ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is seeking comments on a draft environmental assessment, or EA, for the transportation of dredged material, or river sand, near Lock and Dam 4, east of Kellogg, Minnesota.
This project is a continuation of the actions laid out in the 2022 Lower Pool 4 Dredged Material Management Plan. It focuses on the transportation of river sand from sites in lower Pool 4 and the build out of three permanent river sand placement sites near Kellogg. River sand will be offloaded from the sites in Pool 4 using a combination of mechanical (barge transport) and hydraulic (pipeline) transport.
Mechanically transported material will be transferred from barge to a pipeline on the Lock and Dam 4 embankment. From there, it would be pumped to one of three permanent placement sites. Hydraulically transported material will be pumped through a pipeline directly at the transfer site to the permanent placement site. The three permanent placement sites will require some modification prior to placement, including minor tree clearing and top-soil removal, which will be saved and replaced once the site is deemed at capacity.
The plan is to begin modification of the sites in 2026 with the first offload expected to occur during the summer of 2027. Offloading would continue to occur intermittently through time as it is needed when the transfer sites reach capacity or as dredging in the Pool 4 occurs.
A final determination on the draft EA will be made following the public review period. A copy of the EA can be viewed and downloaded at: https://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Home/PublicNotices.aspx.The Corps of Engineers is conducting a review of the environmental effects in accordance with the National Environment Policy Act.
Comments should be submitted no later than March 11. Questions and comments concerning the project should be directed to mailto:CEMVP_Planning@usace.army.mil. Please address all correspondence on this project to the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attention: Regional Planning and Environment Division North, 332 Minnesota Street, Suite E1500, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55101.
The St. Paul District maintains a 9-foot navigation channel by dredging around 1 million cubic yards of river sand from the Upper Mississippi River and maintaining13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping the nearly 90-year-old system open is vital to the nation’s economy. Nearly 14 million tons of commodities pass through Lock and Dam 10 every year. -30-