The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), on behalf of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, (Applicant/Project Sponsor), is requesting time extensions for all the planned and in-progress target milestone dates on the permitting dashboard for the Applicant’s Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion project.  This revised schedule is due to the Applicant’s change in the design of the Applicant’s preferred alternative (APA) from 75,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 50,000 cfs in November 2021. 

The design change for the APA occurred after USACE and the cooperating agencies reviewed the modeling information and technical reports associated with the previous APA (the 75,000 cfs alternative), as well as the other alternatives carried forward for further analysis in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  In order to support the new APA, the Applicant had to conduct additional modeling and submit additional technical reports to USACE and the cooperating agencies to review, but the time required for these reviews was not included in the existing schedule. The details of the new APA, together with the additional modeling results and associated  technical reports, must be thoroughly evaluated and addressed by USACE in the EIS, particularly in Chapter 4, “Environmental Consequences”. 

The Applicant provided their updated modeling results and reports to USACE for review on a rolling basis throughout calendar year (CY) 2022, with the most recent submission having been provided in December 2022.  Although some information to be provided by the Applicant to the USACE currently remains outstanding (e.g., revised permit application specific to the new APA and details on the reason for the design change), USACE now has sufficient information to continue the development of the EIS and provide a revised schedule for the FAST 41 dashboard.  USACE has coordinated with the Applicant and all cooperating agencies on the revised schedule for the FAST 41 dashboard and has received written concurrence from the agencies and the parties on all revised dates. The revised schedule for the FAST 41 dashboard takes into account the remaining deliverables due to be received by USACE from the Applicant, including but not limited to, the marine mammals technical report, the biological assessment, the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) assessment, cumulative impacts information, the mitigation plan, and the monitoring and adaptive management plan (MAM plan).  These deliverables are necessary for the continuation of the USACE (and the applicable cooperating agencies) reviews associated with the Department of the Army (DA) Section 10/Section 404 Permit request and the DA Section 408 Permission request; compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA); compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA); compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; and compliance with the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act.

The revised schedule shifts most milestones to the right by approximately 12 months.  USACE is also requesting additional time between the publication of the Notice of Availability of the Final EIS and the issuance of the Record of Decision (ROD), based on lessons learned from the preparation and finalization of the DEIS and FEIS and the processing of DA permit and permission requests by the same Applicant for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion.  In addition, the revised schedule provides sufficient time to complete and achieve compliance with applicable environmental law and regulations, including a 30-day public review of the FEIS and USACE consideration of all public comments, as well as the production of the USACE decision documents, and the execution of the ROD at District and Division levels.

Below are the specific questions that are required on the dashboard regarding these changes.

1.  Is the project sponsor impacted by the date change?  If so, has the project sponsor expressed concerns with the date change? 

Response:  The Project Sponsor states that the time-extension is necessary in order for the Project Sponsor to provide the required information on the applicant's new APA.  The Project Sponsor was involved in the development of the new schedule and issued correspondence to USACE concurring with the proposed schedule changes on March 1, 2023.

2.  Does the date change affect any other aspects of the permitting timetable? If so, did you coordinate with the affected agencies?

Response:  The date changes affect all the planned or in-progress target milestone dates on the permitting timetable.  These changes were coordinated with the Project Sponsor and all cooperating agencies (EPA, DOI, FWS, NOAA, NMFS, NRCS, USDA, and USGS).

3.  Have any issues related to this date change been documented in the project's CPP or discussed at the project specific CERPO meeting?

Response:  The date changes have been discussed at the project-specific CERPO meeting.  The plan is to document any changes in this quarter's CPP.

4.  Is there any opportunity for the permitting timetable to be adjusted to make up for the time lost as a result of this delay?

 Response:  No.  The delays are too significant and cannot be resolved by alternative adjustments geared towards making up for the time lost as a result of this delay. 

5.  Has your agency CERPO and/or the lead agency CERPO for the project been made aware of the delay and the possible effect it may have on the project?

 Response:  Yes, our agency CERPO, which is the lead agency CERPO, has been made aware of the delays and their effects on the project schedule.  He has reviewed the revised schedule and concurs with the changes.