Posted on August 24, 2022
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is seeking comments on its draft Environmental Assessment, or EA, released today, Aug. 22, for the St. Paul Small Boat Harbor dredging in Ramsey County, Minnesota.
The project, located on the lower end of Harriet Island in St. Paul, Minnesota, would promote safer transportation for small boats navigating to, from and within the harbor.
The harbor was constructed by the Corps of Engineers in 1949 and periodically requires maintenance dredging to maintain the authorized depth of five feet below low control pool elevation of 687.2 feet mean sea level. The harbor has been dredged 17 times by the Corps since 1990. The proposed dredging is the second phase of a project that began last spring. The new work is expected to be completed this fall.
Since some of the proposed dredging locations have not been dredged for several decades, the Corps is conducting a review of the environmental effects in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. A copy of the draft EA with a finding of no significant impact was coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state resource agencies prior to posting of the public notice. A final determination on the draft EA will be made following a 30-day public review period. A copy of the draft EA can be viewed and downloaded from the St. Paul District website at: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx.
The public review and comment period on the draft EA ends Sep. 22. Questions and comments concerning the project should be directed to Eric Hanson, Corps ecologist, at 651-290-5386 or eric.r.hanson@usace.army.mil. Please address all correspondence on this project to the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention: Regional Planning and Environment Division North, 332 Minnesota Street, Suite E1500, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1678.
All comments received will be made available to the public to include the possibility of being posted on a publicly accessible website. Individuals are requested not to include personal privacy information, such as home addresses or home phone numbers, in their comments, unless they do not object to such information being made available to the public.
