[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 154 (Friday, August 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39264-39266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-17129]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers


Intent To Prepare a Draft Integrated Feasibility Report-
Environmental Impact Statement for the Memphis Metropolitan Stormwater 
Management Project: North DeSoto County, Mississippi Feasibility Study

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Memphis District, as the lead 
agency intends to prepare a Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and 
Environmental Impact Statement (DIFR-EIS) for the

[[Page 39265]]

Memphis Metropolitan Stormwater Management Project: North DeSoto 
County, Mississippi Feasibility Study. The DIFR-EIS seeks to evaluate 
the effectiveness of existing Federal and non-Federal improvements; to 
determine the need for additional improvements to reduce the risk of 
flooding from storm water, restore environmental resources, and improve 
the quality of water entering the Mississippi River and its 
tributaries; and to determine if such improvements are technically 
feasible, environmentally acceptable, and economically justified.

DATES: This Notice of Intent commences the formal public scoping 
comment period. No later than August 16, 2019, a scoping meeting notice 
announcing the location, date, and time for a scoping meeting will be 
posted on the project website (https://www.mvm.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects/North-DeSoto-County-Feasibility-Study/) and published in local 
newspapers. Initial scoping comments should be received by October 15, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted: (1) To USACE at public 
scoping meetings; (2) by regular U.S. Mail mailed to: U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers, ATTN: CEMVN-PDC-UDC, 167 North Main Street, Room B-202, 
Memphis, Tennessee 38103-1894; and (3) by email to: 
[email protected]. Please include your name and return 
address on the first page of your written comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions or comments about the 
proposed action or requests to be added to the project mailing list 
should be directed to Andrea Carpenter, 167 North Main Street, Room 
B202, Memphis, Tennessee 38103, [email protected], or 
(901) 544-0817. For additional information, please visit the following: 
https://www.mvm.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects/North-DeSoto-County-Feasibility-Study/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The lead agency for this proposed action is 
the USACE. The DeSoto County Government is the non-Federal sponsor.
    Authority. The USACE is preparing the DIFR-EIS under the authority 
of the United States House of Representatives Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure adopted a Resolution on March 7, 
1996.

