e - AK21 NJDEP WQC CZM 210408.pdf

Mr. Randall G. Hintz, Chief April 8, 2021 Operations Support Branch Department of the Army New York District, Corps of Engineers Jacob K. Javits Building 26 Federal Plaza New York, New York 10278-0090

RE: Federal Consistency Determination / Water Quality Certification File: 0000-03-0035.1 CDT20001 and CDT20002 Project: Maintenance Dredging of New York and New Jersey Channels – Arthur Kill Reaches Federal Navigation Channels

Dear Mr. Hintz:

This letter is forwarded in response to your December 18, 2020, as amended on February 26, 2021, request for a Federal Consistency Determination (FC), as required by Section 307 of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (16 USC 1451 et seq.) and Water Quality Certification (WQC) as required by Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act (33 USC 1251 et seq. The request included the public notice for the project, channel surveys, sediment sampling and analyses report, and a Coastal Zone Management Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:7) Statement of Compliance.

Contract Description

The proposed maintenance dredging would involve the removal of approximately 250,000 cubic yards (CY) of material to a depth of -35 feet mean low lower water (MLLW) plus two-foot allowable over dredge. The 250,000 cy of non-HARs suitable material is proposed to be beneficially used at a permitted upland placement site as determined by the designated dredging contractor.

Included in the FC/WQC request was a sediment sampling report for the Arthur Kill Reaches dated October 30, 2020 entitled “Technical Report on the Sampling and Testing of Sediment from the Arthur Kill-North Bay Channel for Upland Beneficial Use in New Jersey and/or New York, Contract No.

W912DS-17-D-0006” prepared by Aqua Survey for the NY District Army Corps of Engineers. This sampling effort was performed by the NY District as per a NJDEP/NYDEC sampling plan dated July 3, The NY District has requested that the federal consistency determination be generic in terms of the potential upland placement site(s) for this material. A subsequent request to amend this consistency determination will be submitted to the Department by the NY District once the apparent low bidder for the contract has identified a fully permitted or approved upland placement site(s). The request to amend

PHILIP D. MURPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SHAWN M. LATOURETTE

Governor Acting Commissioner

SHEILA Y. OLIVER

Lt. Governor

New Jersey is an Equal Opportunity Employer l Printed on Recycled Paper and Recyclable

Division of Land Resource Protection Mail Code 501-02A

P.O. Box 420 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0420 www.nj.gov/dep/landuse this determination will be submitted by the Corps a minimum of two weeks prior to the award of the contract. The Department agrees with this approach.

Federal Consistency and Water Quality Certification

The Rules on Coastal Zone Management (N.J.A.C. 7:7E) constitute New Jersey’s enforceable policies under its federally approved Coastal Zone Management Program. The maintenance dredging of New York and New Jersey Channels – Arthur Kill Reaches Federal Navigation Channels has been reviewed under the following Rules on Coastal Zone Management: Finfish migratory pathways (7:7-9.5), Navigation Channels (7:7-9.7), Ports (7:7-9.11), Submerged Infrastructure Routes (7:7-9.12), Historic and Archaeological Resources (7:7-9.13), Maintenance dredging (7:7-12.6), Dredged material placement on land (7:7-15.12), Marine Fish and Fisheries (7:7-16.2), and Water Quality (7:7-16.3). Based on the summary of details of the contract presented in the contract specific FC/WQC on the dates listed above, I have CONDITIONALLY determined that the dredging of this dredging contract is consistent with the Rules on Coastal Zone Management and New Jersey’s federally approved Coastal Management Program, provided the NY District complies with the requirements specified above for the placement of the material at an upland placement site.

I have also reviewed this Contract for potential water quality impacts. Provided that the following conditions are met, I have determined that this project is not likely to cause a violation of New Jersey’s Surface Water Quality Standards (N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.1 et seq.). Therefore, this determination includes the State’s Water Quality Certification pursuant to Section 401 of the federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 USC 1251 et seq.) subject to the following conditions. It is noted that this Water Quality Certificate is valid for a term of five years and expires five years from the date on the first page of this determination.

CONTRACT SPECIFIC CONDITIONS:

1. Dredging is prohibited from February 1st through May 31st, of any given year, to minimize adverse effects to anadromous fish migration.

2. All sediments from this project shall be removed using a closed clamshell environment bucket.

3. The permittee shall employ the services of an independent dredging inspector to monitor dredging activities twice per week. The permittee shall submit the resume of the dredging inspector to the Department for review and receive written approval prior to the initiation of dredging.

4. The closed clamshell environmental bucket shall be equipped with sensors to ensure complete closure of the bucket before lifting the bucket. Said sensors shall be operational during the entire dredging operation.

