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Corps extends comment period for dredged material management plan

Published July 28, 2017

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is extending the comment period for its draft Environmental Assessment for the Lower Pool 4 dredged material management plan. The new deadline is Aug. 25.

The latest extension assures the Corps’ stakeholders and the public have sufficient time to provide written comments associated with the draft plan.

“After receiving requests from local stakeholders to extend the deadline earlier this week, I decided an extension would provide the opportunity to ensure we have a common understanding of the way forward to complete the plan collaboratively,” said Col. Sam Calkins, St Paul District commander.

The Corps will begin the next step in the process once the comment period expires. This involves continued coordination with federal, state and local partners to ensure we explore all options and develop an affordable and acceptable plan. The final plan will also establish the Federal Standard, which is the Corps’ regulation requiring the least costly, environmentally acceptable option. The Federal Standard will be used to compare alternate options as the Corps works with its partners to explore ways to reduce impacts to communities and implement locally preferred options.

The draft plan outlines the Corps’ requirement to remove and permanently place more than 10 million cubic yards of dredged material from the Mississippi River’s Lower Pool 4 during the next 40 years. The plan, once finalized, will serve as the framework for maintaining the 9-foot navigation channel.  

The draft plan was originally released May 11. Questions and comments concerning the project should be directed to Bob Edstrom, Corps project manager, at
Robert.K.Edstrom@usace.army.mil. Please address all correspondence on this project to the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention: Project Management, 180 5th St. E., Suite 700, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1678. 

This project requires a review of environmental effects under the National Environmental Policy Act. A copy of the draft document is being coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state resource agencies as a part of this public review process. A final determination will be made following the public review period. The draft Environmental Assessment can be viewed and downloaded at:
www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx.   

The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the St. Paul District Fiscal Year 2016 $78 million budget, nearly 1,250 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $120 million to the national economy. For more information, see
www.mvp.usace.army.mil.


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Release no. 17-060