Memphis Metro Area

    The Secretary of the Army reviewed the report of the Chief of 
Engineers on the Wolf River and Tributaries, Tennessee and Mississippi, 
published as House Document Numbered 76, Eighty-fifth Congress, and 
other pertinent reports, to determine whether any modifications of the 
recommendations contained therein are advisable at this time, with 
particular reference to the need for improvements for flood control, 
environmental restoration, water quality, and related purposes 
associated with storm water runoff and management in the metropolitan 
Memphis, Tennessee, area and tributary basins including Shelby, Tipton, 
and Fayette counties, Tennessee, and DeSoto and Marshall counties, 
Mississippi. This area includes the Hatchie River, Loosahatchie River, 
Wolf River, Nonconnah Creek, Horn Lake Creek, and Coldwater River 
basins. The review shall evaluate the effectiveness of existing Federal 
and non-Federal improvements and determine the need for additional 
improvements to reduce the risk of flooding from storm water, to 
restore environmental resources, and to improve the quality of water 
entering the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
    1. Background. Flooding within DeSoto County, Mississippi, has been 
an issue of concern and repeated study since at least 1971 with the 
Soil Conservation Service Watershed Report and continuing through the 
present. The Horn Lake Creek and Tributaries, Tennessee and Mississippi 
Project was constructed in 1998. Construction of the 1986 authorized 
project (as revised per the 1988 General Design Memorandum) was 
completed in 1998 per a Project Cooperation Agreement between the Horn 
Lake Creek Drainage District Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers. The completed project included: 3.5 miles of selective 
channel clearing on Horn Lake Creek from Mile 16.75 downstream to 
Stateline Road, Mile 13.25; 2.75 miles of vegetative clearing on upper 
Horn Lake Creek between Mile 16.75 and 19.50 (Highway 51); vegetative 
clearing on the lower 0.62 miles of Cow Pen Creek; 1.85 miles of 
channel enlargement on Cow Pen Creek between Mile 0.62 and 2.47, 
requiring a 35-foot bottom width channel enlargement; 2.1 miles of 
vegetative clearing on the lower end of Rocky Creek downstream to the 
mouth. The constructed project provided a 25-year level of protection 
to existing development along Cow Pen Creek; a 1.1-year level of 
protection along Horn Lake Creek; and a 1.1 to 2- year level of 
protection along Rocky Creek. Although hiking/biking trails were 
proposed along Rocky Creek and Cow Pen Creek, these trails have not 
been constructed to date. More recently, damaging floods occurred in 
the area in May 2010, May 2011, September 2014, and March 2016. The 
area received a Presidential Disaster Declaration in 2011. In DeSoto 
County, the U.S. Small Business Administration provided federal 
assistance in the area after the 2014 flood. Flooding inundates major 
transportation corridors and several neighborhoods, isolates 
communities, damages public infrastructure and development 
(residential, commercial and industrial), and threatens life safety. In 
the area, unstable channels, lack of suitable riparian cover, altered 
flow regime, and loss of wetlands and floodplains all degrade habitat 
in the area. Commercial and residential development has reduced 
floodplain and aquatic habitat. Wetland habitat and bottomland 
hardwoods have been isolated and degraded. Increased runoff is causing 
channel instability, scouring and degradation of aquatic habitat.
    2. Alternatives: The USACE will evaluate a range of alternatives 
for the proposed action including structural and nonstructural measures 
within Horn Lake Creek and Tributaries, Hurricane Creek Basin, Johnson 
Creek Basin, and Coldwater River and Tributaries. Retention and/or 
detention structures to reduce the flood peak and floodplain 
restoration in critical reaches are being examined along with other 
features. Recreation features such as biking and hiking trails will be 
considered as appropriate.
    The USACE will fully evaluate the reasonable and practicable 
alternatives, including the no action alternative. Alternatives may 
necessitate avoidance, minimization, and/or compensatory mitigation 
measures to reduce or offset any impacts. The DIFR-EIS seeks to 
evaluate the effectiveness of existing Federal and non-Federal 
improvements and determine the need for additional improvements to 
reduce the risk of flooding from storm water, to restore environmental 
resources, and to improve the quality of water entering the Mississippi 
River and its tributaries and if such improvements are technically 
feasible, environmentally acceptable, and economically justified. The 
study will also consider other levels of risk reduction. The 
significant issues that are likely to be analyzed in depth in the DIFR-
EIS include, but are not limited to, the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative effects on socioeconomics; environmental justice; threatened 
and endangered species and their critical habitat; other protected 
species of concern; wildlife resources; air and water quality; prime 
and unique farmlands; geology and soils; hydrology and hydraulics; 
cultural resources;

