Beneficial Reuse of Excavated Material in Tidal Marsh Restoration Project

Beneficial Reuse of Excavated Material in Tidal Marsh Restoration Project

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), in cooperation with the Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water), propose the Beneficial Reuse Project in South San Francisco Bay. The Beneficial Reuse Project would place excavated or other “fill” material into several former salt production ponds around South San Francisco Bay to raise the pond bottoms for the purpose of accelerating the timeline for tidal marsh habitat restoration. The Beneficial Reuse Project would be analyzed in a joint federal environmental impact statement and state environmental impact report (EIS/EIR). The USFWS is the lead agency under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the EIS. VTA is the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the EIR. The EIS/EIR would analyze the Beneficial Reuse Project at both a “project” level and a “programmatic” level. The Beneficial Reuse Project would be analyzed at a project level by explicitly evaluating the transport and placement of up to 3.5 million cubic yards of excavated material from VTA’s BART Silicon Valley-Phase II Extension Project (BSVII Project) for the purpose of raising the deeply subsided pond bottoms. For the project-level analysis, the Beneficial Reuse Project would be implemented at the Pond A8 Complex (consisting of Ponds A5, A7, A8, and A8S), Pond A12, and Pond A13 within the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). These ponds are owned by the USFWS and are part of the Alviso Pond Complex. The Beneficial Reuse Project would also be implemented at Pond A4, which is owned by Valley Water. These ponds were selected for analysis at the project level as they are relatively close to the BSVII Project site compared to other ponds in the South Bay. The Beneficial Reuse Project would also be analyzed at a programmatic level by evaluating the transport and placement of excavated material from future projects yet to be identified. Placement of such material could occur in the Ravenswood Pond Complex (except Ponds SF2), the Alviso Pond Complex (including the A8 Complex, A12, and A13 and excluding A22 and A23), and Pond A4. The programmatic analysis would allow other project proponents to use the EIS/EIR as the basis for their future projects that would also transport and place excavated material into the ponds for the purpose of raising pond bottoms. These other project proponents would need to conduct additional environmental analysis at the project-level once their projects are sufficiently defined.

Atherton, East Palo Alto, Fremont, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Mountain View, Redwood City, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale

Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara

San Francisco Bay Area

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Coastal Commission (CCC), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Habitat Conservation Planning (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Marin Region 7 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, California Department of State Parks, Division of Boating and Waterways, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics (DOT), California Department of Transportation, Division of Transportation Planning (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region 2 (RWQCB), California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Office of Historic Preservation, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bay Delta Region 3 (CDFW), California Department of Transportation, District 4 (DOT)

California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bay Delta Region 3 (CDFW), California Department of Transportation, District 4 (DOT)

Other (Beneficial Reuse of excavated material)

Restoration

Aesthetics, Agriculture and Forestry Resources, Air Quality, Biological Resources, Coastal Zone, Cultural Resources, Cumulative Effects, Drainage/Absorption, Flood Plain/Flooding, Geology/Soils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Hazards & Hazardous Materials, Hydrology/Water Quality, Land Use/Planning, Mandatory Findings of Significance, Noise, Public Services, Recreation, Schools/Universities, Solid Waste, Transportation, Tribal Cultural Resources, Utilities/Service Systems, Vegetation, Wetland/Riparian, quality assurance of material