5. The dredge shall be operated so as to control the rate of descent of the bucket so as to maximize the vertical cut of the clamshell bucket while not penetrating the sediment beyond the vertical dimension of the open bucket (i.e. overfilling the bucket). This will reduce the amount of free water in the dredged material, will avoid overfilling the bucket, and minimize the number of dredge bucket cycles needed to complete the dredging contract. The dredging contractor shall use appropriate software and sensors on the dredging equipment to ensure consistent compliance with this condition during the entire dredging operation. The independent dredging inspector shall monitor the operation of the software and sensors during the inspections as specified in the below conditions. Any malfunction of the software and sensors on the dredge at any time shall be immediately reported to the independent dredging inspector and the permittee by the dredging contractor and shall be immediately repaired to working order.

6. The closed clamshell environmental bucket shall be lifted slowly through the water, at a rate of 2 feet per second or less.

7. Dredged material shall be placed deliberately in the barge to prevent spillage of material overboard.

8. The discharge (i.e. “overflow”) of water from the barge/scow into which dredged material is placed is prohibited.

9. All barges or scows used to transport sediment shall be of solid hull construction or be sealed with concrete.

10. The gunwales of the dredge scows shall not be rinsed or hosed during dredging except to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of workers maneuvering on the dredge scow.

11. All decant water holding scows shall be watertight and of solid hull construction.

12. Decant water from this project may only be discharged within the channel from where the sediments originated, and in close proximity to the dredging contract area. Discharge to another receiving waterbody requires prior approval from the Department and may require a New Jersey Discharge Pollutant Elimination System/Discharge to Surface Water (NJDPES/DSW) permit.

13. All decant water shall be held in the decant holding scow a minimum of 24 hours after the last addition of water to the decant holding scow. Said water contained in the decant holding scow may only be discharge after this mandatory 24-hour retention time.

a. Should the contractor wish to reduce the required holding time, the contractor shall demonstrate that the reduced holding time is sufficient to meet a total suspended solids (TSS) background value of 30 mg/L. This TSS action level is consistent with the ambient TSS results presented in the NY District study entitled "NY and NJ Harbor Deepening Project - Total Suspended Solids (TSS) Monitoring, Interim Report" (January 2006). The total suspended solids shall be determined through gravimetric analysis. No discharge shall be permitted from the decant holding scow until the results of the gravimetric analysis have confirmed that the 30 mg/L background level has been achieved. No additional water shall be added to the decant holding scow between the time of sample acquisition and discharge. Upon successful demonstration that the reduced holding time is sufficient to meet the TSS background level of 30 mg/L, the monitoring of TSS may be suspended and the demonstrated settling time shall replace the 24-hour minimum. A successful demonstration of the reduced holding time efficiency shall be determined once three consecutive TSS analyses have confirmed that the 30 mg/L action level has been achieved by the reduced holding time.

b. Should the contractor wish to demonstrate this reduced holding time, all records including time of last addition of decant water into the scow, time of TSS sampling and the results of TSS sampling shall be submitted to the NJDEP as soon as they become available, together with a request for a reduced holding time.

14. During pumping of the decant water from the holding scow, great care shall be taken to avoid re-suspending or pumping sediment which has settled in the decant holding scow.

15. The dredging contractor shall complete and submit the attached Dewatering Form to the independent dredging inspector on a weekly basis as part of the Quality Control Report provided to the permittee.

Said Dewatering Form shall be certified by the independent dredging inspector that they have witnessed the dewatering process during the preceding week. The permittee shall submit the completed Dewatering Form with appropriate certifications by email to the Office of Dredging and Sediment Technology for the preceding week.

16. The independent dredging inspector shall perform inspections of the dredging contract a minimum of twice per week using the attached WQC Field Inspector form. The permittee shall submit the completed inspection forms to the NJDEP on at least a weekly basis.

17. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS: At the completion of the project, the permittee shall submit the following information to the Department. This information shall be submitted within three months of completion of dredging.

Start and finish date of work order(s) Post-dredge hydrographic survey

APPROVED PLANS:

The drawing(s) hereby approved consists of seventeen sheets entitled:

“NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY CHANNELS, ARTHUR KILL, CONDITION SURVEY”

dated February 26, 2020

“VH101 to WH117, Sheet 1 of 22 through Sheet 17 of 22

Should you have any questions regarding this determination and certification, please do not hesitate to contact me at Suzanne.Biggins@dep.nj.gov or (609) 292-2023.

Sincerely, Suzanne U. Biggins Supervising Environmental Specialist

Office of Dredging and Sediment Technology Division of Land Resource Protection

C: Scott Douglas, NJDOT, Office of Maritime Resources mailto:Suzanne.Biggins@dep.nj.gov