52042 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2017 / Notices 

Harbor. Channel deepening and 

widening alternatives were evaluated as 

well as the No Action/Future Without 

Project Alternative. Pursuant to the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the 

USACE developed the draft GRR/EA to 

examine and assess the impacts of the 

project alternatives and determined that 

implementation of the Proposed Action 

would have not have significant 

impacts. 

This study was authorized by Section 

216 of the Flood Control Act of 1970 

(Pub. L. 91–611), which authorizes the 

review of completed federal projects in 

the interest of navigation and related 

purposes to determine the feasibility of 

further port deepening. 

DATES: The Draft GRR/EA is available 

for a 30-day review period. Written 

comments, pursuant to the NEPA, will 

be accepted until the close of public 

review at the close of business on 

December 10, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments or 

questions from the public may be 

submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Norfolk District, ATTN: Ms. 

Kimberly Koelsch, Planning Branch, 

Environmental Analysis Section 

(CENAO–WR–PE), Norfolk, VA 23510 or 

via email to kimberly.c.koelsch@

usace.army.mil. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Kimberly Koelsch, U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Norfolk District, VA 23510, 

757–201–7837 or via email at 

kimberly.c.koelsch@usace.army.mil. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

document is available at the following 

locations: 

(1) USACE Norfolk Harbor and 

Channels Deepening Project Web site: 

http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/About/ 

Projects/Norfolk-Harbor-ChannelDeepening/. 

(2) Slover Public Library, 235 East 

Plume Street, Norfolk, VA 23510. 

(3) Copies may also be requested in 

writing at (see ADDRESSES). 

Proposed Action. The Study Area is 

located in Hampton Roads, a 25 squaremile natural harbor serving port 

facilities in the cities of Norfolk, 

Newport News, Portsmouth, 

Chesapeake, and Hampton in 

southeastern Virginia. The study area 

consists of a network of federallyimproved channels extending from 

Atlantic Ocean Channel to Lamberts 

Bend (on the Elizabeth River). The 

project has not been constructed, nor is 

it maintained, to its authorized depth. 

The Action Alternative consists of 

constructing and maintaining the 

following features: 

• Deepening the Atlantic Ocean 

Channel to a required depth of 

approximately 59 feet. 

• Deepening the Thimble Shoal 

Channel to a required depth of 

approximately 56 feet. 

• Widening the Thimble Shoal 

Channel Meeting Areas (one on each 

side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge 

Tunnel) to approximately 1,200 feet (an 

additional 200 feet from current 

conditions) and deepening where 

necessary to a required depth of 56 feet. 

• Deepening Anchorage F to a 

required depth of approximately 55 feet. 

• Deepening the Norfolk Harbor 

Channel to a required depth of 

approximately 55 feet. 

• Deepening the Newport News 

Channel to a required depth of 

approximately 55 feet. 

• Associated Operations and 

Maintenance Activities. 

Implementation of the Preferred 

Alternative would have the potential to 

impact water quality, benthic resources, 

cultural resources, floodplains, federally 

listed threatened and endangered 

species, marine mammals, and other 

natural resources. The Proposed Action 

must be located in a floodplain in order 

to use the Craney Island Dredged 

Material Management Area (CIDMMA) 

as a dredged material placement site. 

The Proposed Action will adhere to the 

8-step process as outlined under 

Executive Order 11988, Floodplain 

Management. 

Alternatives. The Draft GRR/EA 

considers a reasonable range of 

widening and deepening alternatives in 

the project channels, meetings areas, 

and anchorages to meet the proposed 

action’s purpose and need. It also 

incorporates measures to avoid and 

minimize impacts to threatened and 

endangered species, fish and wildlife 

species, estuarine and marine habitat, 

and other resources. In response to 

problems and opportunities, a range of 

alternatives was evaluated through an 

iterative screening and formulation 

process, resulting in identification of a 

Preferred Alternative. 

Public Involvement. On September 22, 

2015, a Notice of Intent to publish an 

EA was published, along with 

information on a NEPA public scoping 

meeting on September 25, 2015. A 

Federal Register Notice was also 

published to announce the initiation of 

the feasibility study and also the public 

NEPA scoping meeting. As part of the 

public involvement process, all affected 

federal, Commonwealth of Virginia, and 

local agencies, private organizations, 

and the public were invited to the 

Public Scoping Meeting on September 

25, 2017 in Norfolk, VA. 

