[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 60798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-20902]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Availability of Final General Reevaluation Report and 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Poplar Island 
Environmental Restoration Project, Talbot County, MD

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
(USACE), Baltimore District has prepared a Final General Reevaluation 
Report (GRR) and Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for 
the Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project (PIERP). The GRR/
SEIS evaluated the vertical and/or lateral expansion of the PIERP, 
design modifications to the existing project, the addition of 
recreational/educational opportunities to the existing project, and the 
potential to accept dredged material from additional channels not 
specified in the 1996 EIS for the existing project. A Notice of 
Availability (NOA) for the Draft GRR/SEIS was published by the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Federal Register on June 
22, 2005 (70 FR 36129).
    The preferred alternative includes a northern lateral expansion 
consisting of approximately 575 acres, which would include wetland and 
upland habitat, and a protected open water embayment; construction of a 
5-ft vertical raising of the existing upland Cells 2 and 6 at the 
PIERP; amending the existing project authorization and Project 
Cooperation Agreement to include the placement of dredged material from 
the southern approach channels to the Chesapeake and Delaware (C&D) 
Canal; incorporation of design modifications required for the 
completion of the existing project, and development of recreational and 
educational enhancement for the PIERP.

DATES: USACE filed the final document with EPA on September 30, 2005. 
EPA published a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register on 
October 7, 2005 (70 FR 58700). A Record of Decision may be signed no 
earlier than 30 days after the EPA notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Baltimore District, Attn: Mr. Mark Medelsohn, CENAB-PL-P, P.O. Box 
1715, Baltimore, MD 21203-1715 or electronically at 
[email protected] or by telephone at (410) 962-9499 or 
(800) 295-1610.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PIERP is located in the Chesapeake Bay, 
approximately 39 miles south-southeast of the Port of Baltimore, and 
two miles northwest of Tilghman Island in Talbot County, MD. 
Approximately 10,000 acres of remote island habitat has been lost 
throughtout the Chesapeake Bay in the last 150 years. Dredged material 
from the Upper Chesapeake Bay Approach Channels to the Port of 
Balitmore is being beneficially used to restore 1,140 acres of wetland 
and upland habitat (approximately 570 acres of wetland habitat and 570 
acres of upland habitat), and it is estimated that by 2014 the PIERP 
will provide up to 40 million cubic yards (mcy) of dredged material 
placement capacity. To date, approximately 12 mcy of dredged material 
have been placed at the site. Construction and site operation at the 
PIERP is a collaborative effort that is cost shared between the Federal 
sponsor, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers--Baltimore District and the 
non-Federal sponsor, Maryland Port Administration (MPA).
    To address a predicted dredged material placement capacity 
shortfall, USACE-Baltimore and MPA initiated the Poplar Island 
Expansion Study (PIES) under the existing PIERP Congressional 
Authorization, Section 537 of the Water Resources Development Act 
(WRDA) of 1996. Authorization for ecosystem restoration projects using 
dredged material is included in Section 204 of the WRDA of 1992, as 
amended by Section 207 of the WRDA of 1996. A Notice of Intent (NOI) to 
initiate the preparation of the GRR/SEIS was published in the Federal 
Register in June 2003 (68 FR 33685).
    The Final Integrated GRR/SEIS documents NEPA compliance for the 
proposed expansion of the PIERP, provides information specific to the 
actions of the GRR, and supplements the Poplar Island Restoration 
Study, Maryland: Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact 
Statement (ERP No. D-COE-D350557-MD) (USACE/MPA, 1996).
    Public meetings on the draft document were held on July 19, 2005, 
in Easton Maryland, and on July 20, 2005, at Tilghman, Maryland. Both 
meetings provided an opportunity for the public to present oral and/or 
written comments.
    You may view the Final GRR/SEIS and related information on our Web 
page at: http://www.nab.usace.army.mil./projects/Maryland/PoplarIsland/
expansion.html.
    The Final and Draft GRR/SEIS have been prepared in accordance with 
(1) NEPA of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations 
of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural 
provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and (3) USACE regulations 
implementing NEPA (ER-200-2-2).

Mark Mendelsohn,
Study Manager.
[FR Doc. 05-20902 Filed 10-18-05; 8:45 am]
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