Kinston Bypass (7)

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WILMINGTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS
69 DARLINGTON AVENUE
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 2a403-1343
REPLY TO
ATTENTION OF
March 4, 2010
Regulatory Division
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SUBJECT: ORM ID SAW-2009-01603; Start of Study Letter for US Highway 70 Kinston
Bypass, located on new location between the Town of LaGrange, Lenoir County and the Town
of Dover, Jones County, North Carolina, STIP No. R-2553
Gregory J. Thorpe, Ph.D.
Environmental Management Director, PDEA
N.C. Department of Transportation
1548 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1548
Dear Dr. Thorpe:
Please reference your request for information regarding potential environmental impacts
associated with the proposed US 70 Kinston Bypass, (STIP No. R-2553), currently defined as a
12- mile, four-lane, median-divided freeway on new location. The proposed project study area
is located between LaGrange and Dover, in Lenoir and Jones Counties, North Carolina.
Based on information provided in your letter and enclosed map, it was noted that any
proposed 12-mile, four-lane, median-divided freeway will likely impact the main stem of the
Neuse River, multiple major stream systems, floodplains and wetlands adjacent to and
associated with the Neuse River. These resource areas provide a number of benefits to
receiving waters including the attenuation and de-synchronization of flood events,
improvements to water quality in downstream receiving waters, and the uptake and
transformation of many biologically active compounds. These areas also provide valuable
wildlife habitat for a variety of birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. In addition, the Neuse
River and its associated tributaries may provide suitable spawning and foraging habitat for
anadromous fish and threatened and endangered species. You should be aware that we consider
these wetlands and tributaries to be of high quality and therefore believe that all efforts should
be undertaken to avoid and minimize impacts. These efforts should include bridging to avoid
wetland, stream and/or flood plain impacts, utilizing off-site detours, employing temporary
work bridges during project construction, and the removal of any approach tills not necessary
for the project.
As there is no Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funding for this project and it will
require a permit from the Wilmington District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) under
authority of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors
Act, we understand that the Corps will be the lead federal agency for ensuring the project's
compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Although FHWA will not be
involved, we believe that this project should be carried forward through the Merger Process in
accordance with the 2005 Merger agreement. In addition, we suggest that you review Appendix
B of the Corps of Engineers regulations (found at 33 C.F.R. § 325, Appendix B) regarding
NEPA compliance and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act to assist in your NEPA planning
efforts (copy enclosed).
Based on our initial evaluation of the project, we believe that this project will require an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Although we will not require that a third party contract
be executed for the preparation of this document, we want to stress that this document will
become the Corps of Engineers' NEPA document for this project. To this end, we will need to
ensure that the contractor preparing the EIS does not have any financial interest in the outcome
of the NEPA or 404 permit process. I have enclosed a disclosure statement that must be signed
by the lead contractor developing the document and returned to us for our files. In addition, we
will need to be invited to any public seeping meetings and/or public hearings you may hold
concerning this project, and may need to hold hearings or scoping meetings of our own, if the
need arises. In accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) requirements, we
will publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS in the Federal Register and will be
responsible for distribution of the draft and final EIS to EPA and the public for review and
comment. Finally, it is our intention to prepare our own Record of Decision (ROD) for the
project once the EIS has been finalized. As the Corps will be the lead federal agency on the
project, and holds ultimate responsibility for the content of the EIS, it will be incumbent upon
NCDOT to provide advance copies of the EIS to the Corps for review and approval prior to
NCDOT's circulation of the document to any other agency or to the public.
As indicated in our letter of November 4, 2009 to you, it will be incumbent upon NCDOT
to ensure that the GIS data for stream and wetlands that is collected during the alternatives
analysis is sufficiently accurate for us to make decisions to satisfy our requirements relative to
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act including the 404 (b) (1) Guidelines. As the GIS
effort/method is developed, we would like to participate in the on-the-ground verification of
Department of the Army (DA) jurisdictional streams and wetlands. We believe that it is
important to reiterate that prediction of the location and amount of jurisdictional streams
wetlands from remotely sensed data will be very difficult on the coastal plain of NC and that
adequate ground-truthing must be conducted to ensure its accuracy.
Department of the Army (DA) permit authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean
Water Act of 1977, as amended, will be required for the discharge of excavated or fill material
in waters of the United States or any adjacent or isolated wetlands in conjunction with this
project, including disposal of construction debris. Under our mitigation policy, impacts to
wetlands should first be avoided or minimized. We will then consider compensatory mitigation
for unavoidable impacts. When final plans are completed, including the extent and location of
any work in wetlands, our regulatory branch would appreciate the opportunity to review these
plans for project-specific determinations of DA permit requirements.
During the alternatives analysis phase, the Corps, as lead Federal agency, would
recommend that all investigations for Historic Properties, Essential Fish Habitat and Threatened
and Endangered species be conducted in accordance with survey level investigations as
conducted now on any Federal aid project. In order to ensure that our requirements pursuant to
Section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and
Conservation Act, and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act are met, we would like to be
invited to any coordination and/or consultation meetings with the State Historic Preservation
Office (SHPO), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and/or the US Fish and Wildlife
Service. Once the Corps effect(s) determinations have been made, we expect that NCDOT will
prepare appropriate documentation (eg, Biological Assessments, Surveys for
historic/archeological features, EFH documentation) and forward to the Corps for review prior
to transmittal to the appropriate agency. Environmental Justice (EJ) issues (if any) will need to
be clearly identified and adequately addressed in the NEPA document. Depending on the level
and severity of impacts, additional public involvement and outreach may be necessary in order
to fully satisfy our requirements under the EJ Executive Order.
In order to clarify our intentions regarding the development of NEPA documents in support
of State funded projects, we would like to meet with you and members of your project
development staff to discuss the contents of this letter. In the meantime please do not hesitate to
contact Mr. Tom Steffens in the Washington Regulatory Field Office at (910) 251- 4615 or the
undersigned at (910) 25174811.
Sincerely,
tc
Acting Assistant Chief,
Regulatory Division
Enclosure
Copies furnished (without enclosure):
Mr. Brian Wrenn /
NCDENR-DWQ
Wetlands Section
1621 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1621
Mr. Pete Benjamin
United States Fish & Wildlife Service
Fish and Wildlife Enhancement
Post Office Box 33726
Raleigh, North Carolina 27636-3726
Christopher Militscher
USEPA Raleigh Office
Office of Environmental Assessment
310 New Bern Avenue, Room 206
Raleigh, NC 27601
Mr. Travis Wilson
Highway Coordinator
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
1142 I-85 Service Road
Creedmoor, North Carolina 27522