83 FR 23289 - Otay River Estuary Restoration Project, South San Diego Bay Unit of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California; Final Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 97 (May 18, 2018)

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed project to restore coastal wetlands at the south end of San Diego Bay. The Otay River Estuary Restoration Project is located within the South San Diego Bay Unit of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in San Diego County, California. This notice advises the public that the final EIS is now available to the public. The final EIS describes the alternatives identified to restore two portions of the South San Diego Bay Unit of the San Diego Bay NWR to coastal wetlands to benefit native fish, wildlife, and plant species.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 97 (Friday, May 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23289-23291]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-10630]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-R-2018-N008; FF08RSDC00-189-F1611MD-FXRS12610800000]


Otay River Estuary Restoration Project, South San Diego Bay Unit 
of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California; Final 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; final environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the 
availability of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for a 
proposed project to restore coastal wetlands at the south end of San 
Diego Bay. The Otay River Estuary Restoration Project is located within 
the South San Diego Bay Unit of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife 
Refuge (NWR) in San Diego County, California. This notice advises the 
public that the final EIS is now available to the public. The final EIS 
describes the alternatives identified to restore two portions of the 
South San Diego Bay Unit of the San Diego Bay NWR to coastal wetlands 
to benefit native fish, wildlife, and plant species.

ADDRESSES: Document Availability: You may obtain copies of the EIS and 
related documents in the following places:
     Internet: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/San_Diego_Bay/what_we_do/Resource_Management/Otay_Restoration.html.
     In Person:
    [cir] San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex Headquarters, 1080 
Gunpowder Point Drive, Chula Vista, CA 91910; telephone: 619-476-9150, 
extension 103.
    [cir] Chula Vista Public Library, Civic Center Branch, 365 F 
Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910; telephone: 619-691-5069.
    [cir] San Diego County Library, Imperial Beach Branch Library, 810 
Imperial Beach Blvd. Imperial Beach, CA 91932; telephone: 619-424-6981.
    [cir] Chula Vista Public Library, South Chula Vista Branch, 389 
Orange Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91911; telephone: 619-585-5755.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Collins, Refuge Manager, San 
Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge at 619-575-2704, extension 302 
(telephone) or [email protected] (email); or Andy Yuen, Project 
Leader, 619-476-9150, extension 100 (telephone), or [email protected] 
(email).

[[Page 23290]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    We are conducting environmental review for the proposed Otay River 
Estuary Restoration Project in accordance with the requirements of the 
National Environmental Policy Act, as amended (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.), its implementing regulations in 40 CFR 1500-1508), other 
applicable regulations, and our procedures for compliance with those 
regulations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is participating as a 
cooperating agency in preparation of the EIS. On November 14, 2011, we 
published in the Federal Register a notice of intent to prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Otay project (76 FR 
70480). Based on information developed after the scoping period, the 
proposed area of the project was expanded, so on January 8, 2013, we 
published a notice to reinitiate the scoping process (78 FR 1246). We 
announced the availability of the draft EIS for public comment on 
October 21, 2016 (81 FR 72817), and reopened the comment period on 
December 27, 2016 (81 FR 95176). In accordance with 40 CFR 1506.6, we 
now announce the availability of the final EIS.
    In addition to our publication of this notice, the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing a notice announcing 
the final EIS, as required under section 309 of the Clean Air Act (42 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.). The publication date of EPA's notice of 
availability in the Federal Register is the start of the 30-day wait 
period required for the final EIS. (See EPA's Role in the EIS Process, 
below, for further information.)
    We will make a decision on the alternatives presented in the EIS no 
sooner than 30 days after the publication of the final EIS. We 
anticipate issuing a Record of Decision (ROD) in 2018.

