[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 190 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53366-53367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-25533]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Corps of Engineers; Department of the Army
Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the
New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study
AGENCY: U.S Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: The New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the New York
and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study. The purpose of the study is to
establish and evaluate the range of navigation channel development
alternatives and to identify the National Economic Development (NED)
and recommend a plan. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
was prepared to evaluate those alternatives identified in the
Feasibility Report. Additional information on the study is provided in
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section as indicated below.
DATES: The DEIS will be available for public review on or about October
1, 1999. The review period of the document will be for forty five days
from the publication date of the DEIS. To request a copy of the DEIS
please call (212) 264-5746.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the
DEIS, please contact Jenine Gallo, Project Biologist, telephone (212)
264-0912, Planning Division, ATTN: CENAN-PL-EA, Corps of Engineers, New
York District, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, New York, 10278-0090.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. A DEIS for the New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation Study
was prepared and the study was authorized by Section 435 of the Water
Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1996. The section reads: The
Secretary shall conduct a comprehensive study of navigation needs at
the Port of New York-New Jersey (including the South Brooklyn Marine
and Red Hook Terminals, Staten Island, and adjacent areas) to address
improvements, including deepening of existing channels to depths of 50
ft or greater, that are required to provide economically efficient and
environmentally sound navigation to meet current and future
requirements.
2. The existing depths of the Harbor's navigation channels,
anchorages, and berthing areas are insufficient to allow the safe and
timely passage of economically efficiently loaded containerships and
liquid bulk vessels (tankers) willing to call on container terminals
and bulk cargo facilities in the region, and the oil refineries/
terminals, located primarily on the Arthur Kill. The current mode of
operation calls for the tankers to lighter off in anchorages or at sea
and, at reduced operating draft, and enter the channel during high
tides. Containerships must be loaded to less than their design capacity
at their prior ports of call and sail without a full load, or off-load
at deeper-draft ports prior to calling on the Harbor. The proposed
project plans were analyzed in the Feasibility Report, which is
included
[[Page 53367]]
with the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Recommended Plan
(also the NED plan) for the New York and New Jersey Harbor Navigation
Study has been divided into the following paths which have the Ambrose
and Anchorage Channels as common elements and is as follows:
a. The Ambrose and Anchorage channels combined form the main
entrance channels to the Port of New York and New Jersey. Extending
from the Atlantic Ocean through the Lower Bay; they are currently
maintained at depths of 45-ft MLW. The District recommends deepening
the Ambrose channel to a depth of 53-ft MLW and the Anchorage channel
to a depth of 50-ft MLW.
b. The Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay Channels are currently
maintained at a depth of 40-ft MLW, and are under construction to 45-ft
MLW. The evaluation of the navigation alternatives assumes these
channels will be at a depth of 45-ft MLW. The District recommends
deepening the Kill Van Kull and Newark Bay channels to a depth of 52-ft
MLW.
c. The Port Jersey Channel extends from the Upper Bay's Anchorage
Channel to the Global Marine Terminal and the Military Ocean Terminal
in Bayonne, New Jersey. Some of the Port Jersey Channel is currently at
a depth of 38-ft MLW, although the present study assumes that the
channel will be dredged to its authorized depth of 41-ft MLW. The
District recommends a depth of 52-ft MLW.
d. The Bay Ridge Channel, which extends along the western shore of
Brooklyn, allows ship access to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
This channel is currently maintained at a depth of 40-ft MLW and the
District recommends deepening this channel to a depth of 50-ft MLW.
e. The Arthur Kill Channel is currently at a depth of 35-ft MLW,
although the present study assumes that the channel will be dredged to
its authorized depth of 41-ft MLW. The District recommends deepening
this Channel to the Howland Hook Marine Terminal to a depth of 52-ft
MLW.
3. Following excavation, with the exception of the Ambrose Channel,
all project channels will be maintained at a depth of 50-ft MLW. The
Ambrose Channel will be maintained at a depth of 53-ft MLW.
4. Potential impacts, including indirect and cumulative impacts,
were evaluated in the DEIS for the proposed action and the other action
alternatives. The analysis indicates that short-term adverse
environmental impacts, such as benthic habitat disruption, would be
balanced by beneficial impacts, such as revitalization of the maritime
industry and permanent removal of contaminated material from the
aquatic ecosystem.
