2000-04-24 Regular Called Meeting

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i • Bayport Terminal Project Work Plan EII' Associates proposes to provide three key environmental services to the Pineloch Community Association (the Association) with regard to the proposed Bayport Terminal Project. These services include: 1) general technical support/project management; 2) preparation of a focused Environmental Assessment (EA) that conforms with the United States Army Corps of Engineers' (USACOE) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Guidelines; and 3) review of the USACOE's draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for adequacy of analysis and compliance with the NEPA Implementing Guidelines. GENERAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT/PROJECT MANAGEMENT EII' staff (primarily the Project Manager) will provide as-needed support or assistance to the Association to address questions associated with either environmental issues or the NEPA process. It is assumed that this support or assistance will consist of services that fall "outside" of the services that would be provided in preparation of the Environmental Assessment or review of the USACOE's EIS. This assistance will include akick-off meeting between EIl' Associates and the Association prior to the commencement of work on the Association's EA as well as biweekly status reports on the progress of the Association's EA or review of the proponent's draft EIS. These status reports will be provided by a-mail and will include the following information: (1) percentage completion for each task or subtask; (2) problems and suggested resolutions; (3) percentage of budget utilized for each task or subtask; (4) schedule compliance; and (5) other issues. PREPARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT EIP Associates will prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) that conforms with the USACOE's NEPA Implementing Guidelines. ~~ It should be noted that the EA will not be a NEPA document, but since it will conform with the USACOE's NEPA Implementing Guidelines it will allow for an "apples to apples" comparison with the analysis of impacts in the draft EIS. The EA will be a focused document and will only address impacts from the proposed Bayport Terminal Project that are associated with water quality, air quality, biological resources, transportation infrastructure, and noise. These latter environmental issues are believed to represent the most substantive environmental issues associated with the proposed project. The EA will not address alternative locations for the proposed project and will not include mitigation for identified impacts. The organization of the EA will be simple and straight-forward. It will include: (1) a brief history behind the development of the proposed project, (2) descriptions of the construction and operational features of the proposed project that are sufficient to allow for the identification of expected environmental changes (i.e., impacts) that would occur, (3) description of the USACOE's NEPA process and Section 404 (Clean Water Act) and Section 10 (Rivers and Harbors Act) permitting processes, (4) bibliography of all documents, personal communications, M:~APPROACH.WPD