Notice of Application for State Water Quality Certification

Public Notice (PN) Date: July 10, 2025            PN Reference Number: POA-2021-00192-M1 v1.0
PN Expiration Date: August 11, 2025                          Waterway: Smith and Inmachuk Rivers

Any applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct an activity that might result in a discharge into waters of the United States, in accordance with Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), must also apply for and obtain certification from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that the discharge will comply with the CWA and the Alaska Water Quality Standards (18 AAC 70). The scope of certification is limited to the water quality-related impacts of the activity subject to the Federal license or permit (40 CFR 121.3, 18 AAC 15.180).

Notice is hereby given that a request for a CWA §401 Water Quality Certification of a Department of the Army Permit application, Corps of Engineers’ PN Reference Number indicated above, has been received[1] for the discharge of dredged and/or fill materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS), including wetlands, as described below, and shown on the project figures/drawings. The public notice and related project figures/drawings are accessible from the DEC website at https://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater/.

To comment on the project or request a public hearing with respect to water quality, submit comments via (preferred method) DEC website https://dec.alaska.gov/commish/public-notices/ or email to the DEC email address: DEC-401Cert@alaska.gov with the subject line referencing Public Notice Reference Number: POA-2021-00192-M1 v1.0 or on or before the public notice expiration date listed above.

Applicant: Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, Kerri Martin, 2301 Peger Rd, Fairbanks, AK 99709, (907) 451-5289; kerri.martin@alaska.gov

Project Name: Deering Airport and Access Road Improvements

Dates of the proposed activity are planned to begin and end: 10/01/2025 to 10/31/2028

Location: The proposed activity is located within Sections 24,25,36, T. 8N, R. 20W, Kateel River Meridian, in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska. Section 19,30, T. 8N, R. 19W, Kateel River Meridian, in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska. Section 2,10,11,16,20, T. 7N, R. 20W, Kateel River Meridian, in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska.  Project Site (Latitude, Longitude): 66.06929, -162.76626.

Purpose: The Native Village of Deering was issued permit POA-2014-00121-M2 on April 13, 2018, for an evacuation road to the Deering Airport. The project was never built. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has identified safety and operational repairs necessary for the Deering Airport. The project's purpose is to provide the community of Deering with safe and efficient airport access and address Deering Airport deficiencies that would bring the airport to current standards and meet criteria identified in the Alaska Statewide Transportation Plan, the Alaska Aviation System Plan, and current Federal Aviation Administration design standards. The new road will provide all-season access to the Deering Airport.

Description of Proposed Work: Resurface the existing runway, rehabilitate runway embankments, replace the airport lighting, improve airport drainage, and construct a new access road to the airport with a bridge over Smith Creek. The new bridge will have earthen abutments and approaches on either side of Smith Creek. The new road will provide all-season access to the Deering Airport. Fill material (sand and gravel) will be excavated from up to eight material sites in the Inmachuk River. For this Permit Modification, updated design work has estimated that an additional 50,055 cubic yards of fill would be needed, bringing the total fill requirements for the project to 170,805 cy. Fill material (sand and gravel) would be excavated down to 2.5 feet below ordinary high water from up to seven material sites in the Inmachuk River, impacting 19.7 acres of Waters of the United States. The new access road to the Deering Airport requires fill placement into approximately 8.1 acres of jurisdictional wetlands. To stabilize thawing permafrost around the runway, new fill material will be placed on existing runway embankments and into adjacent wetlands. Airport fill will total approximately 10.4 acres in wetlands. The rip rap protecting the bridge embankments will impact 0.2 acres of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). A total of 18.8 acres of WOTUS will be filled. Temporary work space equals 4.8 acres, and will buffer the evacuation and access road.

Material Sites: The DOT&PF plans to use material from eight sites located on gravel bars within the Inmachuk River. Material extraction from gravel bars will ensure no net loss of WOTUS, as each material site will be excavated below the OHWM and eventually re-aggraded from the river’s natural flooding. The mining of material from gravel bars will reduce the need for terrestrial material sites. Terrestrial alternatives will require additional disturbance in wetlands for material sites and access.  Each material site will be permitted for use through the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Mining, Land & Water. DOT&PF will submit a Mining and Reclamation Guideline document to DNR for each of the material sites. In addition, sites on NANA Regional Corporation land will be permitted through NANA. The construction contractor will create a Project Mining and Reclamation Plan for each site to be submitted to DOT&PF, DNR, and NANA for approval. It will include appropriate BMPs to minimize impacts to WOUS at each location. Gravel sources will be mined to maximize mineral material extraction from the smallest footprint. At each material source location, adequate setbacks from the active river channel will be maintained to avoid impacts to fish and sediment transport to the active channel. If the river braid is crossed for pit access, excavation will occur during winter months when the ground is frozen and the river waters are at a low-flow level. Material stockpiles will be moved out of the active floodplain before river breakup in the spring.

Access Road: The access road alignment overlies ground that is subject to thaw settlement. Road design includes placing geotextile underlayment and the use of insulation board to protect thaw-susceptible soils. The road will be constructed to an average depth of 6 feet to help provide additional thermal protection for the underlying permafrost and to provide a drivable surface above the 100-year flood event. The road will have an average driving surface of 24 feet and a toe-to-toe width of a minimum of 75 feet. The figures show the toe-to-toe fill. Excavation along the route will be avoided to minimize thermal degradation of the frozen soils. Dust control measures will be implemented as needed to reduce the suspension of fugitive dust during construction and as part of ongoing road maintenance.

