The United States Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) published a January 25th Federal Register Notice stating it intends to terminate preparation of a:
- Draft Integrated Feasibility Report
- Environmental Impact Statement
(collectively, “DIFR-EIS”)
See 88 Fed. Reg. 4818.
The DIFR relates to the Hatchie-Loosahatchie Mississippi River Ecosystem Restoration Study (“Study”).
A Notice of Intent to prepare the DIFR-EIS had previously been published on November 4, 2022. See 87 Fed. Reg. 6668.
The Study will examine restoring ecological structure and function along an approximate 39-mile reach of the Mississippi River:
- Bordering Arkansas and Tennessee between River Mile 775, above its confluence with the Hatchie River, and River Mile 736, below its confluence with the Loosahatchie River, including secondary channels and other floodplain aquatic habitat; floodplain forests; and several scarce vegetative communities such as, wetlands, rivercane, riverfront forests, and bottomland hardwood forests.
The restoration Study is authorized by Section 1202(A) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2018. It i stated to be the first of eight reaches of the Lower Mississippi River identified as priorities in a report prepared by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to Section 402 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000.
The Corps in the January 25th notice states that a scoping comment period ended on November 5, 2022, in regards to the original Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”).
During scoping the following activities were conducted:
- Project website prepared
- Press releases and notifications were sent to affected agencies and interested parties
- A virtual public meeting was held
- Two in-person public meeting were conducted in Tennessee
- One in-person public meeting was conducted in Arkansas
No adverse comments are stated to have been received and all comments are stated to have been generally supported of the proposed activities. In addition, the Corps states that the plan formulation process resulted in a reduced number of measures in the current array of alternatives being considered.
A copy of the Federal Register Notice can be downloaded here.
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