60464 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 194 / Tuesday, October 7, 2014 / Notices 

Dated: October 1, 2014. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2014–23884 Filed 10–6–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–R06–OW–2014–05694; FRL–9917–50– 

Region–6] 

Clean Water Act: Proposed Section 

404(c) Exemption 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) proposes to extend 

coverage under an existing Clean Water 

Act Section (CWA) 404(c) exception for 

the continued operation and 

maintenance of a portion of an electrical 

transmission line and a portion of a 

distribution line at the Bayou aux 

Carpes site in Jefferson Parish, 

Louisiana. The extension will authorize 

minimal discharges (approximately 1.35 

cubic yards) to wetlands of dredged or 

fill material associated with ongoing 

activities by Entergy Louisiana, L.L.C. 

(Entergy) in order to provide electrical 

service to residential, commercial, 

military, industrial, and other facilities 

in nearby Plaquemines Parish. 

DATES: Comments on this proposed 

action must be received on or before 

October 22, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be 

addressed to Ms. Barbara Keeler (6WQ– 

EC), U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross 

Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202–2733. 

Comments may also be submitted by 

email to Ms. Keeler at keeler.barbara@

epa.gov. All comments should directly 

address whether the Southern Natural 

Gas Pipeline exception to the 1985 

Bayou aux Carpes CWA Section 404(c) 

EPA Final Determination should be 

extended to cover the work requested by 

Entergy. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information, contact Ms. Barbara 

Keeler by phone at (214) 665–6698 or by 

email at keeler.barbara@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bayou 

aux Carpes CWA Section 404(c) site is 

located approximately ten miles south 

of New Orleans, Louisiana, on the West 

Bank of Jefferson Parish. The site 

includes about 3,000 acres of wetlands 

subject to federal jurisdiction under the 

CWA. The area is bounded on the north 

by the Estelle Pumping Station Outfall 

Canal, on the east by Bayou Barataria 

(Gulf Intracoastal Waterway), on the 

south by Bayou Barataria and Bayou des 

Familles, and on the west by State 

Highway 3134 and the ‘‘V-Levee.’’ In 

2009, most of the site was incorporated 

into the Barataria Unit of the Jean Lafitte 

National Historic Park and Preserve and 

the site remains subject to the CWA 

Section 404(c) restrictions. 

Entergy petitioned EPA for an 

exception to the October 16, 1985, EPA 

Final Determination for the Bayou aux 

Carpes site in Jefferson Parish, 

Louisiana, issued under Section 404(c) 

of the CWA. An exception was provided 

in the 1985 restriction for discharges 

associated with routine operation and 

maintenance of the Southern Natural 

Gas Pipeline Company pipeline. 

Subsequently, the exception was 

extended to cover minor discharges 

from emergency maintenance and 

relocation of a portion of another 

existing pipeline operated by Shell 

Pipeline Corporation. Both the original 

exception and the subsequent amended 

coverage were allowed based on 

determinations that the proposed 

activities associated with existing linear 

service utilities would be unlikely to 

result in unacceptable adverse effects to 

the Bayou aux Carpes CWA Section 

404(c) site. The currently proposed 

coverage under the same exception is 

for a similar purpose and is projected to 

entail minor temporary impacts to the 

subject wetlands. 

The October 16, 1985, Bayou aux 

Carpes Clean Water Act Section 404(c) 

EPA Final Determination and other 

background information are available 

online at: http://www.regulations.gov 

(Docket No. EPA–R06–OW–2014–0569). 

Background 

Section 404(c) of the CWA authorizes 

EPA to prohibit, deny, restrict or 

withdraw the use of any defined area as 

a disposal site for dredged or fill 

material if the discharge will have 

unacceptable adverse effects on 

municipal water supplies, shellfish beds 

and fishery areas (including spawning 

and breeding areas), wildlife, or 

recreational areas. The U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers (Corps) authorizes 

thousands of CWA Section 404 permits 

every year and EPA works with the 

Corps and applicants to resolve 

environmental concerns. Since the 

passage of the CWA in 1972, EPA has 

finalized 404(c) prohibitions or 

restrictions only 13 times. The use of 

this authority has typically involved 

major projects with unacceptable 

impacts on some of America’s most 

ecologically valuable waters. 

