Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
Notice of intent.
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Sacramento District, is preparing a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/EIR) to evaluate modifications to the previously authorized plan to reduce flood damages in the lower Yuba River Basin, part of the Feather River Basin, and the city of Marysville in Yuba County, California. The modifications are needed to resolve previously unknown levee foundation problems in portions of the authorized project, thereby ensuring the level of flood protection previously planned. The basic study authority for the Yuba River Basin study was provided under the Flood Control Act of 1962.
Send written comments and suggestions concerning this study to Ms. Kim Stevens, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, Attn: Planning Division (CESPK–PD–R), 1325 J Street, Sacramento, California 95814. Requests to be placed on the mailing list should also be sent to this address.
Ms. Kim Stevens, E-mail at
The Feasibility Report and Final EIS/EIR were completed in April 1998. Congress authorized the project in the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, and the Record of Decision was signed in June 2000. The authorized project included specific levee modifications on 6.1 miles of the left bank of the Yuba River upstream of the confluence with the Feather River; 10 miles of levee on the left bank of the Feather River downstream of the confluence of the Yuba River; and 5 miles of the Marysville ring levee. The levee modification work as authorized was intended to bring the level of protection for these levees up to about a 200-year level of protection.
Since the final Yuba River Basin project was authorized, geotechnical investigations and new hydrology have identified previously unknown levee foundation problems in portions of the specifically authorized project. Because flooding is still a significant problem for the affected communities along the Yuba and Feather Rivers, the State of California Reclamation Board has requested that the Corps initiate a reevaluation of the project.