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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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
Army Corps of Engineers USACE
would be most affected by this action.
Potentially affected categories and persons include:

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

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.

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 a. History of Disposal Sites Offshore of Port Everglades, Florida
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organizations and government bodies seeking to dispose of dredged material in ocean waters offshore of Port Everglades, Florida. Currently, the U.S.

There is currently one designated ODMDS off the coast of Port Everglades in Florida. The existing Port Everglades ODMDS is located three nautical miles offshore of Fort Lauderdale. EPA
designated the Port Everglades ODMDS
in 2005 with an area of 1.34 square nautical miles nmi2.
The USACE Jacksonville District and EPA Region 4 identified a need to either designate a new ODMDS or modify the existing Port Everglades ODMDS. The reasons for modifying the ocean disposal capacity are based on future dredged material capacity requirements, historical dredging volumes, estimates of dredging volumes for future proposed projects, and limited capacity of upland disposal in the area.
EPA is expanding the existing Port Everglades ODMDS rather than designate a new site off the coast of Fort Lauderdale for ocean dumping of dredged material. The modification of the existing Port Everglades ODMDS for dredged material, however, does not mean that the USACE or the EPA has approved the use of the existing Port Everglades ODMDS or a modified Port Everglades ODMDS for open water disposal of dredged material from any specific project. Before any person can ocean dump dredged material at an ODMDS, EPA and the USACE must evaluate the project according to the ocean dumping regulatory criteria 40
CFR part 227 and the USACE must issue a permit or other authorization document e.g., contract specifications for the transportation and disposal of dredged material and must attain concurrence from EPA. Under section
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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, the USACE may implement the MPRSA directly in the Federal projects involving ocean disposal of dredged materials. The USACE relies on 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 EPA
review and concurrence under MPRSA
33 U.S.C. 1413c. EPA may concur with or without conditions or decline to concur on the permit, i.e., non-concur.
If EPA concurs with conditions, the final permit or authorization must include those conditions. If EPA
declines to concur non-concurs, the USACE cannot issue the permit for ocean dumping of dredged material or authorize the disposal. EPAs site modification is supported by a final Environmental Assessment EA, which EPA previously provided for public notice as draft and is available in the docket for this action Docket ID No.
EPAR04OW20200056.
b. Location and Configuration of the Port Everglades ODMDS
With this action, EPA expands the size of the Port Everglades ODMDS, which is at depths between 587 to 761 feet of water 179 to 232
meters. The ODMDS expansion increases the area of the existing Port Everglades ODMDS from approximately 1.34 nmi2 to 3.21 nmi2. The ODMDS is bounded by the coordinates listed below. The coordinates for the site are in North American Datum 83 NAD 83:
Modified Port Everglades ODMDS
A 2608.750 N, 8001.000 W
B 2608.750 N, 8002.578 W
C 2606.500 N, 8002.578 W
D 2606.500 N, 8001.000 W
The Site Management and Monitoring Plan SMMP allows EPA to adaptively
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manage the site to maximize its capacity, minimize the potential for mounding and loss of fine sediments outside of the site, and minimize the potential for any long-term adverse effects to the marine environment.
c. Management and Monitoring of the Site The ODMDS is expected to receive dredged material from the Federal navigation project at Port Everglades Harbor, Florida, and dredged material from other applicants who obtain a permit for the disposal of dredged material at the ODMDS. All persons using the site shall comply with the conditions set forth in the most recent approved SMMP, which EPA in conjunction with the USACE
specifically developed for the ODMDS.
The SMMP includes management and monitoring provisions to ensure that dredged materials disposed at the ODMDS are suitable for disposal in the ocean and that adverse impacts of disposal, if any, are addressed to the maximum extent practicable. The SMMP includes provisions to avoid and minimize potential impacts to coral reefs present near Port Everglades. The SMMP for the ODMDS also addresses management of the site to ensure adverse mounding and dispersal of fine sediments does not occur and to ensure that disposal events minimize interference with other uses of ocean waters near the ODMDS.
d. MPRSA Criteria In evaluating the ODMDS, the EPA
assessed the site according to the criteria of the MPRSA, with emphasis on the general and specific regulatory criteria of 40 CFR part 228, to determine whether the site designation satisfies those criteria. The EPAs EA provides an extensive evaluation of the criteria and other related factors for the modification of the ODMDS.
General Criteria 40 CFR 228.5
a Sites must be selected to minimize interference with other activities in the marine environment, particularly avoiding areas of existing fisheries or
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