LAPLACE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, announced on Tuesday that it has extended the review comment period for its Programmatic Individual Environmental Report No. 36, titled: “Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System Mitigation, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. Tammany Parishes, Louisiana.”
The deadline to submit comments is now Wednesday, Sept. 25. All comments postmarked on or before the expiration of the comment period will be considered.
The comment period was extended for two weeks because of the complexity of the mitigation project.
The PIER evaluates the alternatives to compensate for unavoidable habitat impacts that resulted from construction of the LPV HSDRRS. As part of the analysis, the PIER identifies the Tentatively Selected Mitigation Plan Alternative for mitigating those impacts to a variety of habitats.
At this time, only certain features of the TSMPA are being proposed for implementation, namely the purchase of mitigation bank credits to compensate for impacts to non-refuge bottomland hardwood forests and non-refuge swamp. Other features will be recommended for implementation in subsequent environmental documents, called TIERs. Impacts from construction of the LPV HSDRRS are described in Individual Environmental Reports 1-11, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25-32, 35 and their associated Supplemental IERs (IERS).
PIER No. 36 is currently available for review and comment at www.nolaenvironmental.gov. Hard copies may be requested by email at mvnenvironmental@usace.army.mil. Questions or comments concerning proposed actions should be addressed to:Elizabeth Behrens, Regional Planning and Environmental Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, LA 70160-026.
Citizens may also contact the corps by phone at 504-862-2025 or fax at 504-862-2088.
For more information or to sign up to be
on a public meeting notification list, visit www.nolaenvironmental.gov.