On November 15, 1985, EPA 

published (50 FR 47267) a CWA Section 

404(c) Final Determination prohibiting, 

with three exceptions, future discharges 

of dredged or fill material to wetlands 

in the Bayou aux Carpes site. The CWA 

Section 404(c) action was based upon a 

thorough record of investigations, 

including field surveys, remote sensing 

and other technical analyses conducted 

by three EPA facilities, the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, the National Park 

Service, and the Louisiana State 

University Center for Wetland 

Resources. 

The 1985 EPA Bayou aux Carpes 

CWA Section 404(c) Final 

Determination included three 

exceptions. The first of the original 

three approved exceptions is for 

discharges associated with the 

completion of a specific design option 

for the Corps’ Harvey Canal—Bayou 

Barataria Levee Project, which was 

never constructed. The second 

exception is for discharges associated 

with routine operation and maintenance 

of the Southern Natural Gas Pipeline, 

under specified conditions. The third 

exception provides for possible future 

EPA approved habitat enhancement 

activities. EPA determined that these 

three types of activities would be 

unlikely to result in unacceptable 

adverse effects to the aquatic 

environment, as long as they were 

performed in accordance with any 

specified conditions and complied with 

any permit conditions that might be 

imposed by the Corps through the CWA 

Section 404 permit process. A provision 

was also included to allow other 

interests to petition EPA for 

reconsideration if, in the future, other 

activities were to be proposed for public 

benefit which would result in only 

minor impacts. 

There has been only one major 

modification to EPA’s 1985 decision to 

restrict discharges into the wetlands of 

the Bayou aux Carpes site. The 

modification was granted to the Corps 

in 2009 in association with the 

construction of flood risk reduction 

upgrades following Hurricane Katrina. 

On November 4, 2008, the Corps 

requested that the Bayou aux Carpes 

CWA Section 404(c) designation be 

modified to allow construction of a 

floodwall along Bayou Barataria and 

tying into the planned West Closure 

Complex, as part of the post-Hurricane 

Katrina upgrades known as the Greater 

New Orleans Hurricane and Storm 

Damage Risk Reduction System Project. 

This work was but a small part of the 

larger effort to reduce flood risks to the 

250,000 people living on the west bank 

of the Mississippi River and to 

infrastructure supporting the greater 

New Orleans area by building a more 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 194 / Tuesday, October 7, 2014 / Notices 60465 

resilient and reliable storm damage and 

risk reduction system, as directed by 

Congress. 

Following a public meeting, 

opportunity for public comments, 

extensive interagency coordination and 

thorough ecological analyses, EPA 

approved the modification request on 

May 28, 2009, publishing the decision at 

74 FR 143 (July 28, 2009). EPA 

determined that construction of the 

modified ‘‘T-wall’’ style floodwall 

within a 100 foot by 4,200 foot corridor 

(≤ 9.6 acres) on a previously impacted 

area of the Bayou aux Carpes site (along 

with commitments from the Corps that 

would minimize construction impacts 

and provide for mitigation, wetland 

enhancement and long-term monitoring) 

was an acceptable approach. EPA found 

that compelling circumstances justified 

a modification, that there were no less 

environmentally damaging practicable 

alternatives that would adequately 

address those circumstances and that all 

feasible means of minimizing adverse 

wetland effects to the Bayou aux Carpes 

site would be implemented. This 

decision to modify a CWA Section 

404(c) Final Determination was unique 

in the history of such determinations 

and EPA granted the modification in the 

belief that it would achieve a balance 

between the national interest in 

reducing overwhelming flood risks to 

the people and critical infrastructure of 

south Louisiana while minimizing any 

damage to the Bayou aux Carpes Section 

404(c) area to the maximum degree 

possible in order to avoid unacceptable 

adverse effects. 

In addition to that modification of the 

1985 EPA Bayou aux Carpes CWA 

Section 404(c) Final Determination, EPA 

has considered very few requests for 

coverage under the original exceptions. 

In 1992, Shell Pipeline Corporation 

requested permission to allow the 

discharge of dredged and fill material 

effecting approximately 0.43 acres of 

wetlands in the restricted site in 

connection with a proposed below 

ground pipeline relocation. This work 

was necessary to facilitate the 

enlargement of a federal hurricane 

protection levee and to remedy the 

emergency reconstruction of a leaking 

temporary by-pass pipeline segment. In 

addition, future routine operation and 

maintenance activities associated with 

this pipeline were requested to be 

excluded from the CWA Section 404(c) 

restriction. After notifying interested 

parties of the request via Federal 

Register publication and coordinating 

with the Corps and other agencies, EPA 

granted the requests, publishing the 

decision at 57 FR 3757 (January 31, 

1992). EPA concluded that relocating 

the pipeline to non-wetlands was 

infeasible from the perspectives of 

engineering and public safety, the work 

would have only minimal and 

temporary effects on the wetlands at 

issue and the work was essentially the 

same as that envisioned under the 

second exception included in the 1985 

Final Determination. 

