Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Description:

CURRENT STATUS:

The project status for MBSD is now "Complete"

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

On June 22, 2016, CPRA submitted a joint permit application which included a brief project description:

"The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is a large scale, complex civil works and ecosystem restoration project. When operated, up to 75,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) of sediment laden water would be diverted from the Mississippi River to the mid-Barataria Basin to reconnect and re-establish the natural or deltaic sediment deposition process between the Mississippi River and the Barataria Basin to deliver sediment, freshwater, and nutrients to reduce land loss and sustain wetlands."

The proposed MBSD project has the potential for significant impacts and requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to inform a permit decision relative to the lead federal agency under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (Section 404) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (Section 10), and permissions under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (Section 408). The USACE-MVN Regulatory permit processing number is MVN-2012-2806-E00.

In April 2017, the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (LA TIG) of the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Louisiana Restoration Area issued a notice that described its decision to support the development of a single MBSD EIS that can satisfy NEPA requirements for both the USACE and the LA TIG federal Trustees in potential restoration efforts in the Barataria Basin. This decision increased efficiency and reduced redundancy by avoiding development of two separate NEPA analyses for the same project. Federal and state member agencies of the LA TIG participated in the development of the DEIS as cooperating agencies. The LA TIG intends to rely on the DEIS to inform its decision under the Oil Pollution Act and to fulfill the requirements of the federal Trustees under NEPA. Following public review of the DEIS and completion of the Final EIS, the federal Trustees of the LA TIG expect to adopt the Final EIS by signature on a Record of Decision, which will document the LA TIG’s decision. The LA TIG's Draft Louisiana Phase 2 Restoration Plan 3.2 released in May 2021 is available here.

Links to Project Information

Link to the MBSD Scoping Report (Jan 2018): here

Link to the 11 September 2017 Federal MOU for the MBSD permitting process: here

Link to the 25 January 2018 executed MOU between the State of Louisiana and FAST 41 Cooperating Agencies for the MBSD permit application: here

Additional information about the project including the Fast-41 Initiation Notice (FIN), the joint permit application submitted by the project sponsor to USACE, public meeting and public comment period information, and other significant documents associated with the environmental review, can be found on this link to the USACE Mid-Barataria Project Website.

This Permitting Dashboard includes limitations on the types of milestones that are currently available to enter for tracking.  The MBSD project involves some authorizations/laws unsupported by the Permitting Table displayed at the bottom of this webpage.  For improved transparency, USACE is providing this supplemental table to track additional authorizations/laws that may be necessary for completion of the regulatory process:

Update:

The Executive Director granted a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request to extend the Fish and Wildlife Service "Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act Review" completion date because the previous completion date was entered in error. The Executive Director determination is posted here.

The Executive Director granted a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request to extend the Environmental Impact Statement, Section 106 Review, and Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act completion dates. The Executive Director determination is posted here.

The Executive Director granted a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request to extend the Environmental Impact Statement completion dates and dependent Federal agency milestones. The Executive Director determination is posted here.