![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Study, Port Monmouth, New Jersey
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: March 10, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 48)]
[Notices]
[Page 12974-12976]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10mr00-41]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the
Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction
Study, Port Monmouth, New Jersey
AGENCY: U.S Army Amry Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DESI) for the Raritan
Bay and Sandy Hook Bay, Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Study,
Port Monmouth, New Jersey. The purpose of the study is to identify a
plan that would protect the Port Monmouth community from damages caused
by hurricanes and storm. The DEIS was prepared to evaluate those
alternative identified in the Feasibility Report. Additional
information on the study is provided the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section as indicated below.
DATES: The DEIS will be available for public review on or about March
10, 2000. The review period of the document will be for forty five days
from the publication date of the DEIS. To request a copy of the DEIS
please call (212) 264-4663.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the
DEIS, please contact Mark Burlas, Project Wildlife Biologist, telephone
(212) 264-4663, Planning Division, ATTN: CENAN-PL-EA, Corps of
Engineers, New York District, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, New York
10278-0090.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. The Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay (RBSHB), Hurricane and Storm
Damage Reduction Study, Port Monmouth, New Jersey was authorized by the
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Public Works and
Transportation, adopted August 1, 1990, which states ``Resolved by the
Committee on Public Works and Transportation of the United States House
of Representatives, that the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors
is requested to review the report of Chief of Engineers on RBSHB, New
Jersey, published as House Document 464, Eighty-seventh Congress,
Second Session, and other pertinent reports, to determine the
advisability of modifications to the recommendations contained therein
to provide erosion control and storm damage prevention for the RBSHB.''
2. The 1.8-square-mile Project area is located in Port Monmouth,
Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, along the RBSHB,
bounded by Compton Creek to the east, Pews Creek to the west, and New
Jersey State Highway 36 to the south. The Project was divided into
three study area for plan formulation and impact assessment purposes:
the Bay Shoreline Study Area (BSSA), the Pews Creek Study Area (PCSA),
and the Compton Creek Study Area (CCSA). The BSSA is located along the
RBSHB, and comprises the shorefront, beach, and dune complex that has
historically experienced significant erosion, and consequently provides
limited tidal surge and flood protection to the adjacent Port Monmounth
community. The PCSA is located in the western portion of the Project
area, and is situated in a highly developed, residential portion of
Middletown Township. The PCSA includes the Pews Creek channel, a tidal
creek that drains to the north into the RBSHB, and is mostly tidal
wetlands. The CCSA is located in the eastern portion of the Project
area, and is associated with a high developed, residential portion of
Middletown Township. The CCSA includes the Compton Creek channel, a
tidal creek that drains to the north into RBSHB, and is mostly tidal
wetlands.
3. The selected plan is comprised of levees, floodwalls, a storm
gate, road closure gates, fortification of an existing dune, pump
stations, stormwater retention basins, beach nourishment, periodic
beach renourishment, environmental mitigation, and an offshore borrow
area. The selected plan, which is the environmentally preferred plan,
was determined to be the National Economic Development (NED) Plan. A
NED Plan is one that is consistent with the objectives of contributing
to NED through the reduction of flood hazards and associated flood
damages while protecting the Nation's natural, cultural, biological,
historic, and social resources.
a. The District determined that interior drainage facilities were
required to safely store and discharge storm water runoff that would
collect on the protected side of the CCSA levee. Specifically, these
facilities were planned and evaluated separately from the line of
protection (levees and floodwalls) and would provide adequate drainage
at least equal to that of the existing infrastructure.
b. Throughout the planning process, the District formulated
alternative plans to meet general and specific planning objectives
while considering the preferences of various interested parties with
regard to plan selection and
[[Page 12975]]
design. The District has consulted and coordinated its planning efforts
with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (JNDEP), the
non-Federal sponsor, and representatives of the Middletown Township and
various Monmouth County agencies. The plan formulation process
emphasized the avoidance and minimization of environmental impacts,
especially to wetlands, and then mitigation was included to compensate
for unavoidable habitat loss.
c. The selected plan consists of approximately: 7,000 linear feet
(ft) of earthen levees average +14 ft National Geodetic Vertical Datum
(NGVD); 3,600 ft of concrete floodwalls averaging about +8 ft NGVD; a
40-ft wide storm gate across Pews Creek with a flood water pump house;
initial beach nourishment of about 378,500 cubic yards of sand, with
periodic renourishment of approximately 125,000 cubic yards of sand at
10-year intervals; and , three interior drainage ponding areas each
with primary and secondary drainage outlets.
