St. Johns/New Madrid RSEIS - Endangered Species & Wetlands ...

REVISED SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT NUMBER 2
FOR THE ST. JOHNS BAYOU-NEW MADRID FLOODWAY PROJECT
The responsible lead agency is the Memphis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
ABSTRACT
The Final Revised Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (2002 RSEIS) of the subject
project was completed and filed with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency on July 19,
2002. Subsequent to that final document filing, Clean Water Act, Section 401 Water Quality
(WQ) Certification was received from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR)
on June 9, 2003, and a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed on August 25, 2003. The decision
was to implement the recommended plan as described in the 2002 RSEIS and with additional
environmental requirements as stipulated in the WQ Certification. Since the filing and execution
of these documents, concerns were raised regarding the project and adequacy of mitigation. As a
result, the ROD was withdrawn on June 23, 2005, and a decision was made to prepare this
Revised Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Number 2 (RSEIS 2) to clarify and
address issues of concern.
These concerns include but are not limited to consideration of: mitigation requirements for the
fishery and waterfowl resources, hypoxia, farmed wetlands (Swampbuster), and the cost-benefit
ratio. A list of concerns is provided in Section 1.4.3. This RSEIS 2 addresses these concerns
and analyzes additional mitigation techniques that demonstrate that all significant fish and
wildlife resources impacted by the flood damage reduction project are compensated.
The entire 2002 RSEIS will not be revisited. The RSEIS 2 will only supplement and re-examine
the concerns and issues which have been identified and provide clarification on and correct
inconsistencies to the 2002 RSEIS.
There is no change to flood damage reduction features that were recommended in the 2002
RSEIS. Construction of the St. Johns Bayou – New Madrid Floodway project would reduce the
duration and frequency of Mississippi River backwater flooding to the New Madrid Floodway
and headwater flooding to the St. Johns Bayou Basin. This reduction in flooding decreases the
adverse impacts to the area’s infrastructure and agriculture. Construction of the project would
adversely impact fish and wildlife resources in the project area, primarily due to a reduction in
backwater inundation.
This document details changes that have been made to the overall compensatory mitigation
strategy that the 2002 RSEIS recommended. The 2002 RSEIS recommended reforestation of
frequently flooded cropland as the basic means to compensate for unavoidable impacts to midseason
fish rearing habitat. This document demonstrates that all unavoidable impacts to
significant fish and wildlife resources can be compensated by implementing various
compensatory mitigation techniques, in addition to reforestation.
Draft RSEIS 2
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