[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 135 (Wednesday, July 15, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41489-41490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17355]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army Corps of Engineers
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
Commercial Dredging of Construction Aggregate From the Kansas River in
the State of Kansas
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) is preparing an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the direct, indirect,
and cumulative effects of commercial dredging of sand and gravel from
the Kansas River in the State of Kansas. The proposed dredging will
occur within portions of the river between the mouth of the Kansas
River and river mile 170 at the confluence of the Kansas, Republican
and Smokey Hill Rivers. Department of the Army (DA) authorization under
Section 10 of the River and Harbors Act is required for the work to
obtain sand and gravel materials from the Kansas River by hydraulic
suction dredging operations. Commercial dredging in the Kansas River
has occurred for more than 100 years but the quantity of sand and
gravel materials annually withdrawn from the river has increased over
time. The existing permits for dredging, last issued in 2007, allowed
for a potential annual total of 3,150,000 tons of materials to be
extracted from the Kansas River. The current DA permits originally
scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012 were indefinitely extended
until after completion of an EIS. Five applicants are currently
requesting to extract 1,900,000 tons of material per year from the
river at eight locations.
DATES: A scoping meeting will be held: August 4, 2015, 4:00 to 7:00
p.m. in Lawrence, Kansas.
ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting location is: Lawrence Public Library
Auditorium, 707 Vermont Street, Lawrence, Kansas.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions and comments regarding the
proposed action and EIS should be addressed to Mr. Brian Donahue,
Regulatory Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 601 East 12th
Street, Room 402, Kansas City, MO 64106; (816) 389-3703;
[email protected]. For special needs (visual or hearing
impaired, Spanish translation, etc.) requests during the scoping
meetings, please call Brian Donahue by July 20, 2015.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The COE will be conducting a public scoping
meeting at the location above to describe the proposed activity,
preliminary alternatives, the National Environmental Policy Act process
and to solicit input on the issues and alternatives to be evaluated and
other related matters. Written comments for scoping will be accepted
until September 15, 2015. The COE has prepared a scoping announcement
to familiarize agencies, the public and interested organizations with
the proposed Project and potential environmental issues that may be
involved. The scoping announcement includes a list of the dredgers'
requested annual extraction tonnage and the requested dredging reaches.
Copies of the scoping announcement will be available at the public
scoping meetings or can be requested by mail.
The permit applicants include the four following currently
authorized dredgers: Holliday Sand and Gravel Company, LLC, (Lenexa,
Kansas); Masters Dredging, (Lawrence, Kansas); Kaw Valley Companies,
Inc. (Kansas City, Kansas); and Builders Choice Aggregates, (Topeka,
Kansas). One permit applicant not currently authorized to dredge but
seeking a permit is LBB, LLC (Topeka, Kansas). The final EIS would also
apply to future applications for similar dredging operations on the
Kansas River.
The COE has documented degradation or down-cutting of the river bed
in some areas where dredging activity has been concentrated. Bed
degradation may affect water intake structures, initiate tributary head
cuts, promote bank erosion or levee instability, undermine
[[Page 41490]]
pipelines and bridge piers, increase encroachment of the high bank,
affect aquatic habitat and create navigation hazards.
The EIS will be prepared according to the COE's procedures for
implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended,
42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c), and consistent with the COE's policy to
facilitate public understanding and review of agency proposals. As part
of the EIS process, a full range of reasonable alternatives including
the proposed dredging and no dredging will be evaluated.
The COE will invite the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geologic Survey, the Kansas
Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas State Historical
Society, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and the
Kansas Geologic Survey to be contributing agencies in the formulation
of the EIS.
Brian Donahue,
Regulatory Project Manager, Regulatory Branch.
[FR Doc. 2015-17355 Filed 7-14-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P