delta channel would be consistent with this maintenance criteria.

DATES: The public hearing will be held at the Emerald Isle Parks and 
Recreation Community Center, at 7500 Emerald Isle Drive, in Emerald 
Isle, on December 8, 2003 at 6:30 p.m. Written comments on

[[Page 64322]]

the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be received until 
December 26, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Copies of comments and questions regarding the Draft EIS may 
be addressed to: U.S. Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District, 
Regulatory Division. ATTN: File Number 2001-00632, Post Office Box 
1890, Wilmington, NC 28402-1890.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposed action 
and DEIS can be directed to Mr. Mickey Sugg, Wilmington Regulatory 
Field Office, telephone: (910) 251-4811.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1. Project Description. The Town of Emerald 
Isle, located along the western 11.2 miles of Bogue Banks, North 
Carolina, is proposing to reposition the main ebb tide channel (or bar 
channel) through Bogue Inlet as a means to address a severe erosion 
problem that is threatening development and town infrastructure located 
on the west end of the town in an area known as The Pointe. The severe 
erosion at the Pointe is occurring as a result of the eastward 
migration of the main ebb channel of Bogue Inlet. An analysis of 
historic photographs of the inlet indicates that the midpoint of the 
channel has experienced movements to both the west and east with the 
latest trend being toward the east. Since September 1981, the channel 
midpoint migrated a total of over 3,900 feet to the east, however, a 
majority of this movement occurred between September 1981 and February 
1984. From February 1984 to September 2001, the channel moved slightly 
more than 1,500 feet to the east, which represents an annual rate of 
104 feet/year. The eastward movement of the channel has been 
accompanied by erosion of the Bogue Banks shoulder of the inlet (the 
Pointe shoreline) with the rate of erosion of the shoreline averaging 
56 feet/year between February 1984 and September 2001. If this rate of 
erosion of the Pointe shoreline continues unabated, it is estimated 
that 30 to 50 structures could be lost or severely damaged during the 
next 5 to 10 years. In addition, 300 to 600 feet of Inlet Drive could 
be lost along with side streets and utilities serving the Pointe 
subdivision.
    Secondary features of the proposed project includes using a portion 
of the dredged material to close the existing ebb channel with the 
balance of the material used to nourish approximately 24,000 linear 
feet (5.0 miles) of beach along the west end of the Town of Emerald 
Isle. In this regard, the Town of Emerald Isle presently has permits to 
nourish 51,100 (9.68 miles) of ocean shoreline using offshore borrow 
areas. Approximately 5.8 miles of this shoreline was nourished between 
January and March 2003. The Emerald Isle beach nourishment project is 
part of an island-wide project sponsored by Carteret County. The County 
project covers approximately 16.8 miles of ocean shoreline and begins 
at the east town limits of the Town of Pine Knoll Shores and ends at a 
point 8,000 feet (1.5 miles) east of Bogue Inlet.
    2. Proposed Action. The primary purpose of the channel relocation 
project is to create a stable channel that will divert tidal flow away 
from the Pointe area of Emerald Isle. Therefore, the design focus is on 
developing channel dimensions that will capture the majority of the ebb 
tidal flow through the inlet. An added feature of the overall design 
would be the closure of the existing channel by using approximately 
200,000 cubic yards of material to construct a sand dike across the 
existing channel in the vicinity of the Pointe. The dimensions of the 
relocated channel are sized to capture the tidal prism of Bogue inlet 
and to divert flow away from the Point shoreline. The optimum channel 
has been determined to have a channel depth of -13.5 feet NGVD and a 
maximum width of 500 feet. The construction of the new channel would 
require the removal of approximately 1,009,500 cubic yards of feet.
    The material to be removed has a mean diameter of 0.30 mm, compared 
to 0.22mm native beach material, and contains 1.25% silt and minimal 
shell content.
    Apart from the channel dimensions, the new channel must be position 
so that it does not cause adverse impacts on the adjacent shorelines or 
result in unacceptable loss of estuarine habitat. The selection of a 
channel location was based on detailed geomorphic analysis of the inlet 
