The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mobile District has announced the availability of the Draft Mobile Harbor, Mobile, Alabama Integrated General Reevaluation Report with Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft GRR/SEIS).
This document is being circulated to federal, state and local agencies and interested public for a 45-day comment period, said USACE in its latest release.
In June 2014, the Alabama State Port Authority requested the USACE consider increasing the depth and width of the Federal Mobile Harbor Channel, specifically asking the USACE to investigate the feasibility of constructing the channel to dimensions authorized in Section 201 of the 1986 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
The Tentatively Selected Plan (TSP) identified in the Draft GRR/SEIS recommends improvements that are less than the dimensions authorized in 1986 WRDA.
The Tentatively Selected Plan includes:
According to USACE, material dredged during improvements will be placed at a relic shell mined area and the Mobile Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site.
Any suitable Bar Channel new work material dredged in sufficient quantity to warrant placement at the Sand Island Beneficial Use Area (SIBUA) will be accomplished accordingly.
Future material from channel maintenance will be placed at those previously noted disposal sites in addition to open-water sites adjacent to the channel, the northwestern SIBUA expansion, and/or upland disposal sites.