[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 109 (Friday, June 6, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32811-32813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13161]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket Number MARAD-2014-0068]


Adoption and Recirculation of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Masonville Dredged Material Containment Facility 
(DMCF)

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice, Adoption of Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is issuing this notice to 
advise the public and interested agencies that MARAD is adopting the 
United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE) May 2007 Final 
Environmental Impact Statement and subsequent Record Of Decision (FEIS, 
ROD; August 2007) for the Masonville Dredged Material Containment 
Facility (DMCF) proposed by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA).
    MARAD is adopting the 2007 EIS to satisfy MARAD's National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) obligations related to MPA's receipt of 
a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant 
from the US DOT. MARAD is administering that grant.
    Under applicable Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 
regulations, MARAD may adopt and recirculate the COE's Final EIS 
because MARAD's proposed action is substantially the same as the action 
covered by the COE's FEIS.

DATES: Comments regarding the adoption of the 2007 EIS must be received 
on or before July 7, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket Number 
MARAD-2014-0068 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Search MARAD-2014-0068 and follow the instructions for submitting 
comments.
     E-Mail: Mr. Andrew Larimore at [email protected]. 
Include MARAD-2014-0068 in the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590.

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If you would like to know that your comments reached the facility, 
please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Docket Management Facility, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West 
Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Management 
Facility is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
on Federal holidays.

    Note:  If you mail or hand-deliver your comments, we recommend 
that you include your name and a mailing address, an email address, 
or a telephone number in the body of your document so that we can 
contact you if we have questions regarding your submission. If you 
submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing.

    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number. All comments received will be posted without change 
to the docket at www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colleen Vaughn, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Maritime Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 
SE MS -1, Washington, DC 20590, Telephone: (202) 366-8024or via email 
at [email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications device 
for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service 
(FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above individual during 
business hours. The FIRS is available twenty-four hours a day, seven 
days a week, to leave a message or question. You will receive a reply 
during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Masonville Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) was prepared to support a permit application by the 
MPA to the COE pursuant to Section 10 of the River and Harbor Act of 
1899 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for the construction of a 
DMCF. The FEIS presents a consolidation of State and Federal study 
findings, as well as an evaluation of the suitability of the Masonville 
site to help meet the 20-year Baltimore Harbor dredged material annual 
placement capacity needs. Potential impacts and site development 
issues, including the use of dredged material from the Seagirt dredging 
area, were investigated and documented. The Masonville DMCF was 
determined to be the preferred option from an environmental and 
engineering standpoint.
    The MARAD TIGER project builds on currently permitted dredging and 
filling activities at the Masonville DMCF. It will result in the 
filling of a Wet Basin, development of 7.6 acres of new terminal, 
widening of the Seagirt Marine terminal access channel, expanding the 
existing rail yard at the Masonville Marine Terminal, and extending 
rail to the new Masonville vessel berth, located at the Port of 
Baltimore.
    The CEQ regulations allow Federal agencies, such as MARAD, to adopt 
environmental documents prepared by another Federal agency when the 
proposed actions are ``substantially the same'' and the adopting agency 
has concluded that the initial statement meets the standards for an 
adequate statement under the CEQ regulations. The CEQ regulations state 
that when the actions are substantially the same, ``the agency adopting 
the agency's statement is not required to recirculate it except as a 
final statement.'' Further, CEQ's regulations implementing NEPA 
strongly encourage agencies to reduce paperwork and duplication (40 CFR 
1500.4). One of the methods identified by CEQ to accomplish this goal 
is adopting the environmental documents prepared by other agencies in 
appropriate circumstances (40 CFR 1500.4(n), 1500.5(h), and 1506.3). 
MARAD has conducted an independent review of the 2007 EIS for the 
purpose of determining whether MARAD could adopt it pursuant to 40 CFR 
1506.3. MARAD's review concluded that the proposed action is 
substantially the same as the action documented in the 2007 EIS, that 
the EIS adequately assessed the environmental impacts associated with 
the proposed improvements and meets the standards of the CEQ NEPA 
Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through1508.
    The final stage in the environmental review process under NEPA is 
the issuance of a Record of Decision by the agency describing the 
agency's decision and the basis for it. Under the timelines included in 
the CEQ regulation (40 CFR 1506.10), a Record of Decision cannot be 
issued by an agency earlier than thirty days after the EPA publishes 
its Federal Register notice announcing to the public of the 
availability of the final EIS. Any Record of Decision issued by MARAD 
will be consistent with 40 CFR 1505.2 and MARAD's Procedures for 
Considering Environmental Impacts.
    Accordingly, MARAD is adopting and recirculating the 2007 FEIS and 
has concluded that no supplemental or additional environmental review 
is required to support MARAD's proposed action.

Participation

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your 
comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the docket 
number in your comments. MARAD encourages you to provide concise 
comments. However, you may attach necessary additional documents to 
your comments. There is no limit on the length of the attachments. 
Please submit your comments, including the attachments, following the 
instructions provided under the above heading entitled ADDRESSES.
    If you wish to submit any information under a claim of 
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete 
submission, including the information you claim to be confidential 
business information, to the Department of Transportation, Maritime 
Administration, Office of Legislation and Regulations, MAR-225, W24-
220, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. When you send 
comments containing information claimed to be confidential information, 
you should include a cover letter setting forth with specificity the 
basis for any such claim.
    MARAD will consider all comments received before the close of 
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES.
    For in-person access to the docket to submit or read comments 
received, go to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590. The Docket Management Facility is open 9:00 
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. 
To review documents, read comments or to submit comments, the docket is 
also available online at http://www.regulations.gov., keyword search 
MARAD-2014-0068.
    Please note that even after the comment period has closed, MARAD 
will continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes 
available. Accordingly, MARAD recommends that you periodically check 
the Docket for new material.

Privacy Act

    Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the DOT 
Privacy Act system of records notice for the Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) in the

[[Page 32813]]

Federal Register published on January 17, 2008, (73 FR 3316) at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-785.pdf.

    Authority: 49 CFR Sections 1.92 and 1.93.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.

    Dated: June 2, 2014.
Julie P. Agarwal,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-13161 Filed 6-5-14; 8:45 am]
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