Background

    In 2006, we completed a comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and 
EIS/ROD to guide the management of the San Diego Bay NWR over a 15-year 
period (71 FR 64552, November 2, 2006). The wildlife and habitat 
management goal of the selected management alternative in the CCP for 
the South San Diego Bay Unit is to ``Protect, manage, enhance, and 
restore . . . coastal wetlands . . . to benefit the native fish, 
wildlife, and plant species supported within the South San Diego Bay 
Unit.'' One of the strategies identified to meet this goal is to 
restore native habitats in the Otay River floodplain and the salt 
ponds.
    On November 15, 2007, the California Coastal Commission 
(Commission) approved a coastal development permit (CDP No. E-06-013) 
for a proposal by Poseidon Resources (Channelside) LP (Poseidon) to 
construct and operate a desalination facility in Carlsbad, California. 
As part of that approval, the Commission required Poseidon, through 
special condition 8, to submit for additional Commission review and 
approval a marine life mitigation plan (MLMP) to address the impacts to 
be caused by the facility's use of estuarine water and its entrainment 
of marine organisms. The MLMP was conditionally approved by the 
Commission on August 6, 2008 (CCC 2008). With the incorporation of the 
Commission's revisions, the MLMP was finalized on November 21, 2008. 
The MLMP requires that Poseidon submit a proposed mitigation site and 
preliminary restoration plan that achieves the following mitigation 
requirements:
     Create or substantially restore tidal wetland habitat, 
preferably in the San Diego Region;
     Restore at least 66.4 acres of coastal wetland habitat as 
mitigation at a maximum of two sites;
     The chosen site must be available and protected against 
future degradation; and
     Fish productivity must be at least 1,717.5 kg/year.

Project

    On September 29, 2010, the San Diego NWR Complex and Poseidon 
entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a partnership 
to facilitate the restoration of property within the San Diego Bay NWR, 
consistent with the CCP and the Commission's permit requirements for 
Poseidon. The proposed restoration project represents step-down 
restoration planning for the western portion of the Otay River 
floodplain and one of the salt ponds within the Refuge's solar salt 
pond complex. Funding for the proposed restoration is being provided by 
the Poseidon Resources Carlsbad Desalination Project to fulfill part of 
the mitigation requirements imposed by the Commission and the Regional 
Water Quality Control Board for the construction of a desalination 
plant in Carlsbad.
    The proposed action site is located at the south end of San Diego 
Bay, San Diego County, California, within the South San Diego Bay Unit 
of the San Diego Bay NWR. Restoration activities will occur at two 
separate locations within the Refuge: The Otay River Floodplain Site 
and the Pond 15 Site. Specifically, the approximately 34-acre Otay 
River Floodplain Site is located west of Interstate 5 (I-5) between 
Main Street to the north and Palm Avenue to the south in San Diego. The 
Pond 15 Site consists of an approximately 91-acre active solar salt 
pond located in the northeast portion of the Refuge, to the northwest 
of the intersection of Bay Boulevard and Palomar Street in Chula Vista.

Alternatives

    The site-specific EIS for the Otay project tiers from the 2006 
programmatic EIS and ROD prepared for the Refuge CCP. We analyzed three 
alternatives in this final EIS:

Alternative A: No Action Alternative

    Under the No Action Alternative, the disturbed areas within the 
Otay River Floodplain Site would not be restored or enhanced to coastal 
wetlands to benefit native species, and the Pond 15 Site would not be 
restored to tidally influenced subtidal and intertidal habitat. Under 
this alternative, Pond 15 would remain part of an existing commercial 
solar salt operation, and periodic maintenance to control non-native 
plants would continue to occur on the Otay River Floodplain Site in 
conjunction with ongoing management of the Refuge.

Alternative B: Intertidal Alternative (Proposed Action)

    The Intertidal Alternative, Alternative B, is the proposed action. 
The proposed action would involve lowering the elevation and contouring 
the Otay River Floodplain Site to create approximately 29.8 acres of 
tidally influenced habitat, consisting of approximately 5.1 acres of 
intertidal mudflat and 24.7 acres of intertidal salt marsh habitat 
through altering elevations on the site. In addition, the restored area 
would include approximately 3.7 acres of upland habitat. The proposed 
action would also involve raising the elevation and contouring the Pond 
15 Site to create approximately 10.4 acres of subtidal habitat, 18.4 
acres of intertidal mudflat, 57.3 acres of intertidal salt marsh 
habitat, about 1 acre of high-tide refugia, and 3.9 acres of upland 
habitat. Both sites would be planted with a mix of native wetland 
vegetation that would mature into low-marsh, mid-marsh, and high-marsh 
vegetative communities. The intertidal areas and the unvegetated 
mudflat would provide foraging habitat for adult and juvenile fish, 
which then form the foraging base of the food chain

