64756 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 2014 / Notices 

their name, affiliation, and daytime 

phone number seven business days 

prior to the meeting to Mr. Lehman, via 

electronic mail, the preferred mode of 

submission, at the address listed in the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section. Members of the public 

attending the committee meetings will 

not be permitted to present questions 

from the floor or speak to any issue 

under consideration by the committee. 

Because the meeting of the committee 

will be held in a Federal Government 

facility on a military post, security 

screening is required. A photo ID is 

required to enter post. Please note that 

security and gate guards have the right 

to inspect vehicles and persons seeking 

to enter and exit the installation. The 

U.S. Army Center of Military History is 

fully handicapped accessible. 

Wheelchair access is available in front 

at the main entrance of the building. For 

additional information about public 

access procedures, contact Mr. Lehman, 

the committee’s Alternate Designated 

Federal Officer, at the email address or 

telephone number listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

Written Comments or Statements: 

Pursuant to 41 CFR 102–3.105(j) and 

102–3.140 and section 10(a)(3) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, the 

public or interested organizations may 

submit written comments or statements 

to the committee, in response to the 

stated agenda of the open meeting or in 

regard to the committee’s mission in 

general. Written comments or 

statements should be submitted to Mr. 

Stephen W. Lehman, the committee 

Alternate Designated Federal Officer, 

via electronic mail, the preferred mode 

of submission, at the address listed in 

the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section. Each page of the comment or 

statement must include the author’s 

name, title or affiliation, address, and 

daytime phone number. Written 

comments or statements being 

submitted in response to the agenda set 

forth in this notice must be received by 

the Alternate Designated Federal 

Official at least seven business days 

prior to the meeting to be considered by 

the committee. The Alternate 

Designated Federal Official will review 

all timely submitted written comments 

or statements with the committee 

Chairperson, and ensure the comments 

are provided to all members of the 

committee before the meeting. Written 

comments or statements received after 

this date may not be provided to the 

committee until its next meeting. 

Members of the public will be permitted 

to make verbal comments during the 

Committee meeting only at the time and 

in the manner described below. If a 

member of the public is interested in 

making a verbal comment at the open 

meeting, that individual must submit a 

request, with a brief statement of the 

subject matter to be addressed by the 

comment, at least seven (7) days in 

advance to the Committee’s Alternate 

Designated Federal Official, via 

electronic mail, the preferred mode of 

submission, at the address listed in the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section. The Alternate Designated 

Federal Official will log each request, in 

the order received, and in consultation 

with the committee Chairperson 

determine whether the subject matter of 

each comment is relevant to the 

Committee’s mission and/or the topics 

to be addressed in this public meeting. 

A 15-minute period near the end of the 

meeting will be available for verbal 

public comments. Members of the 

public who have requested to make a 

verbal comment and whose comments 

have been deemed relevant under the 

process described above, will be allotted 

no more than three (3) minutes during 

the period, and will be invited to speak 

in the order in which their requests 

were received by the Alternate 

Designated Federal Official. 

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25787 Filed 10–30–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3710–08–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army; Corps of 

Engineers 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environment Impact Statement for the 

Proposed Mississippi River 

Reintroduction Into the Maurepas 

Swamp Diversion Project, Near 

Garyville, Louisiana, in St. John the 

Baptist, St. James, and Ascension 

Parishes 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (USACE), New Orleans 

District intends to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

to inform a decision on a Department of 

the Army (DA) permit application 

pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean 

Water Act (CWA) and Section 10 of the 

Rivers and Harbors Act, and 

permissions request under 33 U.S.C. 

408, submitted by the Coastal Protection 

and Restoration Authority of Louisiana 

(CPRA) for the Mississippi River 

Reintroduction into the Maurepas 

Swamp (MRRMS) freshwater diversion 

project (proposed project). The USACE 

has determined the proposed project 

will result in significant impacts to the 

human environment, therefore an EIS is 

necessary to ensure compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and as a basis for both the 

permit decision and the Section 408 

permissions. 

The DA permit and the 408 

permissions are two separate processes 

with different authorities analyzed by 

different mission areas (including 

Regulatory and Civil Works) inside the 

USACE. Under Section 404 of the CWA 

and Section 10 of the Rivers and 

Harbors Act, the District Engineer 

permits the discharge of dredged or fill 

material into the waters of the United 

States as well as work, to include the 

installation and maintenance of 

structures, in navigable waters of the 

U.S., if the discharge meets the 

requirements of the Environmental 

Protection Agency’s 404(b)(1) 

guidelines, and the proposal is 

determined to not be contrary to the 

overall public interest. Under 33 U.S.C. 

