NAO-2024-02613 (Dominion Surry Power Station Dredge, Surry, Virginia)

CENAO-WRR-S District
Permit Application No. NAO-2024-02613/VMRC 25-0465

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The CENAO-WRR-S District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has received an application for a Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403). The purpose of this public notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding the work described below:

APPLICANT:
Virginia Electric and Power Company d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia
120 Tredegar Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

AGENT:         
Oula Shehab-Dandan
Virginia Energy
120 Tredegar Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

WATERWAY AND LOCATION:  The project would affect waters of the United States and navigable waters of the United States associated with Lawnes Creek and the  James River.  The project is located at the terminal end of Hog Island Road in Surry County, Virginia  at Latitude 36.16084167 and Longitude -76.66251111.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The Surry Power Station is located on the south side of James River and recently received an extended license for Unit 1 and Unit 2 until 2052 and 2053, respectively. An existing 1,750-foot channel associated with the

Surry Power Station’s intake structure receives maintenance dredging under permits (NAO-2008-01451/NAO-2016-01202 and #2019-1433), which allows for a 150-foot-wide channel to minus 11 feet mean low water.

PROJECT PURPOSE: The Proposed Action will involve additional dredging to establish a channel 5,371 feet (ft) long, 150 ft wide, and 11 ft below Mean Low Water (MLW).

Basic:  Dredging in the James River

Overall:  The Project consists of connecting an existing channel, to the open water deep channel of the James River.

PROPOSED WORK:  The applicant requests authorization to use hydraulic methods to dredge approximately 186,362 cubic yards (900,421 square feet) of sediments (dredge material). The dredge material will be transported via an approximately 4.1-mile temporary floating pipe to an existing and previously permitted Dredged Material Management Area (DMMA) approximately 4.0 miles south of the Power Station.

Additionally, a temporary 6-foot by 20-foot gangway will be utilized for crews to gain access to the DMMA and pipe from Lawnes Creek. The gangway and dredge pipe will be removed at the completion of each dredging cycle and monitored 24/7 while deployed.

Deep water access is necessary for the safe delivery of a main generator rotor weighing 185 tons and a main generator stator weighing 500 tons for each for each unit. 

The deliveries will be by barge up the James River from the Port of Charleston in two deliveries (targeted for January 2026 and June 2026). Three steam generators weighing 365 tons each will later be delivered for each unit. The deliveries will be by barge up the James River from an overseas port in six deliveries (targeted for November 2028 and November 2029).

The Joint Permit Application can be found at the following link: https://webapps.mrc.virginia.gov/public/habitat/additionaldocs.php?id=20250465

AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment: The Overland Transportation Alternative considers the use of an overland route to deliver the equipment to the Power Station. The review identified areas along the route that would require infrastructure upgrades, particularly bridges and culverts, which would take years to complete.

The logistics of delivering the components overland to the Power Station would require numerous improvements to existing infrastructure, the true extent and cost and years to complete. As such, an overland route with road modifications, permit requirements, and engineering studies would cause massive delays to the already tight schedule and would not meet the Project purpose and need.

Dredging alternatives were determined to not be feasible due to the multiple oyster leases located in the path of the formerly used route in 1960s and 1970s adjacent to the shoreline.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: the Project does not impact any special aquatic sites (wetlands, SAV, riffle/pool complexes etc.), it is anticipated that no compensatory mitigation will be required.

CULTURAL RESOURCES:
The Corps evaluated the undertaking pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) utilizing its existing program-specific regulations and procedures along with 36 CFR Part 800. The Corps’ program-specific procedures include 33 CFR 325, Appendix C, and revised interim guidance issued in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The District Engineer consulted district files and records and the latest published version of the National Register of Historic Places and initially determines that:

Historic properties (i.e., properties listed in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places), are present within the Corps’ permit area; however, the undertaking will have no effect on these historic properties. The Corps subsequently requests concurrence from the SHPO and/or THPO.