5. The DEIS has been prepared under the direction of the USACE in
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969
and is submitted in compliance with NEPA and USACE regulations. The
USACE is the Federal agency responsible for preparation of the DEIS
because the project involves improvements and/or modifications to
Federal navigation channels. The DEIS will be available for public
review on or about October 1, 1999. The review period will be for
forty-five (45) days from publication of this notice. The document may
be obtained from the Army Corps of Engineers, Planning Division at the
above address.
6. The New York and New Jersey Harbor portion of the Hudson-Raritan
Estuary is located at the apex of the New York Bight. It serves as the
port for the greater metropolitan New York area, providing maritime
access to shipping via a network of channels and anchorages that have
historically been dredged and maintained throughout the harbor. The
Harbor is shallow, with natural depths of less than 30 ft, and has
dredged areas as deep as 45 ft. The shoal and channel areas provide
diverse habitats that are used by different species on a seasonal
basis. The rivers and tidal straits that form part of the Harbor offer
habitat with higher tidal currents. Taken together, the different
habitat types provide a complex estuarine system that has been greatly
influenced by human activities.
7. The Harbor comprises four large embayments: Upper New York Bay,
Newark Bay, Lower New York Bay, and Raritan Bay. Upper New York Bay and
Lower New York Bay are separated by a constriction: the Verrazano
Narrows. Newark Bay, the smallest of the four, is linked to the other
embayments by narrow, natural channels. Newark Bay is connected to
Upper New York Bay by the Kill Van Kull, and to Raritan Bay/Lower New
York Bay by the Arthur Kill. The Harbor also contains a network of
public and private channels and berths, including those constructed and
maintained by agencies of Federal, state, and local governments and by
private companies.
8. The New York and New Jersey Harbor is an estuary, a semi-
enclosed coastal body of water having a free connection with the open
sea. It is thus strongly affected by tidal action, and within it
seawater is mixed (and usually measurably diluted) with fresh water
from land drainage. Estuaries are transition zones between freshwater
and marine habitats. The core area of the New York and New Jersey
Harbor estuary is the Hudson-Raritan estuary, which extends from the
Piermont Marsh in New York State to the Sandy Hook-Rockaway Point
Transect. This region of the Harbor includes the bi-state waters of
Raritan Bay, Lower New York Bay, Upper New York Bay, Hudson River, Kill
Van Kull, Arthur Kill, and smaller New Jersey tributaries such as the
Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, which enter Newark Bay; the Raritan
River, which enters Raritan Bay; and New York's East River, which
enters Upper New York Bay at the southern end of Manhattan. The
estuary, which includes approximately 298 square miles of surface
water, has an average depth of 21 ft.
9. Habitat types found in the Harbor include; tidal rivers, salt
and freshwater tidal marshes, woodlands, shallow bays, barrier beaches,
and sand dunes. Water is the predominant habitat type. Salt and
freshwater tidal marshes cover 180,000 acres in New Jersey and 25,000
acres in New York. The greatest percentage of the Harbor's marshes is
located outside the proposed study area. The New York and New Jersey
Harbor supports diverse and productive finfish, crustacean, and
shellfish populations, with over 100 species of fish (many of
commercial and recreational importance, commercially important
crustaceans (including lobster and blue crab), and commercially
important shellfish populations (including the clam, Mercenaria
mercenaria). Over the last 100 years aquatic populations have
experienced dramatic declines due to overfishing, deteriorating water
quality, and loss of habitat. The leading commercial fisheries in the
estuary are winter flounder, menhaden, bluefish, weakfish, blue crab,
and baitfish. Ocean quahogs (clams), sea scallops, and blue mussels are
commercially valuable shellfish.
10. The waterways are intensively used navigation channels, and
with the recent dredging and re-opening of the Howland Hook Marine
Terminal and deepening of the Kill Van Kull/Newark Bay Channels, there
is no reason to believe that the level of maritime activity in the
Harbor will decrease in the immediate future.
Joseph Vietri,
Acting Chief, Planning Division.
[FR Doc. 99-25533 Filed 9-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-06-P
