Port Fourchon Belle Pass Channel Deepening Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement APPENDIX A RECORD OF SCOPING PROCESS August 2018 Contents: 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Project Scoping Process 3.0 Public Scoping Meeting 3.1 Scoping Meeting Comments Attachments: Attachment 1 Scoping Prior to Public Scoping Meeting Attachment 2 Notice of Intent Attachment 3 Scoping Meeting Records: Public Notice List of Scoping Meeting Comments Other Comments and Letters Attachment 4 Agency Meeting Summary Notes and Record of Attendance Attachment 5 Public Engagement Register 1.0 INTRODUCTION The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 established a nationwide policy requiring that an environmental impact statement (DEIS) be included in all recommendations and reports on proposals for major Federal actions significantly affecting the environment. Further, NEPA policy requires that the process of scoping be done by way of mandating an early and open public discussion in order to identify the relative scope of issues and provide environmental information to the public before project actions are taken. This scoping report outlines the DEIS scoping process of the proposed Port Fourchon Belle Pass Channel Deepening Project in Lafourche Parish, and summarizes the key issues identified by during the initial scoping period. The sequential details of the project scoping activities are outline below. 1. On June 28, 2016, the project was started with a two day internal conference to develop the scope of work; during which the following scoping efforts were employed (Attachment 1): a. Identification of economic, engineering, environmental project teams b. Identification of project purpose and need, preliminary alternatives, deliverables, and milestones c. Plan for regulatory compliance d. Review of approved/certified Corps project models to employ for project development e. Review of feasibility case studies and regional beneficial use of dredged material projects f. Development of the project report structures for each team g. Development of the risk register approach and methodology h. Project teams condensed internal team coordination and planning efforts following this internal conference 2. A project commencement meeting was held with the Corps (MVN) on July 11, 2016 for project planning (Attachment 1). 3. On November 23, 2016, the Corps published a Notice of Intent for project develop in the Federal Register (Attachment 2). 4. On December 22, 2016, the Corps published a Public Notice for the project public scoping meeting (Attachment 3). 5. On January 12, 2017, the public scoping meeting was held. In Attachment 3 you will find a list of comments from the meeting, the court reporter transcript, and other comments and letters received after the meeting during the open public comment period. 6. During the fall of 2017, an iterative process with the Louisiana Depart of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was started to ensure environmental compliance and agency inputs would be incorporated into the analyses of DEIS (Attachment 4). 7. Provided in Attachment 4 are representative summary notes of the iterative interagency scoping process, which included agency input for the development of the sedimentation and water quality model developed by The Water Institute of the Gulf (TWIG). 8. During the development of the Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) for the complete beneficial use of all project dredged material, an interagency site visit was held to identify alternative placement areas surrounding Port Fourchon (Attachment 4). 9. Following the site visit, an iterative interagency process for the development of the DMMP was started, which resulted in the maximization of estimated marsh creation under the advisement of the agencies and the minimization/avoidance of adverse environmental impacts. These efforts are detailed in the DMMP & Sediment Suitability Analysis (Appendix J of the DEIS). 10. The Wetland Value Assessment (WVA) (DEIS Appendix C) for the beneficial use of dredged material and 3.0 acres of total adverse wetland impact were conducted by USFWS and the Corps. 11. The following consultations were initiated: Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Assessment (DEIS Appendix G) with NMFS, Biological Assessment (DEIS Appendix B) with USFWS, and 404(b)1 Clean Water Act Evaluation (DEIS Appendix F) with the Corps. The EFH Assessment and the Biological Assessment were also provide to LDWF. The EFH Assessment consultation is currently only partially complete, with completion expected during the public review period of the DEIS once a detailed review of the report is provided by NMFS. Upon receipt of the review, the EFH Assessment will incorporate all of the input from NMFS. 12. USFWS has provided a preliminary Coordination Act Report (CAR) (DEIS Appendix C). The recommendations of the current CAR were incorporated in the DMMP and the Monitoring Plan with Adaptive Management (DEIS Appendix C). 13. A Notice of Availability is being finalized in coordination with the Corps, which will be published in the Federal Register. 14. A public meeting for the presentation of the DEIS to the public will be conducted to receive comments and conclude the scoping process, the date of which will be made available to the public upon finalization. Provided in Attachment 5 is a Public Engagement Record of scoping efforts carried out by the non-federal interest. 2.0 PROJECT SCOPING PROCESS The scoping process for the proposed project was designed to provide an early and open process to determine the scope of issues (problems, needs, and opportunities) to be identified and addressed in the DEIS. Beginning in June of 2016, a series of internal project team scoping meetings were initiated, and led to a kick off meeting with the Corps (MVN) on July 11, 2016. Records of these early scoping efforts are provided the in Attachments of this report. A Notice of Intent to prepare the DEIS and a Public Notice for the scoping meeting were published by the Corps (MVN) in the Federal Register on November 23, 2016, and December 22, 2016, respectively (see Attachments to this report). Additionally, public notices were mailed to various entities including state, local and federal agencies on January 3, 2017. 3.0 PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING The public scoping meeting was held on January 12, 2017, at the Mathews Government Complex in Mathews, Louisiana. Attendees were but were not limited to, private citizens, stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and political representatives. An open house informational period prior to the meeting provided attendees an opportunity to visit a series of poster stations where project team members and subject matter experts discussed important aspects and answered questions of the attendees. Following the open house, a presentation was given by the project team manager, Dr. Mohan Menon. The presentation detailed the project background, NEPA EIS requirements and processes, environmental issues identified for DEIS analyses, proposed project alternatives, and the forecasted project schedule. Attendees were then invited to provide their comments to the meeting participants from the podium. The floor remained open until all comments were received. The size of the audience eliminated the need for small group sessions. During the closing comments, attendees were asked to pick up self-mailing comment cards, should they wish to submit additional comments at a later date. Attendees were requested to send their comments to the responsible project managers by e-mail or mail. The open public comment period ended on April 15, 2017. A list of comments from the scoping meeting is provided in Attachment 1. Transcripts of the scoping meeting presentation and discussions were prepared by court reporters (Attachment 3). The primary comments received are categorized below. 1. Beneficial use/ placement of dredged material 2. Economic diversification and job creation 3. Impact on endangered species of flora and fauna 4. Impact of changes to drainage patterns, including dredging 3.1 MEETING COMMENTS Public comments from the scoping meeting are categorized according to the following project subject areas: 1. Purpose and Need 2. Alternatives 3. Affected Environment 4. Environmental Consequences 5. Consultation, Coordination, and Compliance with Regulations Representative public comments are describe below. Purpose and Need Of the ten comments received, half of them were in regards to the purpose and needs of the project. The most frequent need expressed in the comments were economic diversification and job creation. Lafourche Parish President, James Cantrelle, provided, “First of all, I want to say this is a great plan, great project, and we desperately need all the work we can get because our economy is real bad here. As everybody knows, the oil industry is down. Whatever it brings, whatever jobs it brings, it will be a plus for this area.” Alternatives Two of the comments received addressed alternatives or factors to consider when carrying out the project. These comments ask the team to consider the time of year that the project is to be carried out. The time of year that construction of the project begins is important because it has the potential to disturb the habitats and/or breeding habits of local wildlife. A letter received from Dave Butler, Permits Coordinator of Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, stated the following: “To minimize disturbance to colonial nesting birds, the following