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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18223-18224]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07559]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

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

Notice To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and Conduct a 
Public Meeting for Preparation of a Dredged Material Management Plan 
for Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg, Mendocino County, CA

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

ACTION: Public notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to initiate the scoping process 
for an evaluation of whether there is adequate capacity for placement/
disposal of projected maintenance dredged material

[[Page 18224]]

from Noyo Harbor. This evaluation will be conducted in a two-step 
process: first a preliminary assessment (PA) will make projections of 
the volume of dredged material, estimate the existing capacity for 
placement/disposal of the material, and verify that continued 
maintenance dredging is economically justified. If it is concluded that 
continued maintenance dredging is justified and that the existing 
placement/disposal capacity is not adequate, then a Dredged Material 
Management Plan (DMMP) will be prepared to identify placement/disposal 
sites with adequate capacity for the next 20 years or more of federal 
and non-federal maintenance dredging.

DATES: A public meeting will be held on April 16, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. 
(PDT). Submit comments concerning this notice on or before May 4, 2015.

ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting location is the Town Hall, 363 North 
Main Street, Fort Bragg, California 95437. Mail written comments 
concerning this notice to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco 
District, Engineering and Technical Services Division, ATTN: Mark 
Wiechmann, 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 Section B, 1455 Market 
Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1398, (415) 503-6846, 
mark.j.wiechmann@usace.army.mil.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Corps intends to prepare an 
Environmental Assessment. The primary Federal actions under 
consideration are dredging, dredged material placement/disposal, and 
transport of dredged material for the purpose of ocean disposal and/or 
upland beneficial reuse. The Noyo Harbor District is the Non-Federal 
Sponsor (NFS). The Environmental Assessment 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: Noyo Harbor is on the 
Northern California coast about 170 miles North of San Francisco and 
130 miles south of Eureka, California. It is located in unincorporated 
Noyo Township, in forested lands immediately south of Fort Bragg, 
Mendocino County. Noyo Harbor is a shallow draft navigation project 
that supports a U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue station, commercial 
and sport fishing, and recreational boating.
    The federal navigation project at Noyo Harbor consists of two 
jetties and a navigation channel leading to an 8\1/2\ acre mooring 
basin. The north jetty is a 345 foot long concrete mass structure with 
an armor stone cover and the south jetty is a 240 foot long concrete 
wall founded on rock. The harbor's opening faces west. The navigation 
channel is authorized to a project depth of 10 feet mean lower low 
water (MLLW). It begins in Noyo Cove, located at the mouth of the Noyo 
River and continues approximately 3,000 feet upriver to the Noyo 
mooring basin.
    Proposed Action(s): The San Francisco District, US Army Corps of 
Engineers, is evaluating whether there is sufficient placement/disposal 
capacity and economic justification to support continued maintenance 
dredging at Noyo Harbor over the next 20 years or more of federal and 
non-federal maintenance dredging. This evaluation will be conducted in 
a two-step process. First, a preliminary assessment (PA) will make 
projections of the volume and physical and chemical characteristics of 
the dredged material, estimate existing placement/disposal capacity, 
and verify that continued maintenance dredging is economically 
justified. Second, if it is determined that continued maintenance 
dredging is justified, but that the existing placement/disposal 
capacity is not adequate, then a Dredged Material Management Plan 
(DMMP) will be prepared to identify future placement/disposal sites for 
the next 20 years of dredging.
    The existing historic disposal site is the North Jetty Upland 
Disposal Site located just north of the Noyo Harbor entrance channel 
and one mile east of the Highway 1 Bridge. It is a 2\1/2\ acre low-
lying area bounded to the north and east by bluffs and to the south and 
west by the harbor and river, respectively. The site has to be emptied 
periodically to accommodate additional material.
    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 through this public notice. The purpose of 
the public meeting is to solicit comments regarding the potential 
impacts and environmental issues associated with the proposed action to 
be considered. A meeting will be held on April 16, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. 
(PDT). The final draft PA is expected to be available for public review 
and comment in the summer of 2015.

Adam J. Czekanski,
Major, U.S. Army, Deputy District Engineer.
[FR Doc. 2015-07559 Filed 4-2-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3720-58-P
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