The Port Hueneme Maintenance Dredging Project entails creating an engineered Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cell within the Port of Hueneme (Harbor) as a solution for contaminated sediment management.  Specifically, the project involved excavating a subsurface cell in the U.S. Navy (USN)-owned, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)-maintained Turning Basin to accommodate approximately 250,000 cubic meters of contaminated sediment previously determined to be unsuitable for unconfined ocean disposal by the Oxnard Harbor District (OHD), USN, and USACE as part of their maintenance dredging programs.  Approximately 540,000 cubic meters of clean sand that was excavated to create the cell has been pumped onto Hueneme Beach, located immediately south of the Entrance Channel, to nourish the beach.  Subsequently, contaminated sediments from the OHD, USN, and USACE sites are being dredged using mechanical equipment and placed within the cell using a bottom-dump barge.  These contaminated sediments will then be covered with clean sediments dredged from the remainder of the USACE Federal Channel, as part of the USACE’s ongoing Operations and Management (O&M) program.  To provide additional protection from scour caused by vessel propeller wash, a portion of the clean cap will then be covered with a 1-meter thick layer of gravel.

Dredging of the OHD and USN wharves and the USACE Federal Channel, and construction of the CAD facility are subject to both California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.  The environmental analysis was carried out as a joint document combining the CEQA Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration with the NEPA Environmental Assessment (EA).  Because no significant impacts were identified in the environmental analyses, the OHD completed the CEQA process by adopting the Mitigated Negative Declaration, while the USN completed the NEPA process by issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) to accompany a final EA.  The project also required permits from a number of state and federal agencies.  The USN and USACE acted as co-applicants in obtaining a federal consistency determination for the entire project from the California Coastal Commission, which satisfies requirements of the Coastal Zone Management Act.  The OHD and USN acted as co-applicants for the Clean Water Act (Section 404) and River and Harbor Act (Section 10) permits from the USACE and Clean Water Act (Section 401) water quality certification from the Regional Water Quality Control Board.