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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations shellfisheries, and regions of heavy commercial or recreational navigation 40 CFR 228.5a.
Historically, an interim site located approximately 1.6 nautical miles from shore was used for ocean disposal of dredged material from Port Everglades Harbor but was discontinued in the 1980s due to the significant potential for adverse impacts from sediments to nearby coral reef resources. EPA
designated the existing Port Everglades Harbor ODMDS in 2005 to fulfill the need for an EPA designated ODMDS
near Port Everglades. The evaluation for the 2005 designation included considerations of potential interference with other activities in the marine environment including avoiding areas of existing critical fisheries or shellfisheries, and regions of heavy commercial or recreational navigation.
EPA re-considered the evaluations from 2010 through to the present time throughout the NEPA process.
b Sites must be situated such that temporary perturbations to water quality or other environmental conditions during initial mixing caused by disposal operations would be reduced to normal ambient levels or undetectable contaminant concentrations or effects before reaching any beach, shoreline, marine sanctuary, or known geographically limited fishery or shellfishery 40 CFR 228.5b.
The ODMDS area will be used only for disposal of dredged material found to be suitable under the Ocean Dumping Regulations at 40 CFR parts 220 through 228. Based on the USACE and EPA
sediment testing and evaluation procedures, disposal of dredged maintenance material and proposed new work material is not expected to have any long-term impact on water quality. The Port Everglades ODMDS is located sufficiently far from shore and fisheries resources to allow temporary water quality disturbances caused by disposal of dredged material to be reduced to ambient conditions before reaching any environmentally sensitive areas.
c The sizes of disposal sites will be limited in order to localize for identification and control any immediate adverse impacts, and to permit the implementation of effective monitoring and surveillance to prevent adverse long-range impacts. Size, configuration, and location are to be determined as part of the disposal site evaluation 40 CFR 228.5d.
The location, size, and configuration of the ODMDS should provide sufficient long-term disposal capacity expected for anticipated dredging projects, while also permitting effective site management,
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site monitoring, and limiting environmental impacts to the surrounding area to the greatest extent practicable.
Based on projected new work and maintenance dredging, and permitted dredged material disposal needs, EPA
and the USACE estimated that the ODMDS should be approximately 3.21
nmi2 in size to meet the anticipated long-term disposal needs of the nearby area. Expanding the ODMDS to 3.21
nmi2 provides an estimated capacity of approximately 6.7 million cubic yards, which is sufficient to manage future unknown disposal operations from public and private entities and provide protection of the marine environment at the ODMDS.
When determining the size of the site, EPA considered the need to implement effective monitoring and surveillance programs to ensure that the environment of the site could be protected, and that navigational safety would not be compromised by the mounding of dredged material. EPA and the USACE have developed a SMMP for the site that, when implemented, will be used to determine if disposal at the site is significantly affecting the environment within the site or adjacent areas. At a minimum, the monitoring program will consist of bathymetric surveys, sediment grain size analysis, chemical analysis of constituents of concern in the sediments, and an assessment of the benthic community structure.
d EPA will, wherever feasible, designate ocean dumping sites beyond the edge of the continental shelf and other such sites where historical disposal has occurred 40 CFR 228.5e.
The Port Everglades ODMDS is beyond the edge of the continental shelf.
Specific Criteria 40 CFR 228.6
1 Geographical Position, Depth of Water, Bottom Topography and Distance from Coast 40 CFR
228.6a1.
The ODMDS is on the Florida Continental Slope, 3.3 nautical miles offshore of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Water depths range from 179 to 232
meters 587 to 761 feet, with an average depth of 207 meters 678 feet.
Sediments consist of sand with various mixtures of sand and silts with scattered rubble hardbottom. The EA contains a map of the ODMDS. The ODMDS
remains fully off the continental shelf at a distance that is not expected to allow sediments to travel to nearby shoreassociated coral reef habitat.
2 Location in Relation to Breeding, Spawning, Nursery, Feeding, or Passage
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Areas of Living Resources in Adult or Juvenile Phases 40 CFR 228.6a2.
The ODMDS location was selected to avoid the presence of any exclusive breeding, spawning, nursery, feeding, or passage areas for adult or juvenile phases of living resources.
3 Location in Relation to Beaches and Other Amenity Areas 40 CFR
228.6a3.
The center of the ODMDS is several miles from any beaches or amenity areas. No significant impacts to beaches or amenity areas associated with the Port Everglades ODMDS have been detected, and the expansion is not expected to affect that conclusion. The U.S. Navy maintains facilities south of the ODMDS, and EPA and the USACE
consulted the Navy to verify that no impediments will exist with the expanded ODMDS.
4 Types and Quantities of Wastes Proposed to be Disposed of, and Proposed Methods of Release, including Methods of Packing the Waste, if any 40
CFR 228.6a4.
Only suitable dredged material that meets the Ocean Dumping Criteria in 40
CFR parts 227 and 228 will be disposed in the ODMDS and only pursuant to a duly issued permit or authorization e.g., contract specifications for a Federal project with concurrence by EPA. Dredged materials dumped in this area will be primarily sand and rock with some fines that originate from the Port Everglades Harbor. Average yearly disposal of dredged maintenance material into the ODMDS is expected to be approximately 30,000 cubic yards and variable volumes of new work dredged material up to 6.7 million cubic yards. None of the material is packaged in any manner.
Under section 103 of the MPRSA, the USACE is the Federal agency that initially determines whether to issue a permit authorizing the ocean disposal of dredged materials. In the case of Federal navigation projects involving ocean disposal of dredged materials, in lieu of the permit procedure, the USACE
authorizes projects based upon application of the same criteria, and other factors to be evaluated, the same procedures, and the same requirements that apply to the issuance of permits.
The USACE applies 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 projects involving ocean dumping of dredged material are subject to EPAs review and concurrence. EPA may concur, with or without conditions, or
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