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recreation; aesthetics and visual resources; and hazardous, toxic and 
radioactive waste. USACE will also consider issues identified and 
comments made throughout scoping, public involvement, and interagency 
coordination.
    3. Public Involvement: Public involvement, an essential part of the 
NEPA process, is integral to assessing the environmental consequences 
of the proposed action and improving the quality of the environmental 
decision making. The public includes affected and interested Federal, 
state, and local agencies; Indian tribes; concerned citizens; 
stakeholders; and other interested parties. Public participation in the 
NEPA process will be strongly encouraged, both formally and informally, 
to enhance the probability of a more technically accurate, economically 
feasible, and socially acceptable EIS. Public involvement will include, 
but is not limited to: information dissemination; identification of 
problems, needs and opportunities; idea generation; public education; 
problem solving; providing feedback on proposals; evaluation of 
alternatives; conflict resolution; public and scoping notices and 
meetings; public, stakeholder and advisory groups consultation and 
meetings; and making the EIS and supporting information readily 
available in conveniently located places, such as libraries and on the 
world wide web at https://www.mvm.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects/North-DeSoto-County-Feasibility-Study/.
    4. Scoping: Scoping, is the NEPA process utilized for determining 
the range of alternative and significant issues to be addressed in the 
EIS. Scoping is used to: (a) Identify the affected public and agency 
concerns; (b) facilitate an efficient EIS preparation process; (c) 
define the issues and alternatives that will be examined in detail in 
the EIS; and (d) save time in the overall process by helping to ensure 
that the draft EIS adequately addresses relevant issues. USACE invites 
full public participation to promote open communication on the issues 
surrounding the proposed action. The public will be involved in the 
scoping and evaluation process through advertisements, notices, and 
other means. A Scoping Meeting Notice announcing the locations, dates 
and times for scoping meetings is anticipated to be posted on the 
project website, and published in the local newspapers no later than 15 
days prior to the meeting dates. Notices of the public scoping meetings 
will be sent by USACE through email distribution lists, posted on the 
Project website, and mailed to public libraries, government agencies, 
and interested groups and individuals. Interested parties unable to 
attend the scoping meetings can access additional information on DIFR-
EIS at: https://www.mvm.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects/North-DeSoto-County-Feasibility-Study/.
    5. Coordination: The USACE will serve as the lead Federal agency in 
the preparation of the EIS. Other federal and/or state agencies may 
participate as cooperating and/or commenting agencies throughout the 
EIS process.
    In accordance with Executive Order 13807, referred to as One 
Federal Decision (OFD), the USACE and other agencies with environmental 
review, authorization, or consultation responsibilities for major 
infrastructure projects should develop a single EIS for such projects, 
sign a single Record of Decision (ROD) and issue all necessary 
authorizations within 90 days thereafter, subject to limited 
exceptions. An essential element of the OFD framework is the 
development of a schedule, referred to as the ``Permitting Timetable,'' 
including key milestones critical to completion of the environmental 
review and issuance of a ROD. Cooperating agencies required by law to 
develop schedules for environmental review or authorization processes 
should transmit a summary of such schedules to the lead agency for 
integration into the Permitting Timetable.
    To ensure timely completion of the environmental review and 
issuance of necessary authorizations, OMB and CEQ recommend the 
Permitting Timetable for major infrastructure projects provide for 
environmental review according to the following schedule:
    (1) Formal scoping and preparation of a Draft EIS (DEIS) within 14 
months, beginning on the date of publication of the NOI to publish an 
EIS and ending on the date of the Notice of Availability of the DEIS;
    (2) Completion of the formal public comment period and development 
of the Final EIS (FEIS) within eight months of the date of the Notice 
of Availability of the DEIS; and
    (3) Publication of the final ROD within two months of the 
publication of the Notice of Availability of the FEIS.
    While the actual schedule for any given project may vary based upon 
the circumstances of the project and applicable law, agencies should 
endeavor to meet the two-year goal established in E.O. 13807.
    The USACE is coordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(USFWS) in documenting existing conditions and assessing effects of 
project alternatives through the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act and 
pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. Coordination 
includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Mississippi 
Department of Environmental Quality pursuant to Section 401 of the 
Clean Water Act, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries 
and Parks. The USACE is coordinating with the State Historic 
Preservation Officer under Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act concerning properties listed, or potentially eligible 
for listing.
    6. Availability: The DIFR-EIS is expected to be available for 
public comment and review in January 2020. At that time, a 45-day 
public review period will be provided for individuals and agencies to 
review and comment. USACE will notify all interested agencies, 
organizations, and individuals of the availability of the draft 
document at that time. All interested parties are encouraged to respond 
to this notice and provide a current address if they wish to be 
notified of the DIFR-EIS circulation.

    Dated: August 2, 2019. Approved by:

Zachary L. Miller,
Colonel, Corps of Engineers District Commander.
[FR Doc. 2019-17129 Filed 8-8-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P