NAME OF APPLICANT: Bear Industries, c/o Lanier & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc., 4101 Magazine Street., New Orleans, Louisiana 70115.
LOCATION OF WORK: Latitude: 30.214611/Longitude: -91.087449 Hydrologic Unit Codes: 08070100 – Lower Mississippi-New Orleans and 08070202 – Amite River, in the Mississippi River, left descending bank, mile 189, near St. Gabriel, Louisiana, in Iberville Parish.
The work described below was partially completed prior to obtaining a Department of the Army permit and was in violation of Section 301 of the Clean Water Act. All legal issues concerning the unauthorized work have been deferred.
CHARACTER OF WORK: By permit dated May 13, 2003, and subsequent modifications/time extensions dated October 7, 2003, May 15, 2006, and November 19, 2008, the applicant was authorized to dredge an area and install a parking area, access ramp, conveyor, breasting dolphins, anchor piles, chains, and buoys for a ship dock and rock transfer terminal. A proposed modification was advertised via public notice dated July 9, 2018. The applicant has since modified their proposal to shift the existing marine facility away from the deep draft navigation channel and to allow for safe mooring of vessels. The applicant proposes to remove two existing monopile breasting dolphins and four existing monopile mooring dolphins and replace them with two captive piles and 6 mooring buoys with anchor chains approximately 1300’ upstream. In addition, a pile supported hopper and truss will be installed to transport material to the proposed stockpile area. The proposed stockpile will impact approximately 6.2 acres of jurisdictional wetlands, which were previously impacted by an unauthorized activity. To stabilize the bank near the proposed docking structures, the applicant is proposing degrade approximately 1.3 acres of forested batture wetlands and install approximately 2,200 cubic yards of rip rap in this area. An additional 1.6 acres of forested batture will be temporarily impacted by construction.
To minimize impacts to wetlands, the applicant will install the dock structures from the waterway. The construction corridor will be restored to pre-project elevations and allowed to restore naturally. During construction, the applicant will implement appropriate best management practices to minimize impacts to adjacent wetlands and waters. To compensate for unavoidable wetland impacts, the applicant proposes to purchase wetland credits from a Corps approved mitigation bank located in the watershed.
The applicant may be required to fully or partially restore the site to pre-project conditions if issuance of a permit is determined to be contrary to the public interest.