NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is requesting scoping comments from the public in preparation of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Morganza to the Gulf (MTG) project.
The SEIS will evaluate design changes to the authorized MTG project to meet the one percent Annual Exceedance Probability Storm Surge Risk Reduction (100-year level of risk reduction).
To ensure the Corps has sufficient time to consider public input in the preparation of the Draft EIS, scoping comments should be submitted by mail to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
Attn: CEMVN-PDC-C
7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118.
Or email: mvnenvironmental@usace.army.mil
Questions regarding the proposed action should be directed to Ms. Sandra Stiles:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District
Attn: CEMVN-PDS, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Phone (504) 862-2862
Email Sandra.E.Stiles@usace.army.mil.
Background: The MTG hurricane and storm damage risk reduction project is a levee system located approximately 60 miles southwest of New Orleans, Louisiana and includes most of Terrebonne Parish and a portion of Lafourche Parish between the Terrebonne Parish eastern boundary and Bayou Lafourche. The purpose of this project is to reduce the risk of damage caused by hurricane storm surges.
A review of the project is needed because of the increasing susceptibility of coastal communities to storm surge due to wetland loss, sea level rise, and subsidence. The MTG Project was initially authorized by Section 1001(24) of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007 in accordance with the Reports of the Chief of Engineers dated 23 August 2002 and 22 July 2003, at a total cost of $886.7 million.
The project was redesigned in the 2013 Integrated RPEIS and PACR Report, both to address the project cost increase beyond the statutory limitation in accordance with Section 902 of the WRDA of 1986, as amended, and to meet updated post-Hurricane Katrina design guidelines. The MTG Project was subsequently re-authorized by Section 7002(3)5 of the WRRDA of 2014 in accordance with the Report of the Chief of Engineers dated 8 July 2013, at an updated total cost of $10,265,100,000.
The MTG project was authorized to provide the 1% AEP level of hurricane and storm damage risk reduction while maintaining navigational passage and tidal exchange. The project consists of approximately 98 miles of levee including associated navigation, roadway, pump station fronting protection, and environmental control structures. The 2013 RPEIS provided an assessment for both programmatic and constructible features for the MTG project. Constructible features consisted of those project features that were determined to have sufficient design details to be constructed. Constructible features included levee reaches F1, F2, G1; the HNC Lock; and the Bayou Grand Caillou Floodgate. The remaining features were designed to a programmatic design level that would require supplemental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation prior to construction. The mitigation plan for the constructible features included restoration of 427 acres of intermediate marsh, 358 acres of brackish marsh and 975 acres of saline marsh.
This SEIS will disclose the context and intensity of environmental impacts, including indirect and cumulative effects, for the final array of levee alignments and associated features. Any required mitigation will also be discussed.
To ensure that public comments are considered in the DEIS preparation process, members of the public, interested persons and entities must submit their comments to USACE by mail, or email. All comments and suggestions must be submitted by July 22, 2024.
Public scoping meetings will be held in the near future, which will provide the public additional opportunities to provide comments to USACE. Notification of the meeting(s) will be publicly announced in advance by USACE through press releases, special public notices, USACE social media platforms, and the project website.
For more information on the Morganza to the Gulf project, visit https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/Morganza-to-the-Gulf/
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