[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3568-3569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01030]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and 
Conduct Public Scoping Meeting for the Crescent City Harbor Dredged 
Material Management Plan, City of Crescent and County of Del Norte, CA

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

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to initiate the scoping process 
for the preparation of a Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) and 
Environmental Assessment for continued maintenance dredging at Crescent 
City Harbor. The goal of the plan will be to identify suitable sites 
for placement of dredged material to accommodate maintenance dredging 
over the next twenty years.

DATES: A public scoping meeting will be held on February 11, 2015 at 
7:00 p.m. (PST). Submit comments concerning this notice on or before 
February 26, 2015.

ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting location is the Meeting Room at the 
Crescent City Harbor District Office, 101 Citizens Dock Road, Crescent 
City, California 95531. Mail written comments concerning this notice 
to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, Project 
Management Division, ATTN: 1455 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-
1398. Comment letters should include the commenter's physical mailing 
address and the project title in the subject line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Wiechmann, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, San Francisco District, Environmental Resources, 1455 Market 
Street, San Francisco CA 94103-1398, (415) 503-6846, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Corps intends to prepare a Dredged 
Material Management Plan (DMMP) and accompanying Environmental 
Assessment (EA). The primary Federal actions under consideration are 
dredging, dredged material placement, and transport of dredged material 
for the purpose of ocean placement and/or upland beneficial reuse. The 
Crescent City Harbor District is the Non-Federal Sponsor (NFS). The 
Draft DMMP is intended to be sufficient in scope to address the 
Federal, state and local requirements and environmental issues 
concerning the proposed activities and permit approvals.
    Project Site and Background Information: Crescent City Harbor is 
located on the Northern California coast about 280 nautical miles north 
of San Francisco and about 17 miles south of the Oregon border. The 
harbor is located on the south edge of a broad marine terrace bordered 
on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by 
densely forested coastal mountains. Crescent City Harbor is a shallow-
draft critical harbor of refuge, supporting a U.S. Coast Guard search 
and rescue station, commercial and sport fishing, waterfront industry, 
and recreational boating.
    The harbor's naturally crescent-shaped beach is bound by a 4,700-
foot long rubble-mound outer breakwater to the west, a 2,400-foot long 
sand barrier to the east, and a 1,600-foot rubble-mound inner 
breakwater to the south. The harbor's opening faces south and is about 
2,000 feet across.
    There are currently three federally constructed and maintained 
navigation channels at Crescent City Harbor. The Inner Harbor Basin 
Channel extends for 2,200 feet along the inside and around the tip of 
the inner breakwater, where it connects to the Entrance Channel, a 200 
foot wide channel that extends 2,200 feet to the outer breakwater. The 
Marina Access Channel is 140-210 feet wide and extends 1,200 feet from 
the Inner Harbor Basin Channel to the small boat basin.
    The Entrance Channel has a project depth of 20 feet mean lower low 
water (MLLW) while the interior channels, Inner Harbor Basin and Marina 
Access, have a project depth of 15 feet MLLW.
    Proposed Action(S): This study report will: (1) verify that 
continued federal maintenance is justified; and (2) present a viable 
20-year plan for dredging and disposal of materials associated with

[[Page 3569]]

Crescent City Harbors' continued operations and maintenance work.
    Four previously used disposal sites: SF-1, Crescent City Harbor 
Dredge Ponds, Beach Nourishment at Whaler Island and Humboldt Ocean 
Disposal Site (HOODS); and four previously unused disposal sites: 
SFDODS, Chetco River Disposal Site (Chetco), an Offshore Berm area and 
a potential Crescent City Harbor Waterfront Development Plan site will 
be evaluated. Figure 1 displays the eight sites being considered.
    Issues: Potentially significant issues associated with the project 
may include: aesthetics/visual impacts, air quality emissions, 
biological resource impacts, environmental justice, geologic impacts 
related to seismicity, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and 
water quality, noise, traffic and transportation, and cumulative 
impacts from past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects.
    Scoping Process: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking 
participation and input of all interested federal, state, and local 
agencies, Native American groups, and other concerned private 
organizations or individuals on the scope of the draft DMMP and EA 
through this public notice. The purpose of the public scoping meeting 
is to solicit comments regarding the potential impacts, environmental 
issues, and alternative placement sites associated with the proposed 
action to be considered in the study report. The meeting place, date 
and time will be advertised in advance in local newspapers, and meeting 
announcement letters will be sent to interested parties. The final 
draft DMMP is expected to be available for public review and comment in 
the summer of 2015 and a public meeting will be held after its 
publication.

John C. Morrow,
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, District Engineer.
[FR Doc. 2015-01030 Filed 1-22-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P