STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD WORKSHOP

BOARD MEETING SESSION – DIVISION OF WATER RIGHTS

October 21, 1999

 

ITEM:  13

 

SUBJECT:  CERTIFICATION, PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL

QUALITY ACT, OF THE  FINAL  PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT

(FINAL PEIR) FOR THE LONG-TERM  MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (LTMS) FOR THE

PLACEMENT OF DREDGED MATERIAL IN THE SAN  FRANCISCO BAY REGION

 

DISCUSSION:  The impacts of open-water, unconfined disposal of dredged material in San Francisco

Bay have been of  concern for many years.  A group of state and federal agencies (U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, U.S. Environmental  Protection Agency, State Water Resources Control Board, San

Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and

Development Commission) have worked for the last decade to develop a new approach to the

management of this material.  These agencies have worked closely with local governments, port

authorities, the dredging community, environmental groups, and others during this period.  The result

of this effort is the LTMS, a management policy for dredged materials management for the next 50

years. 

 

The essence of this new policy is that clean dredged material is to be viewed, whenever possible, as a

resource rather than as a waste material.  At present, nearly all clean material dredged in the San

Francisco Bay area is deposited in one of four  disposal sites within the Bay.  Under the LTMS, the

goal is to use approximately 40% of this material for upland/wetland  reuse, including restoration of tidal

wetlands; 40% to be disposed of at the designated Deep Ocean Disposal Site about 50  miles west of

San Francisco; and the remaining 20% to be deposited, as now, at existing disposal sites in the Bay.

Contaminated material is not included in this policy document; such materials have separate disposal

guidelines.

 

The Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (Final PEIR) document provides environmental

analysis of dredged material handling alternatives.  By itself, it adopts no specific policy and imposes no

specific requirements on dredging  activities.  Specific regulations and requirements will evolve from a

Management Plan (MP) which is currently under  development by the LTMS agencies, and which will

be incorporated into a San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board Basin Plan

Amendment and a San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Bay Plan

Amendment.

 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency are the co-lead agencies

under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).   These agencies have recently completed the

Final Policy EIS and signed a Record of  Decision on July 16, 1999, which certifies the Final Policy EIS. 

These agencies have also completed federal Endangered  Species Act consultations with the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, each of which has issued a final non-

jeopardy biological opinion. 

 

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is the lead agency under the California

Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  As such, it has the authority to certify the Final Programmatic

EIR.  The SWRCB has completed California Endangered Species Act consultation with the

California Department of Fish and Game, which has issued a final non-jeopardy biological opinion.

 

POLICY ISSUE:  Should the SWRCB adopt the proposed resolution certifying that the LTMS Final

Programmatic EIR complies with the requirements of CEQA?

 

FISCAL IMPACT:  Funding for this activity is currently included within the Division of Water

Rights.  With certification of  the Final PEIR, responsibility for project oversight will shift to the

Division of Water Quality’s Basin Planning Unit, and to the  San Francisco Bay Regional Water

Quality Control Board.

 

REGIONAL BOARD IMPACT:  The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board

(RWQCB, along with the other state and federal agencies, will have pruimary responsibility for

development and implementation of the MP and a Basin Plan Amendment.  The Central Valey

RWQCB may also need to develop and adopt a Basin Plan Amendment to fully impl.ement

the final PEIR and the Management Plan.

 

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:  Adopt the proposed resolution, certifying that the LTMS

Final Programmatic EIR complies with the requirements of CEQA.

_____________________________________________________________________________

             DRAFT                                 September 22, 1999

 

 

STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD

RESOLUTION NO. 99-__

 

CERTIFICATION, PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT, OF THE FINAL PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (PEIR) FOR THE LONG TERM MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (LTMS) FOR THE PLACEMENT OF DREDGED MATERIAL IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION

 

 

WHEREAS:

 

1.  The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has served as the lead agency for the preparation of the LTMS PEIR, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), which have prepared the LTMS Policy Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).

 

2.  The SWRCB, USACE and USEPA have circulated the joint draft PEIS/PEIR for public review and comment.

 

3.  The SWRCB, USACE and USEPA have responded to the comments received and have prepared a joint Final PEIS/PEIR.

 

4.  The USACE and USEPA have certified the Final PEIS by jointly signing a Record of Decision on July 16, 1999.

 

5.  The SWRCB has consulted with the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) under the California Endangered Species Act, and the DFG has issued a non-jeopardy biological opinion.

 

6.  The SWRCB certifies that the PEIR has been completed in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)(Pub. Res. Code, § 21000 et seq.).

 

7.  The SWRCB has reviewed and considered the information within the PEIR, and the PEIR reflects the independent judgment of the SWRCB.

 

8.  As a plan-level document, no particular dredging projects are being approved under this PEIR.  All Mitigation Measures identified in the PEIR will be incorporated into the LTMS agencies’ jointly-developed Management Plan, and further incorporated into a San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board Basin Plan Amendment, a San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Bay Plan Amendment, and, as applicable, all permits issued thereunder.  The San Francisco Bay and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Boards shall be responsible to monitor, in compliance with CEQA, that the Mitigation Measures described in Chapter 5 of the Final PEIS/PEIR are implemented in specific dredging, or dredged materials placement, projects in their Regions.

 

9.  The SWRCB concludes that it is in the public interest to certify the Final PEIR, to be used in the preparation of a multi-agency Management Plan and implementing regulations, and for the preparation of a Basin Plan Amendment by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and a Bay Plan Amendment by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

 

 

 

THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED THAT:

 

The SWRCB certifies that the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report for the Long Term Management Strategy for the Placement of Dredged Material in the San Francisco Bay Region complies with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

 

 

CERTIFICATION

 

The undersigned Administrative Assistant to the SWRCB does hereby certify that the forgoing is a full, true, and correct copy of a resolution duly and regularly adopted at a meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board held on October 21, 1999.

 

                                                                         ________________________________

                                                                         Maureen Marché

                                                                         Administrative Assistant to the Board