The District Engineer’s final eligibility and effect determination will be based upon coordination with the SHPO and/or THPO, as appropriate and required, and with full consideration given to the proposed undertaking’s potential direct and indirect effects on historic properties within the Corps-identified permit area.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has performed an initial review of the application, the  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Section 7 Mapper, and the NMFS Critical Habitat Mapper to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur within the boundary of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project may affect species and critical habitat listed in Table 1. No other ESA-listed species or critical habitat will be affected by the proposed action.

Table 1: ESA-listed species and/or critical habitat potentially present in the action area.

Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402. The US Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District is the lead Federal agency for ESA consultation for the proposed action.

This notice serves as request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for any additional information on whether any listed or proposed to be listed endangered or threatened species or critical habitat may be present in the area which would be affected by the proposed activity.

ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT: Pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996, the Corps reviewed the project area, examined information provided by the applicant, and consulted available species information.

The Corps has determined the proposal would have no effect on any Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). No oyster bottom or SAV habitat occurs within the dredge area footprint. Impacts are temporary and water is approximately 17,800 linear feet wide at the project area, leaving about 99.68% of the river within 2 miles upstream and 2 miles downstream of this location outside the Project area. Meaning, the proposed dredge channel is a small portion of the available habitat within the James River for staging, foraging, and movement.

Therefore, no consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service on EFH as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996 is required.

NAVIGATION: The proposed structure or activity is not located in the vicinity of a federal navigation channel.

SECTION 408: The applicant will not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part,   would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.

WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: Water Quality Certification may be required from the  VIRGINIA’S SECTION 401 WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM: The Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule (Certification Rule, 40 CFR 121), effective September 11, 2020, requires certification, or waiver, for any license or permit that authorizes an activity that may result in a discharge. The scope of a CWA Section 401 certification is limited to ensuring that a discharge from a Federally licensed or permitted activity will comply with water quality requirements. To comply with the Virginia Section 401 Water Quality Certification Program and the Certification Rule, the applicant is responsible for adhering to the procedures outlined in the Certification Rule when requesting certification from the certifying authority, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. In accordance with Certification Rule part 121.12, the Corps will notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator when it has received a Department of the Army (DA) permit application and the related certification. The Administrator is responsible for determining whether the discharge may affect water quality in a neighboring jurisdiction. The DA permit may not be issued pending the conclusion of the Administrator’s determination of effects on neighboring jurisdictions.

VIRGINIA’S COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM: For compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended for projects located in Virginia’s Coastal Zone, the applicant must certify that federally licensed or permitted activities affecting Virginia's coastal uses or resources will be conducted in a manner consistent with the Virginia’s Coastal Zone Management Program (Virginia CZM Program), and obtain concurrence from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Office of Environmental Impact Review (OEIR). It is the applicant’s responsibility to submit a consistency certification to the OEIR for concurrence or objection, and proof of concurrence must be submitted to the Corps prior to final permit issuance. A template federal consistency certification can be found in the Federal Consistency Manual here: https://www.deq.virginia.gov/our-programs/environmental-impact-review/federal-consistency.

For more information or to obtain a list of the enforceable policies of the Virginia CZM Program, contact the DEQ-OEIR at (804) 659-1915 or e-mail: bettina.rayfield@deq.virginia.gov.

The applicant has submitted concurrence.

NOTE:  This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified or evaluated to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. The geographic extent of aquatic resources within the proposed project area that either are, or are presumed to be, within the Corps jurisdiction has been verified by Corps personnel.

EVALUATION: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact 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 including cumulative impacts thereof; among these are conservation, economics, esthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historical properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food, and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. Evaluation of the impact of the activity on the public interest will also include application of the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator, EPA, under authority of Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act or the criteria established under authority of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972.  A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.

COMMENTS: The Corps is soliciting comments from the public; Federal, State, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other Interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this determination, comments are used to assess impacts to endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.

The CENAO-WRR-S District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until April 18, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Regena Bronson at regena.d.bronson@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CENAO-WRR-S District, Attention: Regena Bronson, 10300 Spotsylvania Parkway, Suite 230 Fredericksburg, Virginia 22408. Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.

Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. Requests for a public hearing will be granted, unless the District Engineer determines that the issues raised are insubstantial or there is otherwise no valid interest to be served by a hearing.