The project subject to review in an EIS involves the discharge of fill into waters of the United States, construction of structures and dredging associated with the construction of a new container terminal (the terminal) in the Port of Baltimore (the Port). The proposed Sparrows Point Container Terminal (SPCT) would be located in Baltimore County, Maryland within the Tradepoint Atlantic development on a 330-acre area on the southwest peninsula of Sparrows Point known as Coke Point Peninsula (Coke Point). The proposed terminal would consist of a +/- 3,000-foot marginal wharf with up to nine ship-to-shore cranes, a container yard, gate complex, intermodal/rail yard, and various support structures. To provide vessel access to the wharf, the project would include deepening and widening of the existing Sparrows Point Channel and turning basin, which would require mechanical dredging and placement of approximately 4.2 million cubic yards (MCY) of dredged material. The maximum proposed dredging depth would be -50 feet at mean lower low water with -2 feet of over depth allowance. Following construction, maintenance dredging of the Sparrows Point Channel would be required. It is anticipated that maintenance dredging would be required on average once every 10 years with an additional volume of approximately 125,000 cubic yards (CY).

The proposed project would include the construction of an offshore dredged material containment facility (DMCF) on the west side of Coke Point in the existing in-water Coal Pier Channel. The DMCF would be created by constructing a water-side berm across the mouth of the existing channel, to provide placement capacity for approximately 750,000 cubic yards of dredged material. The DMCF would permanently fill approximately 19.6 acres of tidal waters. Of the remaining dredge material, approximately 1.2 to 1.7 MCY would be placed on-site at the upland High Head Industrial Basin DMCF, approximately 1.25 MCY would be placed at the existing Masonville DMCF located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and/or Cox Creek DMCF located in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the Maryland Port Administration, and approximately 1.5 MCY will be barged to Norfolk Ocean Disposal Site (NODS), a designated offshore disposal area located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 17 miles from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. The High Head Industrial Basin DMCF would involve constructing a DMCF with the capacity to hold 1.2  to 1.7 MCY of dredged material. The DMCF would have an exterior dike elevation of approximately +30 feet, in the existing High Head Industrial Basin located approximately 2.5 miles northeast of the terminal project area within the Tradepoint Atlantic property.