[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 140 (Friday, July 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42312-42313]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14165]



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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army


Intent To Prepare a Draft Revised Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement II (DRSEIS II), Flood Control, Mississippi River & 
Tributaries, St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway, MO, First Phase

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis District.

ACTION: Notice of Intent and National Environmental Policy Act Scoping 
Document.

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SUMMARY: The DRSEIS II will supplement the final Revised Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (RSEIS) ``Flood Control, Mississippi 
River & Tributaries, St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway, MO, First 
Phase,'' prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Memphis 
District, filed with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 19 
July 2002. The DRSEIS is being prepared to clarify the record and 
address concerns that have developed since the signing of the Record of 
Decision (ROD) on 23 August 2003. These clarifications relate primarily 
to the calculation of compensatory mitigation requirements for mid-
season fish rearing habitat, but may include any other relevant 
subjects or information such as hypoxia, cost-benefit analysis, 
Swampbuster provisions, the applicable discount rate, cost-share issues 
for levee closure, and potentially other issues.
    This Notice of Intent also serves as a National Environmental 
Policy Act Scoping Document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR COMMENT CONTACT: Mr. Danny Ward, telephone 
(901) 544-0709, CEMVM-PM-E, 167 N. Main, Room B202, Memphis, TN 38103, 
[email protected], or Mr. Kevin Pigott, 
telephone (901) 544-4309, address as above, e-mail--
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Proposed Action

    The Flood Control Act of 1954 authorized the closure of a 1,500-
foot gap and construction of a gated outlet in the Mississippi River 
levee at the lower end of the New Madrid Floodway. The Water Resources 
Development Act of 1986 authorized channel modifications and pumping 
stations for the St. Johns Bayou Basin and the New Madrid Floodway.
    The First Phase of the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway 
Project (Alternative 2, Authorized Project) consists of channel 
enlargement and improvement in the St. Johns Bayou Basin along the 
lower 4.5 miles of St. Johns Bayou, beginning at New Madrid, Missouri, 
then continuing 8.1 miles along the Birds Point New Madrid Setback 
Levee Ditch and ending with 10.8 miles along the St. James Ditch. The 
first item of work, consisting of selective clearing and snagging, has 
already been completed along a 4.3-mile reach of the Setback Levee 
Ditch beginning at the confluence with St. James Ditch.
    The Authorized Project also includes a 1,000 cubic feet per second 
(cfs) pumping station that would be located a few hundred feet east of 
the existing gravity outlet at the lower end of St. Johns Bayou. The 
1,500-ft gap in the Mississippi River levee at the lower end of the New 
Madrid Floodway would be closed. A 1,500 cfs pumping station and 
gravity outlet structure would be built in the levee closure at the 
lower end of the New Madrid Floodway. The channel enlargement work and 
both pumping stations are features of the St. Johns Bayou and New 
Madrid Floodway Project, and the levee closure is a feature of the 
Mississippi River Levees Project.
    A final EIS, entitled Mississippi Rivers and Tributaries, 
Mississippi River Levees (MRL) and Channel Improvement, was prepared by 
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District, in February 1976. 
This document was filed with the Council of Environmental Quality in 
April 1976. A final EIS, entitled St. Johns Bayou/New Madrid Floodway 
Project Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, was filed in 
1982. A Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) was 
prepared to supplement both of these previous documents. The DSEIS was 
submitted for public review and comment in April 1999. The Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) was filed in 
September 2000.
    The RSEIS documented the formulation and evaluation of additional 
alternatives to address concerns expressed by various resource agencies 
and environmental advocacy groups that environmental losses were not 
acceptable. The RSEIS included alternative levee closure locations for 
the New Madrid Floodway; an array of pump and gate operation 
alternatives that increase connectivity of the floodway with the 
Mississippi River to minimize impacts on fish habitat; significant 
avoid and minimize measures to benefit fish and wildlife resources; and 
mitigation measures that compensate for losses to wildlife habitat 
(bottomland hardwoods and agricultural areas), shorebird habitat, 
waterfowl habitat during February `` March, and mid-season (1 April to 
15 May) fish rearing habitat. The final RSEIS was filed with EPA in 
July 2002.
    The RSEIS expressed the Corps' analysis of unavoidable losses to 
mid-season fish rearing habitat as Habitat Units (HU). The RSEIS used 
those HU lost to calculate the required acres of compensatory 
mitigation. The method set out in the RSEIS was reforestation of 
agricultural areas. Therefore, the RSEIS stated that reforestation of 
8,375 acres of agricultural areas (1,317 acres in the St. Johns Bayou 
Basin and 7,058 in the New Madrid Floodway) would mitigate for the 
unavoidable impacts to 4,213 mid-season fish rearing HU (1,884 HU in 
the St. Johns Basin and 2,329 HU in the New Madrid Floodway).
    An inconsistency over required mitigation existed in the previous 
Record of Decision, State of Missouri 401-Water Quality Certification, 
and the Administrative Record. Therefore, the purpose of this DRSEIS II 
is to clarify the mitigation required in terms of HU and Average Daily 
Flooded Acres (ADFA). Additional mitigation features would also be 
investigated to ensure that the ADFA compensatory mitigation 
requirement, or its equivalent, is met and all habitat impacts for each 
respective resource (e.g., wildlife, shorebird, waterfowl, and mid-
season fish rearing) are adequately compensated.
    Other matters for the DRSEIS II may include, but are not limited 
to, a review of: hypoxia, the cost-benefit analysis, Swampbuster 
provisions, the 2.5% discount rate, cost-share issues for levee 
closure, and other relevant subjects or information.

