[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 13 (Friday, January 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3275-3276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-484]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Availability of Baltimore Harbor and Channels Dredged Material 
Management Plan and Final Tiered Environmental Impact Statement

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, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), 
Baltimore District has prepared a Final

[[Page 3276]]

Tiered Environmental Impact Statement (FTEIS) and Dredged Material 
Management Plan (DMMP) to analyze dredged material placement for the 
Port of Baltimore for 20 years of maintenance and new work dredging. 
USACE is making the document available to the public through a Notice 
of Availability published in the Federal Register. The overall goal of 
the DMMP is to develop a plan to maintain, in an economically and 
environmentally sound manner, channels necessary for navigation for the 
Port of Baltimore, conduct dredged material placement in the most 
environmentally sound manner, and maximize the use of dredged material 
as a beneficial resource. The recommendations which will provide a 
minimum of 20 years of dredged material placement capacity for the Port 
of Baltimore are:
     Continued maintenance dredging of the Virginia channels 
and use of the existing open-water placement sites in Virginia (Dam 
Neck Open Water Placement; Rappahannock Shoal Deep Alternate Open Water 
Placement; and Wolf Trap Alternate Open Water Placement).
     Continued maintenance dredging of the Maryland channels 
and use of the existing sites in Maryland including Pooles Island Open 
Water Site, Hart-Miller Island Dredged Material Containment Facility 
(HMI DMCF), Cox Creek Confined Disposal Facility (CDF) (+36 ft dike 
height), and Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project (PIERP).
     Multiple confined disposal facilities for harbor material 
in Patapsco River.
     PIERP Expansion in Talbot County, Maryland.
     Large Island Restoration in Middle Chesapeake Bay, 
Maryland.
     Wetland Restoration in Dorchester County, Maryland.
     Continue to pursue opportunities to innovatively use 
dredged material.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attn: Mr. 
Mark Mendelsohn, Planning Division, P.O. Box 1715, Baltimore, MD 21203-
1715, or electronically to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Mark Mendelsohn, Biologist, USACE, 
Baltimore District, Planning Division, (410) 962-9499 or (800) 295-
1610.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A key mission of the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers is to provide safe, reliable, and efficient waterborne 
transportation systems (channels, harbors, and waterways) for movement 
of commerce, national security needs, and recreation. Accomplishing 
this successfully requires dredging of channels to adequately meet the 
needs of waterborne transportation. Operating and maintaining the 
nation's harbors and waterways, which includes the placement and/or 
management of dredged material, is an increasingly challenging task. 
USACE continues its priority mission to plan and implement sound 
management of dredged materials.
    Since 1824, the USACE Baltimore District has been actively involved 
in constructing and maintaining a system of channels to allow large, 
deep-draft commercial shipping vessels to call on the Port of 
Baltimore. In addition to the shipping channels, a number of anchorage 
areas were established within the Port of Baltimore for vessels 
requiring layover. The existing project for the Baltimore Harbor and 
Channels was authorized by the River and Harbor Act of August 8, 1917 
and was modified by the River and Harbor Acts of January 1927, July 
1930, October 1940, March 1945, July 1958, and December 1970. The USACE 
Engineering Regulation (ER) 1105-2-100 mandates that the USACE 
Districts develop a DMMP for all federally maintained navigation harbor 
projects where there is an indication of insufficient placement 
capacity to accommodate maintenance dredging for the next 20 years. The 
DMMP is a planning document that ensures maintenance-dredging 
activities are performed in an environmentally acceptable manner, use 
sound engineering techniques, and are economically justified. A DMMP 
addresses a full range of placement alternatives, leading to the 
selection of a final plan that ensures that sufficient placement 
capacity is available for the next 20 years.
    The DMMP for the Baltimore Harbor and Channels project has been 
developed using a consistent and logical procedure by which dredged 
material management alternatives have been identified, evaluated, 
screened, and recommended so that dredged material placement operations 
are conducted in a timely, environmentally sensitive, and cost-
effective manner.
    A Notice of Intent to prepare and Environmental Impact Statement 
was published in the Federal Register in May 2002 and scoping meetings 
were held in June 2002. The public was invited to provide oral comments 
at the scoping meetings and to submit additional comments to the 
Baltimore District. The Draft TEIS was distributed to the public on 
February 9, 2005. Two public meetings on the Draft TEIS were held in 
March 2005. All persons and organizations that have an interest in the 
DMMP were urged to participate in one or both meetings.
    The Final TEIS may be viewed on the Baltimore District's Web page 
at http: //www.nab.usace.army.mil/projects//DMMP/index.html. USACE has 
distributed copies of the TEIS to appropriate members of Congress, 
State and local government officials, Federal agencies, and other 
interested parties. Copies are available for public review at the 
following locations:
    (1) Queen Anne's Public Library, Stevensville Branch, 200 Library 
Circle, Stevensville, MD 21666.
    (2) Baltimore County Public Library, 1110 Eastern Boulevard, 
Baltimore, MD 21221.
    (3) Anne Arundel County Public Library, 1410 West Street, 
Annapolis, MD 21401.
    (4) St. Mary's County Public Library, 23250 Hollywood Road, 
Leonardtown, MD 20650.
    (5) Somerset County Public Library, 11767 Beachwood St., Princess 
Anne, MD 21853.
    (6) Dorchester County Public Library, 303 Gay Street, Cambridge, MD 
21613.
    For information on this document or to obtain copies, please 
contact Mr. Mark Mendelsohn (see ADDRESSES).
    The Final TEIS has been prepared in accordance with (1) The 
National Environmental Policy Act (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). A 
record of decision (ROD) for this project will not be signed until at 
least 30 days from the date of EPA's notice of availability publication 
in the Federal Register.

Mark Mendelsohn,
Biologist, Baltimore District, USACE.Baltimore District, USACE.
[FR Doc. 06-484 Filed 1-19-06; 8:45 am]
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