1. ERDC Knowledge Core
2. United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
3. Mississippi Valley Division
4. New Orleans District
5. Environmental Documents

Title:	Final Integrated Design and Implementation Report and Environmental Assessment #559 : Louisiana Coastal Area Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Program, Calcasieu Sabine Project, Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Authors:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. New Orleans District
Keywords:	Dredging Dredging spoil Environmental management Inland navigation Cameron Parish (La.)
Publisher:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. New Orleans District.
Abstract:	The Federal navigation project known as the "Lake Charles Deep Water Channel and Calcasieu River and Pass, Louisiana" that was authorized by the River and Harbor Act of 1946 (hereinafter referred to as the "Calcasieu River Ship Channel"), provides for a channel 35 feet deep and 250 feet wide from the wharves of the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District (including the Loop around Clooney Island) to the Gulf of Mexico, via Calcasieu Lake and through Calcasieu Pass, a Channel 35 to 37 feet deep and 250 feet wide between the jetties, and an approach channel 37 feet deep and 400 feet wide seaward to the 37 foot depth in the Gulf of Mexico. The Recommended Plan for the Calcasieu Sabine Project proposes to use dredged material removed during routine operation and maintenance dredging of the lower portion of the CSC for the creation and restoration of marsh habitat at specific sites within the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The CSC, a 68-mile long deep draft Federal navigation channel, is located in southwest coastal Louisiana. The northern boundary of the CSC is located at CSC Mile 36.0, just south of Interstate 10 in Lake Charles, Louisiana; the southern boundary extends to CSC Mile (-32.0) in the Gulf of Mexico. Alternative plans for individual Program projects are developed with the level of detail necessary to select a justified, acceptable, and implementable plan that is consistent with applicable law and policy and meets the goals and objectives of the Calcasieu Sabine Project. Benefit and cost, risk and uncertainty, cost effectiveness, and incremental cost analyses are undertaken using procedures that are most appropriate for the scope and complexity of this project. Opportunities to avoid or minimize adverse environmental impacts, and to mitigate for those impacts that cannot reasonably be avoided, are considered in formulation of the proposed action. Appropriate National Ecosystem Restoration benefits were used and appropriate environmental considerations were taken into account by the Project Delivery Team in formulating the proposed action. The objective of ecosystem restoration is to restore degraded ecosystem structure, function, and dynamic processes to a less degraded, more natural condition. However, partial restoration may also be possible, with significant and valuable improvements made to degraded ecological resources. The needs for improving or re-establishing both the structural components and the functions of the natural area should be examined. Under the Program, this objective is met by restoring (or partially restoring) degraded distributary ridges, marsh habitat, or both if possible, of coastal Louisiana through beneficial use of material dredged from federal navigation channels to restore or preserve critical geomorphic features and stall future land loss. After this Final Integrated DIR/EA is approved, the Department of the Army and the non-Federal Sponsor will execute a Project Partnership Agreement to implement the Recommended Plan.
Description:	Environmental Assessment / Finding of No Significant Impact
Rights:	Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/11681/35416
Appears in Collections:	Environmental Documents