2. Reasonable Alternatives

    The recommended flood damage reduction features as outlined in the 
RSEIS would not be addressed in this DRSEIS. Therefore, no additional 
flood damage reduction alternatives would be analyzed in the St. Johns 
Bayou Basin or the New Madrid Floodway. In addition to clarifying the 
inconsistency concerning the required amount of mitigation, the DRSEIS 
II would also address additional mitigation features to compensate for 
the unavoidable impacts to fish and wildlife resources.
    Reforestation of frequently flooded agricultural land remains one 
means of providing the required 8375 ADFA of compensatory mitigation. 
If reforestation of agricultural lands were the only compensatory 
mitigation method employed, then the actual acres

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required would be no less than 8375 acres (assuming each acre is an 
ADFA), and could conceivably be more in order to assure that the ADFA 
equivalent habitat requirement is also met.
    In addition to reforestation of agricultural areas, other 
compensatory mitigation measures would also be formulated. These 
measures include but are not limited to calculating expected benefits 
to mid-season fish rearing habitat from the creation of shorebird areas 
(moist soil units) and the Big Oak Tree State Park water supply 
feature, creation and/or enhancement of permanent waterbody features, 
and creation and/or enhancement of backwater flooding events. Measures 
that provide the highest duration of flooding during the mid-season 
fish rearing period (1 April to 15 May) offer the highest potential 
benefits.
    Other matters such as hypoxia, the cost-benefit analysis, 
Swampbuster provisions, the 2.5% discount rate, cost-share issues for 
levee closure, and other relevant subjects or information, may also be 
explored in the DRSEIS II.

3. The Corps Scoping Process

    Coordination with appropriate resource and regulatory agencies 
would be maintained throughout the formulation of this DRSEIS II. 
Comments and concerns that have been expressed since the signing of the 
ROD will be used to identify significant issues. This Notice of Intent 
also serves as a scoping document. The purpose of this notice is to 
advise all interested parties of the intent to supplement the RSEIS and 
to solicit comments and information concerning compensatory mitigation, 
hypoxia, the cost-benefit analysis, Swampbuster provisions, the 2.5% 
discount rate, cost-share issues for levee closure, and other relevant 
subjects or information. Comments would be used to determine 
opportunities to develop additional compensatory mitigation strategies 
and other strategies that relate to, but are not limited to, hypoxia, 
the cost-benefit analysis, Swampbuster provisions, the 2.5% discount 
rate, cost-share issues for levee closure, and any other relevant 
subject or information, and to evaluate the probable impact (including 
cumulative impacts) of compensatory mitigation, as well as the probable 
impacts of such issues that may include, but are not limited to, 
hypoxia, the cost-benefit analysis, Swampbuster provisions, the 2.5% 
discount rate, cost-share issues for levee closure, and any other 
relevant subjects or information. This notice is being circulated to 
Federal, State, and local environmental resource and regulatory 
agencies; Indian Tribes; non-governmental organizations, and the 
general public.
    Comments to this Notice of Intent are requested by 5 August 2005 at 
the above address. It is anticipated that the DRSEIS II will be 
available for public review in August 2005.

Vincent D. Navarre,
Major, Corps of Engineers, Deputy District Engineer, Memphis District.
[FR Doc. 05-14165 Filed 7-21-05; 8:45 am]
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