WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District (Corps) invites public comments on the draft Mill Creek Flood Control Project Operations and Maintenance Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The draft SEIS 46-day comment period officially starts June 8, 2018, (the expected date of publication in the Federal Register) and will remain open through July 23, 2018.
The Corps’ draft SEIS and appendices and other associated documents are available on the Corps’ website
http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/MillCreekSEIS.
The Corps is preparing this SEIS to update the National Environmental Policy Act compliance for operations and maintenance of the Mill Creek Project because changes in required operations and maintenance activities and new environmental conditions within the project area have occurred since the original 1975 Environmental Impact Statement. The Corps proposes to operate and maintain the Mill Creek Project in accordance with its authorized purposes of flood risk management and recreation, while minimizing impacts to the environment, in particular impacts to Endangered Species Act protected fish and associated critical habitats. A public scoping period was conducted May 12 through June 12, 2017, including a public meeting held May 24, 2017, in Walla Walla, Washington. All comments submitted during the scoping period were considered in the development of the draft SEIS and included in the public record.
The SEIS will supplement the June 1975, Mill Creek Project, Walla Walla, Washington, Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), prepared by the Corps for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the federally managed portion of the Project. The SEIS will identify and evaluate current O&M actions that may not have been adequately addressed in the 1975 FEIS or have been implemented since completion of the 1975 FEIS, and actions that are proposed for the future. It will also identify and evaluate operational and structural measures the Corps has proposed to improve fish passage through the Mill Creek Project.
Electronic comments may be filed directly online at:
http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/EnvironmentalComplianceComment or emailed to
NEPANWW@usace.army.mil, inserting “MCL O&M SEIS” in the subject line. To submit written comments via the U.S. Postal Service, mail them to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Walla Walla District
ATTN: PPL-C, MCL O&M SEIS
201 N. 3rd Avenue
Walla Walla, WA 99362
All comments received will be considered and included in the public record. Individuals with questions regarding the draft SEIS should contact the Corps’ environmental compliance specialist at 509-527-7267 or NEPANWW@usace.army.mil..
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