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2. Issuance of ACOE permits and EPA review 



In our experience, the Section 103 permit process is frustrating and 

 generally an exercise in futility. At least as it is implemented by the New York 

 District of the Corps, there is substanual room for improvement. 



First, the permit process pays lip service to public comment. Public 

 notices (PNs) are issued when the application for an dredge and ocean disposal 

 permit is completed. They contain a description of the project, test results and a 

 determination by the Corps as to whether the material meets criteria for ocean 

 disposal. The test results are presented in a fashion that only a reader with 

 considerable experience and expertise and an understanding of numerous other 

 documents, including dilution models, can fully understand the discussion and 

 analysis of test results. 



Sampling plans, locations of sampling stations and rationale behind 

 deciding upon the number and location of stations are not part of the public 

 notice. Consequently, a large project involving hundreds of thousands of cubic 

 yards in an impacted area can be based upon 4-6 samples. Although bulk 

 sediment chemistry is required to be performed for three metals, the results are 

 not reported in the PN. In the case of the NYD. that information can only be 

 obtained through a FOIA request. 



Exactly thirty days from date of issuing the PN are allowed for submitting 

 public comments. Should the PN take a few days or a week to be received by a 

 member of the public, that time is effectively lost. Extensions are granted, if 

 requests are submitted in writing. Although hearings on the application can be 

 requested by the public, it is the District's discretion to grant them. Unless the 

 project is highly controversial, they are not regularly granted. 



The ACOE is not required to respond to public comments. Out of a set of 

 fifteen comments submitted on fifteen different private and federal projects in the 

 New York-New Jersey Harbor region, only three were responded to in writing 

 directly to EDF. Frequently, the comments were never acknowledged as having 

 been received. The NYD's responses to EDF. Clean Ocean Action and the 

 American Littoral Society's comments submitted on the Port Authority project 

 were contained in the permit decision and an internal memorandum, both of 

 which had to be requested by EDF through FOIA. Additionally, one never learns 

 if or when a project that was commented upon was ever granted a permit or 

 record of decision (if the project is federal). 



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