and adjacent shorelines, conducted by Dr. William J. Cleary, University 
of North Carolina at Wilmington. The geomorphic analysis will utilize 
an assortment of aerial photographs of the inlet covering the period 
from 1938 to 2001. However the primary emphasis will be on changes in 
the inlet and the adjacent shorelines between 1973 and 2001. The 
geomorphic analysis consists of an evaluation of the following: (a) 
Location of the channel midpoint relative to the Pointe, (b) the 
orientation of the inlet's ebb tide delta channel, (c) the 
configuration of the ebb tide delta i.e., the percent of the ebb tide 
delta east and west of the main ebb channel, (d) inlet shoulder changes 
(the Pointe shoreline and the west tip of Bear Island), (e) changes in 
the ocean shoreline on the west end of Bogue Banks and the east end of 
Bear Island (Hammocks Beach State Park), and (f) changes in the 
interior marsh islands (primarily Dudley Island and Island 2). The 
measured changes the adjacent shorelines, inlet shoulders, and the 
interior marshes will be related to changes in the physical makeup of 
the inlet including the position and orientation of the ebb tide delta 
channel and the configuration of the ebb tide delta.
    Geomorphic analysis indicates that the cumulative shoreline changes 
on each island were averaged over 3,500 feet of shoreline immediately 
adjacent to the inlet. When the percent of the ebb tide delta on the 
Bogue Banks side is small, as is was between 1984 and 2001, the bar 
channel was located close to Bogue Banks and the portion of the delta 
on the Bogue Banks side was providing some degree of wave sheltering 
for the west end of the island. This particular ebb tide delta 
configuration resulted in a considerable amount of accretion along the 
3,500-foot shoreline immediately east of the inlet while Bear Island 
experienced an almost mirror image response on its ocean shoreline, 
i.e. erosion. Even though the present ebb tide delta configuration is 
favorable for the extreme west end of Emerald Isle, the eastward 
migration of the inlet channel that led to the existing inlet 
configuration also caused the inlet shoreline of Bogue Banks (the 
Pointe shoreline) to erode. Not only has the Bogue Banks inlet 
shoreline eroded in response to the eastward movement of the channel, 
so has the Bear Island ocean and inlet shorelines. Based on these and 
numerous other comparisons, the preliminary results of the geomorphic 
analysis indicates that a centrally located channel, approximating the 
position and orientation of the channel in 1978, may be beneficial to 
the inlet shoreline on Bogue Banks (the Pointe shoreline) and the east 
end of Bear Island.
    3. Alternatives. Several alternatives have been identified and 
evaluated through the scoping process, and further detailed description 
of all alternatives is disclosed in Section or Chapter 3 of the Draft 
EIS.
    The applicant's preferred alternative is to relocate the channel to 
a central location and to utilize the dredged material to nourish 
approximately 5.0 miles of beach.
    4. Scoping Process. A public scoping meeting was held on October 
29, 2002 and a Project Delivery Team (PDT) was developed to provide 
input in the preparation of the EIS. The PDT is comprised of local, 
state, and federal

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government officials, local residents, nonprofit organizations, local 
fisherman, and a university professor.
    The COE has initiated consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service under the Endangered Species Act and the Fish and Wildlife 
Coordination Act, and with the National Marine Fisheries Service under 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act and Endangered Species Act. Additionally, the 
EIS has assessed the potential water quality impacts pursuant to 
Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, and is coordinating with the North 
Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) to determine the projects 
consistency with the Coastal Zone Management Act. The COE is 
coordinating closely with DCM in the development of the EIS to ensure 
the process complies with State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) 
requirements, as well as the NEPA requirements. The Draft EIS has been 
designed to consolidate both NEPA and SEPA processes to eliminate 
duplications.

    Dated: November 4, 2003.
George T. Burch,
Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 03-28322 Filed 11-12-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-GN-M