EIS | Foley Land Cut | Gulf Intracoastal Waterway | Gulf Shores & Orange Beach, AL: "Comment Period Closed
—January 23, 2010"
This EIS is being prepared to assess potential impacts associated with mixed-use waterfront development planned along the Foley Land Cut portion of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in southern Baldwin County, Alabama. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, will use this EIS in making permitting decisions under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, and NEPA. The EIS is a complete evaluation of the positive and negative effects, including the secondary and cumulative effects associated with development along the shoreline. The EIS analyzed the following major issues: hydrologic and hydraulic regimes, threatened and endangered species, essential fish habitat and other marine habitat, air quality, cultural resources, wastewater treatment capacities and discharges, drainage discharges, transportation systems, waterway capacity, hurricane evacuation, and socioeconomic impacts.
The EIS evaluated a range of alternatives to the proposed action, including the no action alternative. The no action alternative represents a continuation of current permitting activity, by the Corps. Information obtained following the public scoping meeting were considered in finalizing the array of alternatives evaluated in the EIS and included alternative methods of issuing permits, as appropriate.