Equipment Storage: The design incorporates existing roads, minimizing impacts to WOTUS, including wetlands and streams. The construction equipment will be offloaded at the barge landing during the summer. Equipment will be stored in designated upland areas.

Temporary Work Areas: The access road as well as the bridge approaches have been shown with a temporary 25-foot-wide work area on either side. This buffer has been included in the drawings. This has been included to allow for construction deviations with equipment beyond the toe-to-toe layout of the road and bridge embankments. The buffer areas will be reseeded, if needed, when construction is complete. This acreage has been calculated as a temporary work area totaling 4.8 acres.

Access Road Drainage/Construction Minimization Measures: Appropriately sized culverts will be placed along the access road to maintain hydrologic connectivity of the adjacent wetlands. The figures show several proposed locations. No additional fill is required for the culvert placements. The fill is calculated as part of the roadway. Swales and other concave landscape features that collect water will have hydrologic connectivity maintained using culverts. A two-lane bridge will cross Smith Creek and has been designed to accommodate high water, navigation, and winter snow machine traffic. Abutments will be placed on either side of the creek within the floodplain. Rip rap layout was designed to protect the embankments at all water stages.

Applicant Proposed Mitigation: The applicant proposes the following mitigation measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to waters of the United States from activities involving discharges of dredged or fill material.

1. Avoidance: The Deering Road network, airport, supporting infrastructure, portions of material sites, and the village are on uplands. Additionally, several small upland areas were mapped on berms and cut banks adjacent to rivers and streams. According to the Applicant, total avoidance of wetland impacts during any type of development for the Deering Airport would neither be practicable nor possible. Erosion Sediment Control Plans and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) will be developed and implemented to prevent the introduction of sediments and consequent turbidity into WOTUS during construction. BMPs will be used project-wide to maintain in-stream water quality and stream bank stability.
2. Minimization: The proposed material sources for the project, located in the Inmachuk River channel, will be mined on gravel bars during low water conditions in the winter. The material source boundaries will include river gravel bars and islands mapped as riverine channel (no field verification). After the project is completed, excavated areas used for material extraction will likely pond due to a high-water table, and/or connected to the river through flooding. The material sources, after reclamation is complete, will remain as WOUS as functioning gravel or channel within the Inmachuk River floodplain.

   The in-river mining at the proposed material sources will potentially provide functional lift to the Inmachuk River by creating overwintering fish habitat. On the North Slope’s Sagavanirktok River, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) noted the potential for the creation of overwintering habitat for fish through gravel extraction and started recommending gravel extraction in-river (Morris 2000). McLean (1993) noted that mining in-river will provide net benefits for fish while avoiding many of the costs and impacts of terrestrial mining. Mining in-river on the Sagavanirktok River will provide overwintering fish habitat, “…for a considerable period of time” (McLean 1993).

3. Mitigation: DOT&PF has selected an alternative for the airport that has been demonstrated to be practicable for the community of Deering. DOT&PF, working in an area that was mapped as 93 percent wetlands, has avoided wetland impacts by not developing terrestrial material sources. Material for the project will be used from existing gravel bars within the Inmachuk River channel. The proposed sites will provide sufficient material for the project while completely avoiding terrestrial wetland material site impacts through extraction and haulage.

Barge traffic will move construction equipment to the site. No conservation units are impacted by the proposed action. Winter access roads to material sites avoid filling streams. The preferred airport location uses existing fill pads to meet safety requirements while obtaining material within the Inmachuk River gravel bars, which reduces the permanent impacts of this project.

The reason for this project is public safety; for both the runway and access road, there are no external economic drivers. Due to the avoidance and minimization efforts DOT&PF has undertaken with community input during the planning and design of this project, minimal cumulative impacts, the in-river material site location and potential functional lift, the vast wetland landscape within the watershed, NAB subsistence zoning, and by following the 404(b)(1) Guidelines sequencing, and adhering to current Alaska regulatory guidance, no compensatory mitigation will be offered to offset the 18.8 acres or less of permanent losses to wetlands and waters in this location. The temporary impacts of 4.8 acres will be reclaimed following construction.

After reviewing the application, the Department will evaluate whether the activity will comply with applicable water quality requirements (any limitation, standard, or other requirement under sections 301, 302, 306, and 307 of the CWA, any Federal and state laws or regulations implementing those sections, and any other water quality-related requirement of state law). The Department may certify (or certify with conditions) with reasonable assurance the activity and any discharge that might result will comply with water quality requirements. The Department also may deny or waive certification.

The permit application and associated documents are available for review. To inquire about or request copies of the documents, contact dec-401cert@alaska.gov or call 907-269-6285.

Disability Reasonable Accommodation Notice

The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation, complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need special accommodation in order to participate in this public process, please contact ADA Coordinator Kristin Mabry, kristin.mabry@alaska.gov, 1-907-334-0884; or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 at least 3 days prior to the expiration/closure date of this public notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

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