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24395 Filed 11–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3720–58–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army, Corps of 

Engineers 

Availability of the Final Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Lower Bois 

d’Arc Creek Reservoir Project, Fannin 

County, TX 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (USACE) Tulsa District has 

prepared a Final Environmental Impact 

Statement (FEIS) to analyze the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative effects of the 

construction of the proposed Lower Bois 

d’Arc Creek Reservoir (LBCR) and 

related actions proposed by the North 

Texas Municipal Water District 

(NTMWD) in Fannin County, Texas. 

The Proposed Action is a regional water 

supply project intended to provide up to 

175,000 acre-feet/year (AFY), with an 

estimated firm yield of 120,665 AFY, of 

new water for NTMWD’s member cities 

and direct customers in all or portions 

of nine counties in northern Texas— 

Collin, Dallas, Denton, Fannin, Hopkins, 

Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, and Rockwall. 

Construction of the reservoir and related 

facilities would result in permanent 

impacts to approximately 5,874 acres of 

wetlands, 651,140 linear feet of streams, 

and 78 acres of open waters. This action 

requires authorization from the USACE 

under Section 404 of the Clean Water 

Act. The Section 404 permit applicant is 

the NTMWD. 

DATES: The FEIS will be used to inform 

the final USACE decision on this 

proposal. In accordance with the NEPA 

regulations, a final decision will not be 

made before December 9, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Comments, if any, regarding 

the FEIS must be submitted by 

December 9, 2017, to Mr. Andrew R. 

Commer, Regulatory Office Chief, 

USACE Tulsa District (CESWT–RO), 

2488 East 81st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma 

74137–4290, or via email: ceswt-ro@

usace.army.mil. Comments submitted 

by email must include ‘‘FEIS Lower 

Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir’’ in the 

subject line. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Andrew R. Commer, USACE Tulsa 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2017 / Notices 52043 

District, Regulatory Office at 918–669– 

7400. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FEIS 

was prepared in accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the 

USACE regulations for NEPA 

implementation (33 Code of Federal 

Regulations [CFR] parts 230 and 325 

(with associated Appendices B and C)). 

The USACE Tulsa District, Regulatory 

Office is the lead federal agency 

responsible for the FEIS and 

information contained in the EIS will 

serve as the basis for a decision whether 

or not to issue a Section 404 permit. All 

comments received on the Revised Draft 

EIS (RDEIS), to include the Draft EIS 

(DEIS) comments not specifically 

addressed in the RDEIS, are reflected 

and responses are provided in the 

accompanying Comment Categories and 

Responses Document. It also provides 

information for Federal, State, and local 

agencies having jurisdictional 

responsibility for affected resources. 

The USACE has determined that the 

basic project purpose in the present case 

is to develop a new water supply for the 

applicant NTMWD and its member 

cities and customers. 

The purpose of the FEIS is to provide 

decision-makers and the public with 

information pertaining to the Proposed 

Action and Alternatives, and to disclose 

environmental impacts and identify 

mitigation measures to reduce impacts. 

NTMWD proposes to build the LBCR 

with a total storage capacity of 

approximately 367,609 acre-feet. A dam 

approximately 10,400 feet (about 2 

miles) long and up to 90 feet high would 

be constructed, and much of the 

reservoir footprint would be cleared of 

trees and built structures. NTMWD also 

proposes to construct several related 

facilities or connected actions. These 

include a raw water intake pump station 

and electrical substation at the reservoir 

site, as well as a 90 to 96-inch diameter 

buried pipeline to carry raw water from 

the new reservoir approximately 35 

miles in a southwesterly direction. The 

raw water pipeline will connect to a 

new water treatment plant (WTP)—the 

‘‘North WTP’’—and terminal storage 

reservoir (TSR) that would be located 

west of the City of Leonard, also in 

Fannin County, Texas. The North WTP 

and TSR will be constructed regardless 

of whether NTMWD receives a Section 

404 permit to proceed with the 

Proposed Action; the North WTP and 

TSR are not part of the Proposed Action. 

A number of rural roads within the 

footprint and in the vicinity of the 

proposed reservoir would have to be 

closed or relocated; the most significant 

of these is FM 1396, which would be 

relocated to cross the reservoir in a 

different alignment on an entirely new 

bridge that would need to be 

constructed. 

