VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will host four public scoping meetings for the preparation of a supplemental environmental impact statement to address the impacts associated with the construction of remaining authorized work on the Mississippi River mainline levees of the Mississippi River and Tributaries project.
USACE issued a notice of intent to prepare Supplement II to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS II), Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Project, Mississippi River Mainline Levees and Channel Improvement and published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2018. This work is one of the major features of the MR&T Project used to provide comprehensive flood damage control and risk reduction beginning at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to the Head of Passes, Louisiana.
SEIS II will evaluate an array of site-specific alternatives, including the no-action alternative, with a focus to avoid and minimize reasonably foreseeable adverse effects from construction of necessary additional authorized MRL project features. Alternatives will include evaluations of measures, or combination of measures, along with evaluation of locations of borrow areas that avoid and minimize reasonably foreseeable adverse effects. Potential alternatives may include flood risk reduction measures such as raising and widening portions of the levee to the authorized design grade and cross-sections, installing or stabilizing floodwalls, levee setbacks, and various seepage control measures such as, seepage berms, relief wells with the associated drainage and/or pumping plants for water conveyance, and cutoff trenches. Other alternatives will be developed through the scoping period based on public input. Additionally, SEIS II will identify measures to avoid, offset, or minimize impacts to resources where feasible.
The publication of the notice of intent in the Federal Register begins a formal public scoping comment period, which will continue through Oct. 15, 2018. The four public meetings are scheduled from 7-9 p.m. as follows:
• Sept. 10: Holiday Inn Blytheville, 1121 East Main Street, Blytheville, Arkansas 72315
• Sept. 11: Vicksburg Convention Center, 1600 Mulberry Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180
• Sept. 12: Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Room C111, 602 North 5th Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802
• Sept: 13: United States Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District Headquarters District Assembly Room, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Public scoping meetings will present information to the public followed by a public comment period. More information about the public scoping meetings can be found at the following website: http://www.mvk.usace.army.mil/MRLSEIS/. The notice of intent and other content related to the supplemental environmental impact statement are also available on the website. USACE welcome full public participation to promote open communication in the scoping phase and invites interested parties to identify potential issues, concerns and reasonable alternatives that should be considered.
In order for public comments to be recorded for inclusion in the Administrative Record and be considered in the SEIS II development process, members of the public, interested persons and entities must submit their comments to USACE by mail, email, or verbally at the Scoping Meeting(s). Written comments submitted for consideration are due no later than October 15, 2018 and may be submitted: (1) to USACE at public scoping meetings above; (2) by regular U.S. Mail mailed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: CEMVN-PDC-UDC, 167 North Main Street, Room B-202, Memphis, Tennessee 38103-1894; and (3) by email to: MRL-SEIS-2@usace.army.mil. Please include your name and return address on the first page of your written comments. All personally identifiable information voluntarily submitted by a commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
To read the notice of intent in its entirety, visit the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/13/2018-14972/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-supplement-ii-to-the-final-environmental-impact-statement-mississippi
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