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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 30 / Wednesday, February 17, 2021 / Rules and Regulations ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 228
EPAR09OW20200188; FRL1001687
Region 9

Ocean Dumping: Modification of an Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site Offshore of Humboldt Bay, California Environmental Protection Agency EPA.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

The Environmental Protection Agency EPA is permanently modifying the boundaries of the existing EPAdesignated Humboldt Open Ocean Disposal Site referred to hereafter as HOODS offshore of Humboldt Bay, California, pursuant to Section 102 of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, as amended MPRSA.
The primary purpose for the site modification is to enlarge the site to serve the long-term need for disposal of permitted, suitable material dredged from Humboldt Harbor and vicinity, in order to provide for continued safe
SUMMARY:

navigation in the vicinity of Humboldt Bay. The modified site will be subject to monitoring and management to ensure continued protection of the marine environment.
Effective March 19, 2021.
The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPAR09OW20200188. All documents in the docket are listed on the https www.regulations.gov website, or please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section for additional availability information. If you need assistance in a language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Brian Ross, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, Water Division, Dredging & Sediment Management Team, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105;
phone number 415 9723475; email:
ross.brian@epa.gov.
DATES:

ADDRESSES:

Category
This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide for readers regarding persons likely to be affected by this action. For any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, please refer to the contact person listed in the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section.
II. Background
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a. History of Ocean Disposal Offshore Humboldt Bay, California HOODS is the only designated ocean dredged material disposal site ODMDS
off the coast of Humboldt Bay, California. The original HOODS was located three to four nautical miles nmi offshore Humboldt Bay, and was one square nautical mile nmi2 in size.
HOODS originally received final designation by the EPA in 1995. Since that time an average of one million cubic yards cy of dredged material has been disposed at HOODS each year. The great majority of this material has been sand dredged by USACE from the Humboldt Harbor entrance channel. The dredged sand that has been disposed at
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The supporting document for this site modification action is the Final Evaluation and Environmental Assessment for Expansion of the Existing Humboldt Open Ocean Disposal Site HOODS Offshore of Eureka, California Final EA. This document and its appendices are available via the EPA website https
www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/
humboldt-open-ocean-disposal-sitehoods-documents.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Potentially Affected Persons Persons potentially affected by this action include those who seek or might seek permits or approval to dispose of dredged material into ocean waters pursuant to the MPRSA, 33 U.S.C. 1401
to 1445. The EPAs action would be relevant to persons, including organizations and government bodies seeking to dispose of dredged material in ocean waters offshore of Humboldt Bay, California. Currently, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers USACE
would be most affected by this action.
Potentially affected categories and persons include:

Examples of potentially regulated persons
Federal Government
Industry and general public
State, local and tribal governments

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USACE Civil Works projects, and other Federal agencies.
Port authorities, marinas and harbors, shipyards and marine repair facilities, berth owners.
Governments owning and/or responsible for ports, harbors, and/or berths, government agencies requiring disposal of dredged material associated with public works projects.

HOODS has mounded to the point where the site is now effectively reaching full capacity. The USACE San Francisco District and EPA Region 9
have identified a need to increase the capacity of HOODS so that ongoing dredging can continue to provide for safe navigation in and around Humboldt Bay. The need for increasing ocean disposal capacity at HOODS is based on historical dredging volumes, estimates of future dredging needs, and currently limited availability of alternatives to ocean disposal in the area.
The EPA is modifying the existing HOODS boundaries rather than designating a new ocean disposal site off the coast of Humboldt Bay.
Monitoring studies at HOODS have confirmed that there have been no significant adverse environmental consequences of disposal in this area, and that there are no unique or limited habitats, features, or uses of the ocean that would be affected by expanding the site. Note that modifying the existing HOODS boundary does not by itself mean that dredged material from any specific project will necessarily be approved to be disposed at the site.

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Before any person can ocean dump dredged material at HOODS, the EPA
and the USACE must evaluate the project according to the ocean dumping regulatory criteria 40 CFR 227 and the USACE must authorize the disposal under section 103 of the MPRSA. 33
U.S.C. 1413b. The USACE relies on the EPAs ocean dumping criteria when evaluating permit requests for and implementing federal projects involving the transportation of dredged material for the purpose of dumping it into ocean waters. MPRSA permits and federal approvals for projects involving ocean dumping of dredged material are subject to the EPAs review and concurrence in accordance with 33
U.S.C. 1413c. The EPA may concur with or without conditions or decline to concur i.e., non-concur on the permit or federal project authorization. If the EPA concurs with conditions, the final permit or authorization must include those conditions. If the EPA declines to concur, the USACE cannot issue the permit for ocean dumping of dredged material or authorize the transportation to and disposal of dredged material in
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