An aquatic resources mitigation plan 

has been prepared by the applicant to 

comply with the federal policy of ‘‘no 

overall net loss of wetlands’’ and to 

provide compensatory mitigation, to the 

extent practicable, for impacts to other 

waters of the United States that would 

be impacted by construction of the 

proposed reservoir. NTMWD has 

purchased a 14,960-acre parcel of land 

known as the Riverby Ranch, which 

borders the Red River. This working 

ranch is located downstream of the 

proposed project within both the same 

watershed (Bois d’Arc Creek) and the 

same county (Fannin). NTMWD 

acquired the Riverby Ranch specifically 

because its biophysical features have the 

potential to provide a portion of the 

appropriate mitigation for the proposed 

project. Additional mitigation is 

proposed within a 1,900-acre upstream 

site and within the proposed reservoir 

itself. Though not part of the proposed 

mitigation plan, Bois d’Arc Creek 

downstream of the reservoir will receive 

environmental flow releases as a result 

of an operations plan and flow regime 

established in consultation with the 

Texas Commission on Environmental 

Quality (TCEQ), and stipulated in the 

Water Rights Permit issued by TCEQ to 

NTMWD. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency Region 6, U.S. Forest Service, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 

participated as cooperating agencies in 

the formulation of the FEIS. 

On December 8, 2009, the USACE 

held a NEPA EIS public scoping 

meeting in Bonham, Texas. On March 

24, 2015, the USACE held a public 

meeting during the comment period on 

the previous DEIS. On March 27, 2017, 

the USACE published the availability of 

the RDEIS in response to comments 

received on the DEIS. The revision and 

publication of this FEIS is informed by 

public and agency comment on the 

original DEIS and RDEIS and changes 

have been made to address commented 

issues. No public meeting is planned 

during this comment period. Copies of 

the FEIS will be available for review at 

the USACE Tulsa District Office, the 

permit applicant’s office in Wylie Texas, 

and at four locations in the project area 

in Fannin County, Texas, addresses of 

each as follows. 

1. Bonham Public Library, 305 East 

5th Street, Bonham, TX 75418; (903) 

583–3128. 

2. Sam Rayburn Library, 800 West 

Sam Rayburn Drive, Bonham, TX 75418; 

(903) 583–2455. 

3. Bertha Voyer Memorial Library, 500 

6th Street, Honey Grove, TX 75446; 

(903) 378–2206. 

4. Leonard Public Library, 102 South 

Main Street, Leonard, TX 75452; (903) 

587–2391. 

5. North Texas Municipal Water 

District headquarters, 505 East Brown 

Street, Wylie, TX 75098. 

6. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

Tulsa District, Regulatory Office, 2488 

East 81st Street, Tulsa, OK 74137–4290. 

Electronic copies of the FEIS may be 

obtained from the USACE Tulsa District, 

Regulatory Office or its Web site at 

http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/ 

Missions/Regulatory/Tulsa-DistrictEnvironmental-Impact-Statements/. 

Edward M. Parisotto, 

Acting Chief, Regulatory Office, Tulsa 

District. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24396 Filed 11–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3720–58–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[ER–FRL–9036–1] 

Environmental Impact Statements; 

Notice of Availability 

Responsible Agency: Office of Federal 

Activities, General Information (202) 

564–7146 or http://www2.epa.gov/ 

nepa/. 

Weekly receipt of Environmental Impact 

Statements (EIS) 

Filed 10/30/2017 Through 11/03/2017 

Pursuant to 40 CFR 1506.9. 

Notice 

Section 309(a) of the Clean Air Act 

requires that EPA make public its 

comments on EISs issued by other 

Federal agencies. EPA’s comment letters 

on EISs are available at: https://

cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-nepa-public/ 

action/eis/search. 

EIS No. 20170220, Draft, NSF, WV, 

Green Bank Observatory, Comment 

Period Ends: 01/08/2018, Contact: 

Elizabeth Pentecost (703) 292–4907. 

EIS No. 20170221, Draft, USFS, CA, San 

Gabriel River Confluence with Cattle 

Canyon Improvements Project, 

Comment Period Ends: 12/26/2017, 

Contact: Chinling Chen (626) 574– 

5255. 

Dated: November 6, 2017. 

Kelly Knight, 

Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office 

of Federal Activities. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24424 Filed 11–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES