News Release
| Release Number: | 99-081 |
| Dated: | 9/7/1999 |
| Contact: | Public Affairs Office, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore. -- Contrary to information released earlier, the public comment period on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Final Integrated Feasibility Report for Channel Improvements and Environmental Impact Statement: Columbia and Lower Willamette River Federal Navigation Channel does not end until Oct. 25, 1999.
Copies of the eight-volume report (three volumes plus five appendices) have been filed with the Environmental Protection Agency and are being distributed to city libraries along the lower Columbia River. Notice of the report will be published in the Federal Register on Sept. 10, 1999, signaling the beginning of the 45-day-comment period. The main report containing the environmental impact statement, and the Corps' responses to the comments received during the draft review, have been mailed to an extensive mailing list of federal, state and local agencies and interested citizens. Copies of the appendices are available on request from the District Engineer, Portland District, (CENWP-EC-E, ATTN: Steven J. Stevens), P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR, 97208-2946, or by e-mail at the following address: steven.j.stevens@usace.army.mil. The main report/EIS also is available on the Internet at http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/pm/projects/crnci/final_crs.htm. Public comments received on the draft report issued in October 1998, and responses to those comments, are included in this final report.
Written comments on the report may be mailed to the Washington Level Review Center, 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, VA, 22315-3861. Comments must be received by Oct. 25, 1999.
The report includes the Corps' recommended alternative: to deepen the current 40-foot federal navigation channel by three feet. The channel extends from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream to the Interstate 5 bridge between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., and from the mouth of the Willamette River upstream to the Broadway Bridge in Portland.
The final step in the Corps' process, the Chief of Engineers' Report, including the final recommendation to Congress, is scheduled to be issued in late 1999. A draft Chief of Engineers' Report also is being circulated for public comment. A request for funds to construct the project will be included in the Corps' 2002 budget request. The estimated cost of the proposed 43-foot channel, including environmental restoration, is about $196 million.
In 1994, the Corps' Portland District began the feasibility study to evaluate improvements to the Columbia River federal navigation channel. The study's non-federal sponsors are the seven lower Columbia River ports - Portland, St. Helens and Astoria in Oregon, and Longview, Kalama, Woodland and Vancouver in Washington. With one exception, the Port of Astoria that is still evaluating its concerns, the sponsoring ports support the Corps' recommendation.
The purposes of the proposed project are to improve transport of goods on the Columbia River, and also to provide ecosystem restoration for fish and wildlife habitats. The need for navigation improvements is driven by the steady growth in waterborne commerce and the use of larger and more efficient vessels to transport bulk commodities. As the use of deep-draft vessels grows, so do limitations created by the existing channel dimensions. The existing 40-foot channel keeps many larger vessels from loading to full capacity.
The Willamette River portion of the project is on hold because of concerns with contaminated sediment in the Portland Harbor and disposal of that sediment. Based on Environmental Protection Agency and Corps testing and criteria, the material currently dredged to maintain the Willamette channel is suitable for in-water disposal. Some material in the Willamette River is potentially unsuitable for in-water disposal unless further biological tests are conducted. For that reason, the sponsoring ports asked the Corps to delay that portion of the project until an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality investigation and remediation planning are completed.