408, the Chief of Engineers grants 

permission to alter, modify, or impair an 

existing USACE project if it is not 

injurious to the public interest and does 

not impair the usefulness of such work. 

The proposed project involves structural 

crossings of the Federal Mississippi 

River and Tributaries (MR&T) Levee and 

could potentially impact the Mississippi 

River Navigation Channel, the future 

footprint of the Federal West Shore Lake 

Pontchartrain Hurricane and Storm 

Damage Risk Reduction System levee 

project as well as other Federal projects. 

USACE Regulatory and Civil Works will 

coordinate on all aspects of the 

production of the EIS. 

ADDRESSES: Please send written 

comments to Kenny Blanke, U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, New Orleans 

District, Regulatory Branch (CEMVN– 

OD–SC), P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, 

LA 70160 or by email at CEMVNMaurepas@usace.army.mil. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions about the DA permit, project 

and EIS should be directed to: Mr. 

Kenny Blanke at (504) 862–1217, or the 

email above. Questions on the 408 

permissions should be directed to: Mr. 

Nathan Dayan at (504) 862–2530 or at 

the email above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1. Authority: Section 10 of the Rivers 

and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403); 

Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act 

of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 408); Section 404 of 

the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344); 


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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 2014 / Notices 64757 

and, Section 102 of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 

4332). 

2. Proposed Project. The USACE will 

prepare an EIS to analyze the impacts of 

diverting sediment/nutrient laden 

Mississippi River water into the 

southern Maurepas Swamp. CPRA has 

stated that the proposed project purpose 

is to restore portions of the southern 

Maurepas Swamp that are degrading 

due to cypress-tupelo stress and loss by 

addressing the existing conditions of 

subsidence, permanent flooding, salt 

stress, and sediment/nutrient starvation. 

The proposed project is located along 

the left descending bank of the 

Mississippi River at approximate river 

mile 144, in St. John the Baptist Parish, 

LA. The proposed project entails the 

construction of an intake channel that 

would be excavated in the Mississippi 

River batture, a gated structure to be 

built through the Mississippi River 

federal levee, and three (3) 10-foot x 10- 

foot culverts to be installed to convey 

river water under the levee and LA 

Highway 44. The culverts would then 

discharge into a sand settling basin, 

connected to an approximate 5.5-mile 

long banked conveyance channel which 

would divert flow northerly to Hope 

Canal and into the Maurepas Swamp. 

The diversion channel has proposed 

culvert crossings at its intersection with 

the existing Canadian National Railway 

and the Kansas City Southern Railway, 

as well as US Highway 61. North of US 

Highway 61, the channel would then 

follow the existing Hope Canal 

alignment to finally distribute the 

diverted water into the forested 

wetlands approximately 1,000 feet north 

of Interstate 10. Other ancillary features 

of this project include the construction 

of a drainage pumping station at the 

confluence of Hope Canal and Bourgeois 

Canals to maintain the existing storm 

water drainage capacity for the 

community of Garyville, Louisiana, the 

relocation/construction of a new Hope 

Canal public boat launch, the 

installation of rock weirs at the Blind 

River, Bourgeois Canal, Bayou Secret, 

the creation of five (5) cuts in the 

abandoned railroad embankment north 

of Interstate 10 and east of the Blind 

River, and the installation of ten (10) 

check valves along the north side of 

Interstate 10 on the existing culverts 

under the interstate. Four (4) lateral 

relief valves are proposed to be 

constructed off the water conveyance 

channel, north of the proposed pumping 

station and south of Interstate 10, each 

having two (2) 24-inch metal pipes with 

24-inch knife gate valves to divert water 

to the west and east of the proposed 

channel into the Maurepas Swamp. 

USACE Regulatory prepared an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) that 

documented potential direct, secondary, 

and cumulative effects the proposed 

project would have on the social, 

physical, and natural environments of 

the project area. Information used in the 

preparation of the EA was developed by 

the applicant and/or independently by 

the USACE. In summary, the proposed 

project would have the potential for 

direct adverse impacts of approximately 

±140 acres of jurisdictional wetlands 

and ±20 acres of jurisdictional ‘‘Other 

Waters of the U.S.’’ In addition, CPRA 

has stated that the proposed project 

would provide a direct restoration 

benefit to approximately 36,120 acres of 

forested freshwater swamp habitat as a 

result of project implementation. 

USACE Regulatory concluded that the 

proposed project will result in 

significant impacts to the human 

environment. The National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

requires the preparation of an EIS for 

proposals that are subject to federal 

funding, control, responsibility, and 

permitting, and which have the 

potential for significant impacts. 

