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https://hdl.handle.net/11681/48115| Title: | Final Environmental Assessment : Maintenance Dredging and Dredged Material Placement for Miami Harbor Navigation Project at Port Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida |
| Authors: | United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Jacksonville District |
| Keywords: | Port of Miami (Fla.) Dredging Dredging spoil Dredged material Inland navigation Environmental management Environmental protection |
| Publisher: | United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Jacksonville District. |
| Abstract: | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District (Corps), proposes maintenance dredging of the Miami Harbor Navigation Project, a Congressionally authorized project in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The non-federal sponsor (NFS) is Miami-Dade County. The Corps has prepared this Environmental Assessment (EA) consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Council on Environmental Quality’s implementing regulations. The City of Miami is located on the west side of Biscayne Bay; the City of Miami Beach is located on an island on the northeast side of the bay, opposite Miami. Both cities are located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and are connected by several causeways crossing the bay. Miami Harbor is an island port facility consisting of 518 upland acres and is located in the northern portion of Biscayne Bay in South Florida. The port is the southernmost major Atlantic Coast port. Referenced to other major South Atlantic Region ports, the port is located 21 nautical miles south of Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale), Florida; 83 nautical miles south of Palm Beach, Florida; 173 nautical miles south of Port Canaveral, Florida; 306 nautical miles south of Jacksonville, the most northern port on Florida’s Atlantic Coast; and 144 nautical miles north of Key West, the southernmost port in Florida. The purpose of the Miami Harbor Navigation Project maintenance dredging is to maintain safe and efficient vessel navigation through the channel and harbor features. The need for maintenance dredging is driven by the accumulation of sediment, commonly referred to as shoaling. When shoaling occurs, it reduces depths and widths of the navigation channels, hindering safe and efficient vessel navigation. Shoaling can occur at any time and in any location due to natural processes. Periodic dredging is required to remove accumulated sediments and thus maintain the channel and harbor features at the federally authorized and constructed dimensions. This EA evaluates the potential effects of the proposed maintenance dredging of the Miami Harbor Navigation Project as well as the associated dredged material placement in the Miami Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site (ODMDS) on the human environment and incorporates the Corps’ Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Assessment. This EA completes coordination with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the project’s potential effects to EFH pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSFCMA). The Corps has also completed Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on the project’s potential effects to threatened and endangered (T&E) species. All of the T&E species that may occur in the project area that are under NMFS’s jurisdiction are covered by the South Atlantic Regional Biological Opinion for Dredging and Material Placement Activities in the Southeast United States (SARBO) and the Corps will comply with all conditions of that Opinion. This 2023 EA adopts the analysis conducted in the Miami Harbor General Reevaluation Report Study Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) dated January 2004, where the information is valid and applicable to this evaluation; however, the Corps also considered more recent information as listed in Sections 1.4 and 9, including comments received on the 2019 draft EA listed in Section 1.4 and comments received on the 2022 draft EA. |
| Description: | Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact |
| Rights: | Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited |
| URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/11681/48115 |
| Appears in Collections: | Environmental Documents |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Harbor Dredged and Dredged Material Placement - EA and FONSI_2023.pdf | 38.19 MB | Adobe PDF |  View/Open |