New 15 day Grand Parkway Segment E public comment period

Army Corps of Engineers

Jay Blazek Crossley, Aug 09, 10.

August 17, 2010 update: The public comment period for the Corps Section 404 Wetlands Permit has been extended until September 8, 2010.

The US Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District is asking the public to comment on revised plan submitted by the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) to build the proposed Grand Parkway Segment E through the Katy Prairie, after adjusting details to respond to previous public comments, according to the public notice (pdf).

The Grand Parkway Segment E - one piece of a 180+ mile toll road loop around the Houston region proposed in the 1960’s - would be a 15.2-mile, four-lane, controlled access toll road with intermittent frontage roads from IH 10 (W) to US 290 (Northwest Freeway) through Harris County. The revised plans reduce the amount of directly impacted wetlands - areas actually paved over by the road itself - from 37.13 acres to 26.64 acres, according to the public notice, although there is no apparent response to concerns about the indirect impacts of induced development. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed US 290 Corridor project, which is closely related to proposed Grand Parkway Segment E project, notes that an expected 50,000 acres of land will be developed in the area and that some of this development would occur as a result of the freeway expansion, but similar consideration of indirect impacts was not included in the FEIS for Grand Parkway Segment E (links to pdfs at bottom of page).

Comments and requests for additional information should be submitted by September 8, 2010 ~~August 24, 2010~~ to:

Dwayne Johnson
Regulatory Branch, CESWG-PE-RB
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
P.O. Box 1229
Galveston, Texas 77553-1229
409-766-6353 Phone
409-766-6301 Fax
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The application is being reviewed “pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act,” because the project will have known impact on wetlands, although the Corps will consider a variety of factors, as explained below, in deciding whether to issue a permit for HCTRA to carry forward with the project. According to the public notice, “The proposed project consists of primarily undeveloped, vegetated land. Vegetation within the proposed project includes rangeland, farmland, upland forest, palustrineemergent wetlands, palustrine scrub-shrub wetlands, and palustrine forest wetlands.”

The application is simultaneously being considered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to determine if the work would comply with State water quality standards. Comments may also be submitted to:

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
401 Coordinator, MSC-150
P.O. Box 13087
Austin, Texas 78711-3087

According to the public notice, the following will be the basis for the US Army Corps of Engineer’s consideration for issuing the permit or not:

This application will be reviewed in accordance with 33 CFR 320-332, the Regulatory Programs of the Corps, and other pertinent laws, regulations and executive orders. The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impacts, including cumulative impacts, of the proposed activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors, which may be relevant to the proposal, will be considered: among those are conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historic properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shore erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food and fiber production, mineral needs and, in general, the needs and welfare of the people.

Houston Tomorrow has previously reported on the proposed Grand Parkway Segment E for those seeking further background information:
Harris County withdraws Grand Parkway Seg E funding
State, fed agencies oppose Segment E wetlands permit
NY Times on the Grand Parkway: Almost certain to cause sprawl
Sierra Club files suit against Grand Parkway
Research: The Case for Segment E

The Houston Chapter of the Sierra Club has sent out a Fact Sheet on this issue.

***Please note that submitting comments in the “Comments” box below will be published on the Houston Tomorrow site and are for discussion purposes only. Comments submitted in this fashion WILL NOT in any way be sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers***