Corps releases draft environmental assessment for Homme Dam Water Control Manual update

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, released a draft environmental assessment on a proposed update to the operations at Homme Dam in Walsh County, N.D.

The Corps is proposing to update the Homme Dam Water Control Manual. The update would allow Corps staff to draw down the reservoir in two stages. In the fall, the pool would be drawn down 3 feet from the normal summer pool elevation of 1080.0 feet. In the spring, the drawdown amount would be dependent on conditions in the basin. The spring drawdown would begin once temperatures warm up to reduce the potential for ice damage to structures downstream of the dam. 

The environmental assessment and additional information can be viewed and downloaded from the Corps’ website at: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx. 

A public review and comment period of the draft environmental assessment begins today and will close July 23. Questions and comments concerning the project should be directed to Megan McGuire, biologist, (651) 290-5990 or Megan.K.McGuire@usace.army.mil. Please address all correspondence on this project to Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Attention: Regional Planning and Environment Division North, 180 E. 5th St., Ste. 700, St. Paul, MN 55101-1678. Commenters are requested not to include personal privacy information, such as home addresses, or home phone numbers, in their comments unless they do not object to such information being made available to the public. 

The nearly 650 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 Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil. 

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