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America's Marine Highway Program Draft Programmatic Environmental THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK America’s Marine Highway Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment United States Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK America’s Marine Highway Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The United States (U.S.) Department of Transportation (DOT), Maritime Administration (MARAD) has established the America’s Marine Highway Program (the Program) in order to supplement the surface transportation system with added capacity offered by the national waterway system and maximize the efficiency of the U.S. transportation system by incorporating a maritime component into the planning for the transport of passengers and cargo. The Program is a short sea transportation program designed to bring about a seamless and efficient transportation system through the expansion of America’s inland, intracoastal, and coastal waterways and the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway System. ES.1 INTRODUCTION In recognition of the growing need to address concerns about land-based transportation efficiencies and sustainability, Congress enacted the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Energy Act) (Public Law 110-140, Sections 1121-1123), and DOT established America’s Marine Highway Program to meet the requirements of the Energy Act. The Program was established on October 9, 2008 in an Interim Final Rule published in the Federal Register by DOT (75 F.R. 59530-59537). The Interim Final Rule presented the Secretary of Transportation’s intention to designate Marine Highway Corridors and short sea transportation projects to accomplish the following: expand domestic water transportation services as an alternative means of moving freight cargo; mitigate economic, environmental and energy costs due to landside congestion; and integrate the Marine Highway into the transportation planning process. On April 9, 2010 the Program was finalized and implemented as the Final Rule (75 F.R. 18095-18107). The Final Rule addresses Marine Highway Corridors and establishes criteria, eligibility requirements and information to apply for designation as a Marine Highway Project. On August 11, 2010 the Secretary of Transportation designated 18 Marine Highway Corridors (including 11 Corridors, four Connectors, and three Crossings), eight Marine Highway Projects, and six Initiatives within five regions of the U.S.: West Coast, Great Lakes, Mississippi, Gulf Coast, and East Coast. It is anticipated that the number and locations of Marine Highway Corridors and Marine Highway Projects will expand over time as the Program progresses. These Marine Highway Corridors identify existing routes where water transportation presents an opportunity to offer relief to corresponding landside routes that suffer from traffic congestion, excessive air emissions or other environmental concerns and challenges. Corridors are generally longer, multistate routes whereas Connectors represent shorter routes that serve as feeders to the larger Corridors. Connectors also provide relief to congested border crossings, bridges, or tunnels. Crossings are short routes that transit harbors or waterways and offer alternatives to much longer or less convenient land routes between points. Marine Highway Projects represent new or expanded Marine Highway services, within existing shipping routes on designated Marine Highways that offer the promise of public benefit and long-term sustainability without continuous governmental operational support. As designated Marine Highway Projects, these projects would qualify for potential future Marine Highway Grant funding under the Program. If Marine Highway Grant funds are available, only designated Marine Highway Projects would be eligible to apply for those funds. To date, Congress has only provided funding in fiscal year 2010. Executive Summary ES-i May 2013 America’s Marine Highway Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment Grants funded in 2010 were used for equipment or barge purchases for two of the designated projects including the James River Container Expansion Project and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Freight Project. The Secretary has designated six Initiatives that, while not developed to the point of proposing specific services and routes required for Project designation, offer promise of potential in the future. Marine Highway Initiatives are not eligible to compete for future Marine Highway Grants, but would receive support from DOT in further developing the concepts through research, market analysis, and other efforts to identify the opportunities they may present. ES.2 SCOPE OF THE PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S. Code [USC] §4321 et seq.) requires all Federal agencies to analyze the possible environmental impacts of actions that a Federal agency implements, funds, permits, or licenses. The purpose of NEPA review is to inform Federal decision makers about the environmental impacts associated with their projects (e.g., impacts on air quality, water resources, endangered species, etc.). MARAD determined that a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) would be prepared to examine the potential environmental impacts of further development of the Program. The Program does not develop or operate Marine Highway services. The private sector or state/local governments develop and operate Marine Highway services. Successful services must acquire economically competitive vessels, make their own routing decisions, and choose to begin or halt their service without any involvement from the Program. Further, successful services must be competitive with other modes of transportation. The Program provides a set of tools to assist in the development or expansion of Marine Highway services. The primary tools used by the Program in its efforts to generate public benefits by increasing the utilization or efficiency of domestic freight or passenger transportation on Marine Highways are: • designation of Marine Highway Corridors; • designation of Marine Highway Projects; and • providing Marine Highway Grants (when funding is available). For qualitative and quantitative analyses in the PEA, several assumptions have been made based on best available data and what MARAD foresees to be probable in the near future. The successful development of new commercial Marine Highway services depends on vessel operators identifying markets where they can provide a timely, cost-competitive service. In this PEA, MARAD has identified a few port pairs per region that are representative of the probable candidates for new Marine Highway services. Because no market analysis was performed for these cases, the market assessments in this document are qualitative. The PEA does not identify specific cargo, shipping rates, or operating costs for a new service, but rather examines the potential environmental impact of those services, should they be established. Through further development of the Program, site-specific projects may be identified that would require additional detailed NEPA analysis in the form of an Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The PEA is designed to serve as a guidance document that may be used to tier Executive Summary ES-ii May 2013 America’s Marine Highway Program Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment from during future project-based NEPA analyses. This approach allows MARAD to focus on the larger- scale, known issues associated with the implementation of the Program rather than the smaller-scale, unknown issues that will be associated with the development of future projects as the Program progresses. ES.3 PURPOSE AND NEED The purpose of the Proposed Action is to fulfill MARAD’s responsibilities and mission as authorized by the Secretary of Transportation to improve and strengthen the U.S. Marine Transportation System to meet the economic, environmental, and security needs of the Nation. MARAD’s Proposed Action to further develop America’s Marine Highway Program would be consistent with the agency’s responsibilities. The need for the Proposed Action results from the requirements of the Energy Act of 2007, which calls for the Secretary to designate short sea transportation routes as extensions of the surface transportation system in order to focus public and private efforts to use the waterways and relieve landside congestion along coastal corridors. Further development of the Program would enable more goods and people to travel by water, striking a balance between the demand and available capacity on highways, rail, and Marine Highway surface routes, and making it more likely that the U.S. would realize the benefits sought by Congress. The Program envisioned by DOT would fully comply with Congress’ legislative requirements for short sea shipping by working to bring about a more diverse, energy- efficient, and climate-friendly transportation system through the creation and expansion of domestic water transportation services. ES.4 PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES The Proposed Action is to develop further America’s Marine Highway Program in order to relieve landside congestion, provide redundancy to nearby surface transportation facilities, and maximize the efficiency of the U.S. Marine Transportation System by increasing use of the existing capacity within the nation’s navigable waters. The Proposed Action supports an overview of a variety of project types with the goal of developing and expanding
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