The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers completed an integrated ‘Draft System Investment Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Ohio River Mainstem System Study’ report. 

The report addresses the proposed actions determined by the USACE as necessary for maintaining a safe, environmentally sustainable, and reliable navigation system on the Ohio River over a 60-year period, from 2010 to 2070. 

The completion of the report involved a 10-year cooperative effort. The study’s purpose includes identifying measures to improve ecological sustainability and to provide a balance between economic and environmental improvements. 

The Corps organized an Interagency Working Group to include in the process of identifying measures to improve ecological sustainability.  The draft report recommends appropriations to initiate the previously authorized Ohio River Ecosystem Restoration Program and implementation of a broad array of additional measures, in collaboration with other interests, to improve ecological sustainability. 

The Carterville FRO, along with other USFWS offices in Regions 3 and 4, participated on the Interagency Working Group.  Carterville FRO provided comments through the Kentucky Ecological Services Field Office as part of the Environmental Review of the draft report.