2. The selected plan without mitigation would directly and
indirectly impact approximately 14.89 acres (ac) of wetland and upland
areas. The majority of these impacts would involve the conversion of
native habitat types to maintained (grass-covered) levees, permanent
floodwalls, and storm gate. Specifically, the selected plan would
permanently impact several vegetation cover types. Finally, the
selected plan would temporarily impact herbaceous, scrub/shrub,
Phragmites wetlands, and high salt marsh habitats due to clearing and
equipment operation in temporary work areas.
a. Less mobile aquatic and terrestrial wildlife species within the
footprint of the selected plan would experience mortality due to
construction. Furthermore, a short-term decrease in reproductive
success of these species could occur due to construction activities. In
the long-term, following habitat conversion, wildlife species would
lose or gain habitat resources based on their habitat requirements. No
rare, threatened, or endangered species or their critical habitats
would be adversely affected by the implementation of the selected plan.
b. The District conducted a Habitat Evaluation Procedures (HEP)
analysis to assess the impacts of the selected plan. This HEP analysis
concluded that impacts associated with the construction of the selected
plan (without mitigation) will result in the loss of 2.04 black duck
(Anas rubripes) and 3.14 marsh ren (Cistothorus palustris) habitat
units (HUs) at the year of construction (Year 2002). At the year of
2052, black duck and marsh wren habitat quality would be reduced by
49.94 and 136.71 cumulative habitat units (CHUs). Similarly, the AAHU
of the black duck and marsh wren decrease by 1.00 and 2.73 over the 50-
year design life of the Project. In addition, the HEP analysis
determined that 2.13 acres of upland habitat would be impacted, 7.13
acres of wetlands would be converted to upland, and additional 5.63
acres of wetland habitat would be indirectly impacted by the selected
plan. Indirect impacts to wetlands involve the conversion, not the loss
of non-Phragmites wetlands to Phragmites-dominated wetlands.
c. The selected plan is expected to have a direct, short-term
impact on benthic resources. Beach nourishment is expected to smother
benthic organisms causing their mortality. However, once buried, some
mobile shellfish species and polycheate worms have the ability to
burrow upwards and survive. The recovery of benthic resources to
preconstruction conditions should occur shortly after construction. A
benthic-monitoring plan will be conducted to quantify benthic recovery
rates and the composition of the recolonized benthic community.
d. The District developed a tidal hydrodynamic model to compare the
effects of a storm gate in Pews Creek to the existing conditions. The
model projected that the selected 40-ft storm gate in the open position
would lower the mean spring high tide by only 0.72 inches and all other
normal tidal events would be unaffected. Accordingly, the effects to
the daily tidal exchange are expected to be minute. A monitoring plan
is proposed to support the prediction of the model. In addition, the
storm gate is anticipated to increase peak ebb tidal velocities
potentially allowing more suspended sediments to be transported out of
the salt marsh into the RBSHB. As a result, the sedimentation rate of
the salt marsh may be reduced.
e. In addition, the implementation of the selected plan can provide
benefits to horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus), migratory birds, and
the federally threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus). A wider
sandy beach and improved intertidal habitat conditions may provide more
suitable spawning habitat for the horseshoe crab, thus potentially
increasing prey resources available for consumption by migratory birds.
It is well documented that the timing of the spring migration for many
species is linked to the spawning activity of the horseshoe crab.
Furthermore, a much larger and wider sandy beach created by the
construction of the selected plan should provide more roosting space
for wintering waterfowl and increase the amount of potential nesting
habitat for shorebirds, such as the piping plover.
f. No areas were identified as containing potential environmental
contamination, or were considered to pose a great risk to human health.
Subsurface testing was performed and evidence of Native American
occupation was found in the vicinity of the selected plan's footprint.
Further evaluation will be conducted and coordinated with the New
Jersey Historic Preservation Office, as part of Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act compliance. Short-term negligible
impacts to air quality and traffic are expected only during
construction.
3. The District, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and NJDEP, developed an
array of mitigation plans using HEP protocols. The selected mitigation
plan proposes to restore approximately 12.80 acres of wetland
Phragmites-dominated habitat to salt marsh habitat. As compared to the
No-Action alternative, implementation of the selected plan and selected
mitigation plan would increase black duck habitat quality by 0.78 HUs
and marsh wren habitat quality by 0.96 HUs at the year of construction.
At the year of 2052, black duck and marsh wren habitat quality would
increase by 157.83 and 106.55 CHUs. In addition, the AAHU of the black
duck and marsh wren would increase by 3.16 and 2.13 over the Project's
50-year design life when compared to the No-Action alternative.
a. Based upon a Phragmites Encroachment Model (PEM) developed by
the District specifically for the assessment of future conditions and
impacts, the construction of the selected plan and selected mitigation
plan would prevent the loss of about 15.27 acres of salt marsh habitat
when compared to the No-Action alternative for the 50-year design-life
of the Project. In summary, the comparison of the selected plan to the
No-Action alternative suggests that implementation of the selected plan
will provide long-term benefits to wildlife resources of the intertidal
zone and the coastal marsh ecosystem at Port Monmouth.
b. Mitigation measures for cultural resources will be developed in
conjunction with the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, the
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and interested
parties.
[[Page 12976]]
4. Based on coordination with other federal and state agencies, an
unresolved issue has been identified. A consensus to determine the
appropriate level of compensatory mitigation to offset environmental
impacts has not been reached. The District plans to continue its
ongoing coordination effort with other federal and state agencies to
secure an agreement concerning the amount of mitigation that is needed
to appropriately compensate for environmental impacts. No other
unresolved issues are known at this time, pending review of this DEIS.
Frank Santomauro,
Chief, Planning Division.
[FR Doc. 00-5839 Filed 3-9-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-06-M