[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 63 (Monday, April 1, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22441-22443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06833]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R8-NWRS-2024-N009; FXRS12610800000-245-FF08R04000]
Beneficial Reuse of Excavated Material in Tidal Marsh
Restoration; Intent To Prepare Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the Santa
Clara Valley Transportation Authority propose to act in partnership to
prepare a joint draft environmental impact statement/environmental
impact report to evaluate the impacts on the environment related to
placing excavated or other fill material into several former salt
production ponds on, and adjacent to, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay
National Wildlife Refuge to raise the pond bottoms for the purpose of
accelerating the timeline for tidal marsh habitat restoration. The
Service is providing this notice to open a public scoping period in
accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act and its implementing regulations. We invite comment from the public
and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: To ensure consideration in our reviews, we are requesting
submission of new information no later than May 16, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments and materials by one of the
following methods:
U.S. Mail: San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Complex, Attn: Beneficial Reuse Project, 1 Marshlands Road, Fremont, CA
94555.
Email: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Brown, Complex Manager, San
Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, via email at
[email protected] or via phone at 510-453-6695. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)
and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, in cooperation
with the Santa Clara Valley Water District, propose to prepare a joint
draft environmental impact statement/environmental impact report to
evaluate the effects of placing excavated or other fill material into
several former salt production ponds around South San Francisco Bay to
raise the pond bottoms for the purpose of accelerating the timeline for
tidal marsh habitat restoration. The joint draft environmental impact
statement/environmental impact report would analyze the Beneficial
Reuse of Excavated Material in Tidal Marsh Restoration Project
(Beneficial Reuse Project) at both a project level and a programmatic
level.
The Beneficial Reuse Project would be analyzed at a project level
by explicitly evaluating the potential transport and placement of up to
3.5 million cubic yards of excavated material from VTA's BART Silicon
Valley-Phase II Extension Project (BSVII project) for the purpose of
raising the deeply subsided pond bottoms. For the project-level
analysis, the Beneficial Reuse Project would be implemented at the Pond
A8 Complex (consisting of Ponds A5, A7, A8, and A8S), Pond A12, and
Pond A13 within the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife
Refuge. These ponds are owned by the USFWS and are part of the Alviso
Pond Complex. The Beneficial Reuse Project would also be implemented at
Pond A4, which is owned by Valley Water. These ponds were selected for
analysis at the project level as they are relatively close to the BSVII
Project site compared to other ponds in the South Bay.
The Beneficial Reuse Project would also be analyzed at a
programmatic level by evaluating the transport and placement of
excavated material from future projects yet to be identified. Placement
of such material could occur in the Ravenswood Pond Complex (except
Pond SF2), the Alviso Pond Complex (including the A8 Complex, A12, and
A13, and excluding A22 and A23), and Pond A4. The programmatic analysis
would allow other project proponents to use the joint draft
environmental impact statement/environmental impact report as the basis
for their future projects that would also transport and place excavated
material into the ponds for the purpose of raising pond bottoms. These
other project proponents would need to conduct additional environmental
analysis at the project-level once their projects are sufficiently
defined.
We are requesting comments concerning the scope of the analysis and
identification of relevant information and studies.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The purpose of the Beneficial Reuse Project is to:
Transport BSVII Project tunnel excavation material and
other excavated material to select former salt production ponds in
South San Francisco Bay for beneficial reuse.
Place excavated material within select ponds to raise the
elevation of pond bottoms to accelerate the timeline for and increase
the certainty of tidal marsh restoration.
Place excavated material in the Pond A8 Complex and/or
other select ponds with legacy mercury to cover and bury contaminated
sediments to reduce the potential for mercury to bioaccumulate through
the aquatic environment.
The need for the Beneficial Reuse Project is as follows:
The BSVII Project will generate a considerable amount of
excavated material on a daily basis during construction of the 5-mile-
long tunnel and other facilities. The material must be hauled off site
regularly to keep pace
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with construction and limited onsite storage facilities.
The former salt production ponds in South San Francisco
Bay require large quantities of sediment to raise the elevation of
deeply subsided pond bottoms to eventually reach marsh plain elevation
where tidal marsh restoration can occur (as part of a future action).
Placing excavated material into the pond bottoms would accelerate the
timeline for eventual tidal marsh restoration relative to sedimentation
from natural processes (i.e., tidal action) alone. This is especially
important in the face of sea-level rise and the sediment deficit in San
Francisco Bay.
There is high mercury concentration in the sediments of
the Pond A8 Complex and nearby ponds as a result of historic mining
operations in the Guadalupe River watershed. Natural tidal action can
cause the resuspension of sediment containing mercury and increase the
potential for bioaccumulation of mercury in aquatic organisms. Placing
excavated material into the pond bottoms would cover sediment
contaminated with mercury and reduce the potential for mercury to
bioaccumulate through the aquatic environment.
Preliminary Proposed Action and Alternative
One Proposed Action Alternative and the No Action Alternative will
be evaluated in the draft environmental impact statement/environmental
impact report. The draft environmental impact statement/environmental
impact report will analyze the Proposed Action Alternative on a
project-level and a programmatic level, as discussed below.