Over the years, additional requests for 

modifications have been the subject of 

initial analyses by EPA. In each of those 

cases, however, the petitioners did not 

complete the analyses required for an 

agency decision. 

Proposed Activities 

On August 18, 2014, Entergy 

petitioned EPA for an exception to cover 

anticipated temporary impacts to a total 

of 0.003 acres (approximately 1.35 cubic 

yards) of wetlands resulting from 

operation and maintenance activities for 

portions of an existing transmission and 

portions of a distribution line located 

partially within the Bayou aux Carpes 

Section 404(c) area. 

The Barataria to Alliance 

Transmission line was constructed in 

the 1960’s by Entergy’s predecessor, 

Louisiana Power & Light. Of the 74,012 

total transmission line length, an 11,543 

foot section and 15 towers are within 

the 120 foot right-of-way that runs 

through the southern portion of the 

Bayou aux Carpes CWA Section 404(c) 

site. The distribution line and 15 

wooden single poles course through 

approximately 3,415 feet within a ten 

foot right-of-way section of the Bayou 

aux Carpes site. 

Entergy has requested permission to 

conduct preventative maintenance and 

inspections as required by Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission 

regulations, North American Electric 

Reliability Corporation regulations, and 

Entergy’s guidelines and procedures. 

Numerous techniques for minimizing 

impacts have been proposed and 

alternatives have been evaluated. The 

foreseeable activities are projected to 

temporarily effect no more than 0.003 

acres of the protected wetlands during 

the remaining 50–60 years of expected 

facility life. Entergy has requested that 

EPA extend authorization for this work 

under the 1985 EPA CWA Section 

404(c) Bayou aux Carpes Final 

Determination exception that covers the 

routine operation and maintenance of a 

similar linear utility, namely the 

Southern Natural Gas Pipeline. 

EPA proposes to extend coverage, as 

specified in the request from Entergy, 

under this exception because the work 

would have only minimal and 

temporary effects on 0.003 acres of 

wetlands and would not be considered 

to be unacceptable. Further, the 

activities to be conducted are essentially 

the same as that envisioned under the 

Southern Natural Gas Pipeline 

exception, which was granted in the 

1985 EPA Bayou aux Carpes CWA 

Section 404(c) Final Determination. 

Dated: September 23, 2014. 

William K. Honker, 

Director, Water Quality Protection Division, 

EPA Region 6. 

[FR Doc. 2014–23900 Filed 10–6–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS 

ADVISORY BOARD 

FASAB Requests Comments on 

Public-Private Partnerships: 

Disclosure Requirements 

AGENCY: Federal Accounting Standards 

Advisory Board 

ACTION: Notice. 

Board Action: Pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 

3511(d), the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (Pub. L. 92–463), as 

amended, and the FASAB Rules of 

Procedure, as amended in October, 

2010, notice is hereby given that the 

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory 

Board is seeking input on the Exposure 

Draft: Public-Private Partnerships: 

Disclosure Requirements. 

The Exposure Draft is available at 

http://www.fasab.gov/board-activities/

documents-for-comment/exposuredrafts-and-documents-for-comment/. 

Copies can be obtained by contacting 

FASAB at (202) 512–7350. 

Respondents are encouraged to 

comment on any part of the exposure 

draft. 

Written comments are requested by 

January 2, 2015, and should be sent to: 

Wendy M. Payne, Executive Director, 

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory 

Board, 441 G Street NW., Suite 6814, 

Mail Stop 6H19, Washington, DC 20548. 

For assistance in accessing the 

document contact FASAB at (202) 512– 

7350. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Wendy Payne, Executive Director, at 

(202) 512–7350. 

Authority: Federal Advisory Committee 

Act, Pub. L. 92–463. 

Dated: October 2, 2014. 

Charles Jackson, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2014–23911 Filed 10–6–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1610–02–P 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES