[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 150 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41807-41808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20863]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers
Intent To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Walla
Walla District Dredged Material Management Study, Columbia, Snake, and
Clearwater Rivers, Oregon, Washington and Idaho
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Walla Walla
District, intends to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) for dredging, dredged material disposal activities, and measures
to reduce dredging requirements within the navigable waterways of the
Walla Walla District. This EIS will cover a twenty year period that
will being upon completion and approval of the final EIS and the
Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP). The study reach considered
includes Lake Wallula above McNary Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon
and Washington; the four lower Snake River reservoirs extending from
the mouth of the Snake River upstream to the communities of Lewistown,
Idaho, and Clarkston, Washington; and the lower 2 miles of the
Clearwater River from its confluence with the Snake River at Lewiston
upstream to the U.S. Highway 12 Bridge. The DEIS will evaluate the
environmental effects of dredging and dredged material disposal
activities in addition to measures proposed to reduce dredging
requirements within the study reach over the twenty-year period.
Specific disposal sites will be identified and initial environmental
compliance actions, including characterization of the material to be
dredged, will be performed in an effort to reduce lead time required
prior to actual dredging activity. Beneficial uses of dredged material
will be considered and the environmental effects evaluated.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact Mr. Jack Sands, Study
Manager, Walla Walla District Corps of Engineers, CENWW-PD-EP, 201
North Third Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, phone (509) 527-7287 or Ms.
Sandra Simmons, NEPA Coordinator, Walla Walla District Corps of
Engineers, CENWW-PD-EC, 201 North Third Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362,
phone (509) 527-7265.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By memorandum dated June 5, 1995, form Corps
Headquarters, Corps District offices were directed to prepare a Dredged
Material Management Plan (DMMP) for all navigation projects including
components of the inland waterway system. The DMMP will define the
procedure for the next twenty-year period for disposing of dredged
material removed for those reaches of the Columbia, Snake and
Clearwater Rivers that make up that portion of the Columbia/Snake
Rivers Inland Navigation Waterway withing the Walla Walla District
Boundaries.
The DEIS developed during the planning study to define the DMMP
will include the following within its range of alternatives:
I. Upland Disposal of Dredged Material
II. In-Water Disposal of Dredged Material
III. Various Beneficial Uses of Dredged Material
A. Land Fill
B. Beach Replenishment
C. Fish and Wildlife Habitat Creation and Restoration
D. Recreation
IV. Measures to Reduce Dredging Requirements
A. In-Stream Structural Components to Redirect Flow & Increase
Stream Velocities
B. Upland Land Treatment Programs
C. Modification of Project Pool Elevations and/or Flow Releases
During Severe Runoff Events
D. Modification of the Height of the Levees at Lewiston, Idaho
V. No Action
[[Page 41808]]
The Corps plans to have formal public scoping meetings in med- to
late-September 1998 with times and exact dates yet to be determined.
The Corps currently plans to have meetings in Lewiston, Idaho at the
upstream end of the study reach, and in Pasco, Washington, near the
downstream end of the study reach.
The DEIS should be avaialbe for public review in September or
October 1999.
William E. Bulen, Jr.,
Commanding.
[FR Doc. 98-20863 Filed 8-4-98; 8:45 am]
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