CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. (CSA) has prepared portions or all of Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), regulations on implementing NEPA procedures from the Council on Environmental Quality, and other related Acts, Executive Orders, and requirements for a variety of marine projects types throughout the United States. CSA has also prepared Environmental Reviews (ERs) that followed NEPA format and carried the preferred alternative and at least one other viable alternative through the entire NEPA environmental assessment process and had a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) third-party subcontractor utilize the ER to prepare an EIS.
In the preparation of these documents, CSA routinely prepares sections for the Introduction (including Purpose and Need), Alternatives, Existing Environment, Environmental Consequences, Mitigation and Monitoring, Cumulative Impacts, Unavoidable Adverse Environmental Impacts, and other NEPA requirements. The Existing Environment and Environmental Consequences sections provide the information necessary to determine potential environmental impacts. These sections discuss geology and sediments, physical oceanography, meteorology, water quality, ichthyoplankton, submerged aquatic vegetation, invertebrates, fishes, sea turtles, marine mammals, birds, commercial and recreational fisheries, and other socioeconomic factors (i.e., ship traffic, shipwrecks, offshore dredged material disposal sites, marine sanctuaries, and communication cables). In addition, CSA prepares Biological Assessments under the Endangered Species Act and documentation associated with a Letter of Authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act as well as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Assessments as required by Final Rule provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and the Management Act under the Magnum-Ferguson Act. CSA also has experience with arranging, conducting, and reporting results of public scoping hearings on Draft EISs.
Representative ER, EA, and EIS projects that CSA has been involved in include the following: construction of a graving dock and two large concrete caissons that were to be placed on the seafloor to form the Gulf Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal; dredging in Truman Annex Harbor and the associated Turning Basin and Main Ship Channel along with subsequent dredged material disposal at the Naval Air Facility in Key West, Florida; proposed oceanographic research operations within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary off California for the U. S Department of the Navy; preparation of a Programmatic EA on Geological and Geophysical (G&G) Exploration for Mineral Resources on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf ; shock testing the SEAWOLF submarine and the WINSTON CHURCHILL (DDG 81) guided missile destroyer for the U.S. Department of the Navy; the natural resources assessment portion of the Canaveral National Seashore General Management Plan (GMP) and subsequent EIS developed for the National Park Service; St. Lucie County South Beach and Dune Restoration Project; and a shoreline protection project in Palm Beach County, Florida.