[[Page 23291]]

that would benefit larger fish, birds, and other species on and off the 
site.
    Implementation of the proposed action would involve the excavation 
of approximately 320,000 cubic yards of material from the Otay River 
Site and the transport of 260,000 cubic yards of this material to the 
Pond 15 Site for use in creating tidal elevations that would support 
the desired intertidal habitats and improving levees to separate Pond 
15 from the remaining active solar salt operation.
    The combination of the wetlands created at the Otay River 
Floodplain Site and Pond 15 Site under the proposed action would 
provide sufficient mitigation credit to meet the MLMP requirements.

Alternative C: Subtidal Alternative

    Alternative C, the Subtidal Alternative, would involve lowering the 
Otay River Floodplain Site to an elevation lower than that proposed 
under Alternative B (proposed action) to create a subtidal channel 
within the Otay River Floodplain Site. Under the Subtidal Alternative, 
the subtidal zone would be surrounded by mudflats and increasing 
elevation of salt marsh. Specifically, the Subtidal Alternative would 
involve lowering the elevation and contouring the Otay River Floodplain 
Site to create approximately 4.5 acres of subtidal habitat, 
approximately 6.5 acres of intertidal mudflat, 18.7 acres of intertidal 
salt marsh habitat, and approximately 3.7 acres of upland habitat. The 
Subtidal Alternative would also involve raising the elevation and 
contouring the Pond 15 Site to create tidally influenced habitat that 
would be similar to that proposed under Alternative B, with 
approximately 9.8 acres of subtidal habitat, 16.3 acres of intertidal 
mudflat, 58.7 acres of intertidal salt marsh, approximately 2.2 acres 
of high-tide refugia, and 4.0 acres of upland habitat. Both sites would 
be planted with a mix of native wetland vegetation that would mature 
into low-marsh, mid-marsh, and high-marsh vegetative communities. The 
subtidal areas would provide fish spawning and foraging habitat, and 
the unvegetated mudflat would provide foraging habitat for adult and 
juvenile fish during high tides. Combined, the subtidal and mudflat 
areas would provide habitat for the basis of the food chain that would 
benefit larger fish, birds, and other species on and off the site.
    Implementation of the Subtidal Alternative would involve the 
excavation of approximately 370,000 cubic yards of material from the 
Otay River Site and the transport of 312,000 cubic yards of this 
material to the Pond 15 Site for use in creating tidal elevations that 
would support the desired intertidal habitats and improving levees to 
separate Pond 15 from the remaining active solar salt operation.
    The combination of the wetlands created at the Otay River 
Floodplain Site and Pond 15 Site under the Subtidal Alternative would 
also provide sufficient mitigation credit to meet the MLMP 
requirements.

EPA's Role in the EIS Process

    The EPA is charged, under section 309 of the Clean Air Act, to 
review all Federal agencies' EISs and to comment on the adequacy and 
the acceptability of the environmental impacts of proposed actions in 
the EISs.
    EPA also serves as the repository for EISs prepared by Federal 
agencies and provides notice of their availability in the Federal 
Register. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Database provides 
information about EISs prepared by Federal agencies, as well as EPA's 
comments concerning the EISs. All EISs are filed with EPA, which 
publishes a notice of availability on Fridays in the Federal Register.
    The notice of availability is the start of the 30-day ``wait 
period'' for final EISs, during which agencies are generally required 
to wait 30 days before making a decision on a proposed action. For more 
information, see https://www.epa.gov/nepa. You may search for EPA 
comments on EISs, along with EISs themselves, at https://cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-enepa-public/action/eis/search.

Paul Souza,
Regional Director, Pacific Southwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2018-10630 Filed 5-17-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P