3. Alternatives. The EIS will include 

an evaluation of a reasonable range of 

alternatives. Currently, the following 

alternatives are expected to be analyzed 

in detail: The ‘‘no-build’’ alternative (no 

permit issued), the applicant’s preferred 

project (proposed project), and other 

alternatives that will address an array of 

conveyance and delivery of fresh water, 

nutrients, and sediment from the 

Mississippi River to help reverse and 

improve the viability of the southern 

Maurepas Swamp. Some alternatives 

may be brought forward from existing 

studies and projects including the 

Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection 

and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) 

Program, Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) 

Ecosystem Restoration Study, the 2012 

Louisiana Coastal Master Plan, and 

other alternatives may be developed 

through the NEPA scoping process. 

4. Scoping. Scoping is the process 

utilized for determining the range of 

alternatives and significant issues to be 

addressed in the EIS. The USACE 

invites full public participation to 

promote open communication on the 

issues surrounding the proposed 

project. All Federal, state, and local 

agencies, NGOs, and other persons or 

organizations that have an interest are 

urged to participate in the NEPA 

scoping process. A public meeting will 

be held to present information to the 

public, to help identify significant 

issues and to receive public input and 

comment into the scoping process. 

Public scoping meetings for both 

processes will be conducted jointly. The 

date, time and location of the scoping 

meeting have not been determined. The 

public will be notified of the scoping 

meeting information by separate public 

notice posted on the New Orleans 

District Web page (listed below). The 

dates, times and locations of the scoping 

meeting will be determined in 

conjunction with CPRA at a later date 

and announced through local media 

channels as well as the Regulatory 

public notice Web site: http://

www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Missions/

Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx. The 

USACE’ scoping process for the EIS 

includes a public involvement program 

with several opportunities to provide 

oral and written comments. In addition 

to public meetings and notifications in 

the Federal Register, the USACE will 

issue public notices when the draft and 

final EISs are available. Affected federal, 

state, and local agencies, Native 

American tribes, and other interested 

private organizations and parties are 

invited to participate. 

5. Significant issues. The EIS will 

analyze the potential social, economic, 

and natural environmental impacts to 

the local area resulting from the 

proposed project. Important resources 

and issues that will be evaluated in the 

EIS could include, but would not be 

limited to, effects on wetlands and other 

waters of the U.S.; aquatic resources; 

drainage patterns; air quality; water 

quality; suspended particulates/

turbidity; flood control functions; 

special aquatic sites; fish and wildlife 

habitat; threatened and endangered 

species and critical habitat; biological 

availability of possible contaminants; 

floodplain use; aesthetics; traffic/

transportation patterns; land use 

changes; public safety; economics; 

noise; consideration of private property; 

commercial and recreational fisheries; 

cultural resources; alternatives; 

secondary and cumulative impacts; and 

environmental justice (effect on 

minorities and low income 

populations). Socioeconomic issues 

include: Navigation; induced flooding; 

land use; property values; tax revenues; 

population and housing, community 

and regional growth; community 

cohesion; public services, recreation, 

utilities and community service systems 

and cumulative effects of related 

projects in the study area. 

6. Environmental Consultation and 

Review. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service) will assist in 

documenting existing conditions and 

assessing effects of project alternatives 

through the Fish and Wildlife 


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64758 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 2014 / Notices 

1NERC Petition at 3. 

2 Id. at 4. 3 Id. at 15. 

Coordination Act consultation 

procedures. Other environmental review 

and consulation requirements for the 

proposed project include the need for 

the applicant to obtain water quality 

certification under Section 401 of the 

Clean Water Act from the Louisiana 

Department of Environmental Quality. 

In addition, because the proposed 

project may affect federally listed 

species, the USACE will consult with 

the Service and the National Marine 

Fisheries Service (NMFS) in accordance 

with Section 7 of the Federal 

Endangered Species Act. The NMFS 

will be consulted regarding the effects of 

this proposed project on Essential Fish 

Habitat per the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

The USACE will also be consulting with 

the State Historic Preservation Officer 

under 106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act concerning properties 

listed, or potentially eligible for listing. 

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. 

