The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of commercial dredging of sand and gravel from the Kansas River in the State of Kansas. The proposed dredging will occur within portions of the river between the mouth of the Kansas River and river mile 170 at the confluence of the Kansas, Republican and Smokey Hill Rivers. Department of the Army (DA) authorization under Section 10 of the River and Harbors Act is required for the work to obtain sand and gravel materials from the Kansas River by hydraulic suction dredging operations. Commercial dredging in the Kansas River has occurred for more than 100 years but the quantity of sand and gravel materials annually withdrawn from the river has increased over time. The existing permits for dredging, last issued in 2007, allowed for a potential annual total of 3,150,000 tons of materials to be extracted from the Kansas River. The current DA permits originally scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012 were indefinitely extended until after completion of an EIS. Five applicants are currently requesting to extract 1,900,000 tons of material per year from the river at eight locations.
