Interested parties are hereby notified that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (USACE) has finalized a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). USACE developed this final Environmental Assessment (EA) to address the environmental impacts of maintenance dredging by Portland District and/or its contractor at two federal navigation channels (FNC) located at side channels off of the Lower Columbia River. The maintenance dredging locations include the federal navigation channels at:
• Tongue Point, Columbia River Mile (RM) 18.5. Latitude 46.291891, Longitude -124.046446. Clatsop County, Oregon.
• Oregon Slough, Columbia RM 104 between Hayden Island and the mainland of Portland. Latitude 46.226492, Longitude -123.954940. Multnomah County, Oregon.
The material dredged from these channels will be transported and placed in areas of the Columbia River between River Mile (RM) 3 and RM 105.5 where water is 20 feet deep or greater, known as the “flowlane.”
The EA and FONSI were prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA regulations (40 CFR §§ 1500–1508), and the USACE's NEPA regulations (33 CFR Part 230). USACE developed this Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of maintenance dredging by Portland District and/or its contractor. The project required review under applicable laws and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The maintenance of these federal navigation channels is non-discretionary and will be ongoing into the future unless the projects are deauthorized by congress. USACE is the lead federal agency for this EA.
Assessment of the need for an Environmental Impact Statement: USACE has determined that the Proposed Action is not likely to result in significant impacts on the human environment, and therefore an environmental impact statement (EIS) will not be prepared. The FONSI is included with the final EA.