The USACE will use a ‘‘third party 

contractor’’ to prepare all or part of the 

EIS or to obtain required information 

(40 CFR 1500–1508). ‘‘Third party 

contract’’ refers to the preparation of the 

EIS by a contractor paid by the 

applicant but who is selected and 

supervised directly by the district 

engineer. Contractor election by the 

USACE for a Regulatory Program EIS 

will be as follows: The USACE will 

select from the applicant’s list the first 

contractor that is fully acceptable to the 

USACE, using the applicant’s order of 

preference; this selection is finalized by 

the applicant’s selection of the same 

contractor. The procedures outlined in 

40 CFR 1500–1508 and CEQ’s forty 

questions must be followed. 

Furthermore, the USACE is responsible 

for final acceptance of the draft and 

final EIS. 

7. Availability. The Draft EIS (DEIS) is 

expected to be available for public 

comment and review no sooner than the 

spring of 2016. At that time, a 45-day 

public review period will be provided 

for individuals and agencies to review 

and comment on the DEIS. All 

interested parties are encouraged to 

respond to this notice and provide a 

current address if they wish to be 

notified of the DEIS circulation. 

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25869 Filed 10–30–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3720–58–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. RD14–11–000] 

Proposed Agency Information 

Collection 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, DOE. 

ACTION: Comment request. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 

3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (Commission or 

FERC) is submitting the information 

collection in Docket No. RD14–11–000 

to the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review of the information 

collection requirements. Any interested 

person may file comments directly with 

OMB and should address a copy of 

those comments to the Commission as 

explained below. The Commission 

issued a Notice in the Federal Register 

(79 FR 46781, 8/11/2014) requesting 

public comments. FERC received no 

comments in response to that notice and 

has made this notation in its submission 

to OMB. 

DATES: Comments on the collection of 

information are due by December 1, 

2014. 

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, 

regarding FERC–725A (OMB Control 

Number 1902–0244) and FERC–725X 

(OMB Control Number TBD), should be 

sent via email to the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs: 

oira_submission@omb.gov. Attention: 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also 

be reached via telephone at 202–395– 

4718. 

A copy of the comments should also 

be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, identified by the Docket 

No. RD14–11–000, by either of the 

following methods: 

• eFiling at Commission’s Web site: 

http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/

efiling.asp. 

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 

Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. 

Instructions: All submissions must be 

formatted and filed in accordance with 

submission guidelines at: http://

www.ferc.gov/help/submissionguide.asp. For user assistance contact 

FERC Online Support by email at 

ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or by phone 

at: (866) 208–3676 (toll-free), or (202) 

502–8659 for TTY. 

Docket: Users interested in receiving 

automatic notification of activity in this 

docket or in viewing/downloading 

comments and issuances in this docket 

may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/docs-filing.asp. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ellen Brown may be reached by email 

at DataClearance@FERC.gov, by 

telephone at (202) 502–8663, and by fax 

at (202) 273–0873. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

proposed information collection 

changes in Docket No. RD14–11–000 

relate to the proposed Reliability 

Standards VAR–001–4 (Voltage and 

Reactive Control) and VAR–002–3 

(Generator Operation for Maintaining 

Network Voltage Schedules), developed 

by the North American Electric 

Reliability Corporation (NERC), and 

submitted to the Commission for 

approval. The Commission received 

NERC’s petition to approve the 

proposed Reliability Standards on June 

9, 2014. 

NERC summarizes the VAR group of 

standards as follows: 

The Voltage and Reactive (‘‘VAR’’) group of 

Reliability Standards, which consists of two 

continent-wide Reliability Standards, VAR– 

001–3 and VAR–002–2b, is designed to 

maintain voltage stability on the Bulk-Power 

System, protect transmission, generation, 

distribution, and customer equipment, and 

support the reliable operation of the BulkPower System.1

In its petition, NERC also summarizes 

the proposed Reliability Standards’ 

applicability and requirements: 

In general, proposed Reliability Standard 

VAR–001–4 sets forth the requirements 

applicable to Transmission Operators for 

scheduling, monitoring, and controlling 

Reactive Power resources in the Real-time 

Operations, Same-day Operations, and 

Operational Planning time horizons to 

regulate voltage and Reactive Power flows for 

the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power 

System. Proposed Reliability Standard VAR– 

002–3 sets forth the requirements applicable 

to Generator Operators and Generator 

Owners for providing the necessary reactive 

support and voltage control necessary to 

maintain reliable operations. Generators are 

the largest and most reliable Reactive Power 

resource and play an integral role in 

maintaining voltage stability on the BulkPower System. Collectively, the proposed 

Reliability Standards are designed to prevent 

voltage instability and voltage collapse on the 

Bulk-Power System.2

Finally, NERC also states that the 

proposed Reliability Standards improve 

reliability, clarify requirement language 

and eliminate redundant or unnecessary 

requirements.3


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES