CONCORD, Mass. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District is proposing maintenance dredging of the Cohasset Harbor Federal Navigation Project (FNP) in Cohasset and Scituate, Mass. The town of Cohasset is the local sponsor.

The authorized FNP provides for an anchorage area in the inner harbor, 7-feet deep MLLW and about 16.25 acres in area; a channel 8-feet deep MLLW and 90 feet wide from the outer harbor to the anchorage area; and 12.45 acres of anchorage area, 6 feet deep MLLW as follows: 3.8 acres in Cohasset Cove, 3.25 acres in the vicinity of Government Island Cove and 5.4 acres in Bailey Creek.

“The proposed work involves emergency dredging of an area affected by Hurricane Sandy approximately 11.25 acres in size including the Cohasset Harbor entrance channel, the northern corner of the 7-foot anchorage by the breakwater, and the entrance to Bailey Creek where Bassings Beach is encroaching into the anchorage area,” said Project Manager Craig Martin, of the Corps’ New England District, Programs/Project Management Division in Concord, Mass. “The maintenance dredging will produce approximately 60,000 cubic yards of sandy material and restore these areas to authorized dimensions.”

The material will be dredged with a hydraulic cutterhead pipeline dredge and pumped onto intertidal areas of Sandy Beach in Cohasset. The last time the harbor was dredged was in 1998-2000 (two phases due to time of year restrictions) when the entire FNP was dredged and the material was placed at the Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site. Work will be performed over a three-month period from Oct. 1 to Jan. 31.

The work is being coordinated with: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; National Marine Fisheries Service; Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management; the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection; Massachusetts Historic Preservation Office; Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources; the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe; the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah); and town of Cohasset town manager and harbormaster. An Environmental Assessment is being prepared and will be available for review upon request. The material to be dredge has undergone physical testing and has been determined to be acceptable for disposal at the designated disposal site.  

The public notice is available at: http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/PublicNotices.aspx. Public comments on this proposed work should be forwarded no later than April 4, 2014 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Programs/Project Management Division (ATTN: Mr. Craig Martin), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751 or by email to nae-pn-nav@usace.army.mil.