The project-level components of the Proposed Action Alternative
would send all excavated material from the BSVII Project to the
project-level ponds (Ponds A4, A8 Complex, A12, and A13). The Proposed
Action Alternative would include two methods for hauling excavated
material from the BSVII Project to the project-level ponds: truck haul
method and rail haul method. Under the truck haul method, the Proposed
Action Alternative assumes use of a truck haul route on State Route
237, then use of local streets to reach the project-level ponds. Under
the rail haul method, the Proposed Action Alternative would include the
use of rail to haul material from the future BSVII Project Newhall
Maintenance Facility. This method would include construction of
additional tracks at the maintenance facility, an option to construct a
spur track near Pond A12, and an option to use an existing spur track
that leads to the GreenWaste Zanker Resource Recovery Facility near Los
Esteros Road in San Jose. Under the rail haul method, improvements
would be required at the future BSVII Project Newhall Maintenance
Facility. The truck haul method and the rail haul method could be used
exclusively or in combination.
The Proposed Action Alternative would include three methods for the
placement of excavated material within the project-level ponds once it
is offloaded near a pond shoreline by truck or conveyor belt:
conventional equipment method, hydraulic methodologies, and/or conveyor
system methodologies. The Proposed Action Alternative could use one,
two, or all three of these methods at any project-level pond.
The programmatic analysis would evaluate the addition of excavated
material from future projects yet to be identified for all the ponds
covered in the joint draft environmental impact statement/environmental
impact report. The programmatic analysis would allow other project
proponents to use the joint draft environmental impact statement/
environmental impact report as the basis for their future projects that
would also transport and place excavated material into the ponds for
the purpose of raising pond bottoms. These other project proponents
would need to conduct additional environmental analysis at the project-
level once their projects are sufficiently defined.
Under the No Action Alternative, all excavated material generated
by the BSVII Project would be transported to the disposal sites
identified in Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's 2018 BART
Silicon Valley-Phase II Extension Project Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement/Subsequent Environmental Impact Report
and Section 4(f) Evaluation, which includes landfills and quarries. No
excavated material from the BSVII Project or any other project would be
sent to any of the Beneficial Reuse Project project-level or
programmatic-level ponds to be placed in the ponds for the purpose of
raising the pond bottoms to accelerate the timeline for tidal marsh
habitat restoration.
Summary of Expected Impacts
Based on our initial evaluation of the Proposed Action Alternative,
the following impacts would be expected: construction waste reuse;
greenhouse gas emissions reductions; short-term disturbance to and
changes in habitat conditions for listed and sensitive species; fill in
waters of the U.S. and State of California, temporary increases in dust
and other air pollutants during construction; changes to movement of
water within ponds caused by changing the elevation of pond bottoms;
temporary impacts to water quality during material placement; temporary
changes to existing public access; and temporary increases in
construction traffic on the roadways within the vicinity of the ponds,
including the Alviso neighborhood. Indirect benefits would result from
facilitating future restoration of tidal marsh habitat by raising the
bottoms of former salt production ponds, allowing vegetated marsh to be
restored much more quickly when tidal restoration occurs in the future
by others.
Anticipated Permits and Authorizations
The following permits and other authorizations are anticipated to
be required:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act (CWA) section
404 permit and Rivers and Harbors Act section 10 permit and others, if
appropriate;
San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board CWA
section 401 water quality certification;
California Department of Fish and Wildlife lake and
streambed alteration agreement;
California Department of Fish and Wildlife section 2081(b)
incidental take permit;
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
consistency determination;
Refuge special-use permit to the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority for construction access and activities on
Refuge lands;
Consultation pursuant to section 7 of the Federal
Endangered Species Act with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
National Marine Fisheries Service;
Consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service
regarding essential fish habitat under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act, and consultation regarding marine
mammals pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act; and
Consultation with Tribes and the State Historic
Preservation Officer pursuant to section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
Processing of the environmental impact statement, from the public
scoping stage to the signing of the record of decision, is expected to
take up to 2 years. The draft environmental impact statement/
environmental impact report is scheduled for release in early 2025. The
final environmental impact
[[Page 22443]]
statement is scheduled for completion by mid-2025, with the record of
decision expected to be issued in mid-2025. Permitting is expected to
be completed at approximately the same time as the signing of the
record of decision. Subsequent actions will involve the processing of
all required permits needed to implement the beneficial reuse of
excavated materials.
Environmental Impact Statement Public Scoping Process
This notice of intent initiates the 45-day scoping process, which
guides the development of the draft environmental impact statement. The
scoping process is designed to elicit comments from the public, public
agencies, Tribal governments, and other interested parties on the scope
of the draft environmental impact statement. All interested parties are
encouraged to provide written comments on the scope of the
environmental impact statement.
Request for Identification of Potential Alternatives, Information, and
Analyses Relevant to the Proposed Action
The Service requests comments concerning the scope of the analysis
and identification of relevant information and studies. All interested
parties are invited to provide input related to the identification of
potential alternatives, information, and analyses relevant to the
Proposed Action Alternative in writing. All written comments should be
submitted via any of the methods provided under ADDRESSES.
Lead and Cooperating Agencies
The Service is the lead agency for the environmental impact
statement. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will serve
as the lead State agency.
Decision Maker
The Decision Maker is the Service's Regional Director for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Southwest Region.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The Regional Director, after considering the analysis and
information provided in the final environmental impact statement, as
well as the comments received throughout the draft environmental impact
statement review process, will determine if the proposed action
sufficiently achieves the purpose and need for the project. The
decision, which will be documented in the Record of Decision, will also
consider the consistency of the action with agency policies,
regulations, and applicable laws, and the contribution the action will
make towards achieving the purposes for which the Don Edwards San
Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge was established, while also
contributing to the mission and goals of the National Wildlife Refuge
System.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority
This document is published under the authority of the National
Environmental Policy Act regulations pertaining to the publication of a
notice of intent to issue an environmental impact statement (40 CFR
1501.9(d)).
Jill Russi,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2024-06833 Filed 3-29-24; 8:45 am]
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