[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 23 (Thursday, February 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5768-5769]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-2392]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement To 
Evaluate Improvements to the Federal Deep-Draft Pascagoula Harbor 
Navigation Channel in Jackson County, MS

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

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Mobile District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) 
intends to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to 
address the potential impacts associated with improving the Federal 
Pascagoula Harbor Navigation Channel Project in Jackson County, MS. The 
DEIS will be used as a basis for ensuring compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and evaluating alternative plans 
including the ``No Action''. Alternatives which will be evaluated 
include widening the Lower Pascagoula Channel and Bayou Casotte Channel 
by 50-foot increments to a total width of 150 feet on one side or both 
sides of the channel.

DATES: A public scoping meeting will be held on Thursday, February 25, 
2010 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting will be held at the Pascagoula Public 
Library, 3214 Pascagoula Street, Pascagoula, MS 39567.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the DEIS should be 
addressed to Ms. Jennifer Jacobson, Coastal Environment Team, Mobile 
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, AL 36628 
by telephone (251) 690-2724 or e-mail her at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    1. The March 1985 Pascagoula Harbor, MS Feasibility Report 
investigated increased widths and depths in the Pascagoula and Bayou 
Casotte navigation channels. Of the plans initially formulated, five 
were selected for detailed study along with the ``No Action'' 
alternative. All plans considered for detailed study included deepening 
all the channels in Mississippi Sound to 42 feet and the Entrance 
channel to 44 feet; widening of the Entrance channel to 550 feet; 
widening of the Bayou Casotte channel to 350 feet; and providing a 
1,400-foot diameter turning basin just inside the mouth of Bayou 
Casotte. The 1985 Feasibility Report recommended deepening and widening 
the Gulf Entrance channel to 44 feet by 550 feet from the 44-foot depth 
contour in the Gulf of Mexico to the bend at the southern end of Horn 
Island Pass, deepening and widening Horn Island Pass to 44 feet by 600 
feet between the bends at the southern and northern ends of that pass, 
for a distance of about 4 and \1/2\; miles; reconfiguring the 
impoundment basin in Horn Island Pass to provide a section within the 
channel limits 1,500 feet long with a total depth of 56 feet to 
facilitate maintenance by hopper dredge, and allowing for future 
realignment of the Horn Island Pass reach as natural conditions 
warrant. In addition, deepening the Lower Pascagoula channel to 42 feet 
from the bend at the north end of Horn Island Pass, through Mississippi 
Sound and into the Pascagoula River, and terminating about 500 feet 
south of the grain elevator for a total distance of about 10 miles; 
widening the bend at the junction with the Bayou Casotte channel from 
the present 150 feet to 250 feet to provide a total width at the bend 
of 600 feet and widening the bend at the mouth of Pascagoula River by 
280 feet to provide a total width at the bend of 630 feet. Finally, 
widening and deepening the Bayou Casotte channel to 42 feet by 350 feet 
from the junction with the main channel to the mouth of Bayou Casotte, 
a distance of about 3 and [frac12] miles; with additional widening at 
the mouth to provide a turning basin with a total turning diameter of 
1,150 feet, including the channel width; relieving the northern portion 
of the area between the junction with the main ship channel from the 
present 500 feet to 1,000 feet, and widening the bend at the mouth of 
Bayou Casotte from the present 50 feet to 100 feet to provide a total 
width at the bend of 450 feet. A Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for the Designation of an Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site 
(ODMDS) located offshore Pascagoula, MS was prepared in July 1991. 
Construction of all phases of the improvements, except for the Entrance 
channel being widened to 550 feet, reconfiguring the Horn Island Pass 
impoundment basin, and the Pascagoula Upper channel being deepened to 
42 feet, were completed in 1999. A Final Supplemental EIS entitled 
Pascagoula Harbor Navigation Channel is scheduled to be released for 
public comment this year. This Final Supplemental EIS addresses 
construction of all those unconstructed navigational features. The 
project is conducted under the authority of Public Law 84-99, Flood and 
Coastal Storm Emergencies (33 U.S.C.701n) (69 Stat. 186). 
Appropriations for construction of the

[[Page 5769]]

project was received by Public Law 109-359, making Appropriations for 
the Department of Defense for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 
2006, and for Other Purposes (December 18, 2005). The original Final 
EIS was reviewed and any new conditions that were not addressed in the 
1989 Final EIS were evaluated as part of the Final Supplemental EIS to 
ensure compliance with all environmental laws and regulations.
    2. Alternative scenarios to be considered in the DEIS include the 
``No action'' alternative and an array of 50-foot wide increment 
alternatives to widen the Federal Lower Pascagoula Channel and Bayou 
Casotte Channel up to a total width of 150 feet on either one side or 
both sides of the Channel(s). In addition, an array of disposal options 
are also being evaluated for the new work as well as for the 
maintenance material including upland disposal site(s), littoral zone 
disposal, beneficial use, disposal in the existing Pascagoula ODMDS, 
and disposal in existing open-water disposal sites.
    3. Scoping: a. The Corps invites full public participation to 
promote open communication on the issues surrounding the proposal. All 
Federal, State, and local agencies, and other persons or organizations 
that have an interest are urged to participate in the NEPA scoping 
process. Public meetings will be held to help identify significant 
issues and to receive public input and comment.
    b. The DEIS will analyze the potential social, economic, and 
environmental impacts to the local area resulting from improvements to 
the Federal Pascagoula Harbor Navigation Project. Specifically, the 
following major issues will be analyzed in depth in the DEIS: 
Hydrologic and hydraulic regimes, threatened and endangered species, 
essential fish habitat and other marine habitat, air quality, cultural 
resources, transportation systems, alternatives, secondary and 
cumulative impacts, socioeconomic impacts, environmental justice 
(effect on minorities and low-income groups) (Executive Order 12898), 
and protection of children (Executive Order 13045).
    c. The Corps will serve as the lead Federal agency in the 
preparation of the DEIS. It is anticipated that the following agencies 
will be invited and will accept cooperating agency status for the 
preparation of the DEIS: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, 
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Department 
of Marine Resources, Jackson County Port Authority, Mississippi 
Secretary of State, National Park Service, Minerals Management Service, 
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, and Mississippi Department of 
Archives and History.
    4. A public scoping meeting will be held (see DATES AND ADDRESSES). 
Actual time(s) and place(s) for subsequent meetings or workshops will 
be announced by the Corps by issuance of a public notice and/or notices 
in the local media.
    5. It is anticipated that the DEIS will be made available for 
public review in November 2012.

Curtis M. Flakes,
Chief, Planning and Environmental Division.
[FR Doc. 2010-2392 Filed 2-3-10; 8:45 am]
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