Water Resources Development Project Requests

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Water Resources Development Project Requests

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is beginning the process of drafting the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2010.  This legislation authorizes studies and projects within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission areas including navigation, flood damage reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction, shoreline protection, and environmental restoration.

The following projects were requested by my office for inclusion in the Water Resources Development Act of 2010.  If you have any questions or comments about these projects, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Capisic Brook Watershed Restoration

$3,500,000

City of Portland
389 Congress St.
Portland, ME 04101

The city of Portland is preparing an integrated Watershed Management Plan to allow for the next step toward water quality classification attainment for Capisic Brook.  Capisic Brook is one of the last remaining intact urban streams in the City of Portland, and is currently a Maine DEP 303 D-listed impaired water body.  One of Portland’s priority storm water upgrades is construction of the West Branch Storm Water Detention Basin within the Capisic Brook Watershed.  This project involves flood control, pollution run-off, and stream restoration, and includes riparian enhancements, invasive species eradication, pond restoration, and other storm water management measures.

Casco Bay Contained Aquatic Disposal (CAD) Cell

$10,000,000

City of South Portland
25 Cottage Road
P.O. Box 9422
South Portland, ME 04106

Portland Harbor is in need of dredging due to accumulation of sediments within the Fore River.  Over 40 harbor entities, public and private, are in jeopardy of losing their working waterfront.  The project will create a Contained Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cell, a deep hole dug in the harbor.  The CAD Cell provides a cost effective, environmentally sound location to dispose of contaminated dredge materials.  The project coincides with the dredging of the Federal Channel in Portland Harbor scheduled for 2011 to realize cost savings from the mobilized equipment.

North Atlantic, Coastal/Marine Management Plan

$15,000,000

The Nature Conservancy
14 Maine Street
Brunswick, ME 04011

The project provides authority for the Army Corps’ North Atlantic Division to complete a Coastal/Marine Management Plan for essential ecosystem restoration needs in the North Atlantic and implement the plan’s top priority projects.  This proposal provides the Corps with the ability to act in a coordinated and cost effective manner on ecologically important coastal and marine ecosystem restoration issues in Maine and the North Atlantic Division.

Deauthorization of Thomaston Harbor

There is no cost associated with this project

Town of Thomaston
Municipal Offices
Post Office Box 299
Thomaston, Maine 04861-0299

This project deauthorizes Thomaston Harbor, presently classified as a Federal Anchorage, from Federal Navigation Project status to being regulated by state and town ordinances.  Deauthorization allows existing structures that support Thomaston's commercial working waterfront to remain in place without incurring penalties related to dredging in the adjoining St. Georges River Federal Channel.  Over 300 individuals are employed in harbor water-dependent activity in Thomaston.  Granting this deauthorization will help to ensure that the commercial working waterfront will remain vital and accessible in the future.

Port of Kittery Breakwater

$7,000,000

 

Kittery Port Authority
Town of Kittery Town Hall
200 Rogers Rd.
Kittery, ME 03904

The project installs a breakwater encompassing the area between Fishing and Gooseberry Islands in Pepperrell Cove to protect the shoreline and maritime infrastructure including; fishermen’s dock and floats, commercial/recreational docks and floats, and related moorings.  This breakwater will protect shorefront and extend the operating season for the harbor by facilitating the improvement of maritime infrastructure related to sustainable fishing, other commercial boating endeavors, and recreational boating use.

Long Creek Watershed

$5,000,000

Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District
35 Main Street Suite 3
Windham, ME 04062

This project implements a first in the nation effort to address stormwater impacts through a collaborative structure with public entities and private businesses.  The project includes restoration of stream banks and stream channels, and installation of structural retrofits in priority locations selected for environmental and cost effectiveness.  The Long Creek Watershed Management Plan is a locally supported plan that was developed through a two-year stakeholder process that involved South Portland, Portland, Westbrook, Scarborough, Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District, DEP, EPA, Conservation Law Foundation, local nonprofits and small and large businesses. 

Portland Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Long-Term Control Plan - Tier III

$500,000

City of Portland
389 Congress St.
Portland, ME 04101

This project provides for the necessary planning, engineering, and water quality monitoring work needed to proceed with addressing the Tier III Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), as directed by Federal mandate.  This project is an essential step towards mitigating water pollution caused by CSOs.

Augusta Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)

$17,000,000

Greater Augusta Utility District
12 Williams St.
Augusta, ME 04330

This project removes four Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) from Bond Brook and replaces over a mile of pipes and two pump stations.  This is the next project in the District's long term control plan for mitigation CSOs. 

Warren Green Property Purchase for Conservation*

$1,000,000

City of Portland
389 Congress St.
Portland, ME 04101

The proposed project purchases a parcel of land (approximately 45 acres) for wetlands protection and conservation purposes.  Preservation of the land protects the property from intense development and allows it to serve as a mitigation site for smart growth development elsewhere in the city.  This property is located on outer Warren Avenue near Riverside Street is adjacent to the headwaters’ of Capisic Brook which the Maine DEP has designated as an urban impaired stream and sensitive water body.

*This project was not requested for inclusion in the Water Resources Development Act of 2010 because the project does not fall within the mission area of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and is, therefore, outside the scope of this Act.

Royal River Dredging**

$500,000

Town of Yarmouth
200 Maine St.
Yarmouth, ME 04096

The project provides maintenance dredging of the Royal River Harbor and Federal channel in Yarmouth, Maine.

**This project was not requested for inclusion in the Water Resources Development Act of 2010 because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is already authorized to dredge in the Royal River harbor and Federal channel.

Join me on Facebook