At the end of December 2022, Amy Dempsey sent the Corps an email requesting an additional ten day extension to complete the benthic resource survery, complaining of poor working conditions due to “Christmas winds.” The Army Corps insisted on maintaining the Jan 6, 2023 deadline, even after repeated requests from SEG.
From: Amy Dempsey <bioimpact.islands.vi@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2022 9:41 AM
To: Gonzalez, Alberto CIV USARMY CESAJ (USA)
Cc: Chaliese Summers <csummers@summersendvi.com>
Subject: RAI for Summer’s End Coral Bay/ St. John’s Marina (SAJ-2004-12518)
Mr. Gonzalez,
I am writing to ask you to give us 10 days extra to respond to the RAI for Summer’s End Coral Bay/ St. John’s Marina (SAJ-2004-12518). We have been working diligently to try to complete the benthic survey, but the Christmas winds came earlier than expected and have resulted in persistent elevated turbidity. As of today we still need 4 days in-water survey to complete the data collection. The survey methods require 10ft visibility, and despite trying 6 days a week even through the holidays, we are still not quite finished and we do not want to deviate from the approved methods since this is what was agreed upon with NMFS. Thus far we have only been able to map and collect data 30% of the time we have been out. The additional 10 days should give us those 4 days and time to finalize the data write up and impact analysis.
We really appreciate your consideration on this request, this has not been for lack of trying.
Amy Claire Dempsey, M.A.
President, Bioimpact, Inc.
Amy,
Happy New Year. Sorry I had not responded sooner as I was on personal leave for the holidays. Although the Corps understands the challenges related to field work and unpredictable weather, the Corps will be maintaining the deactivation deadline of January 6th 2023 for the pending RAI response. Please note the deactivation/withdraw of the application does not mean the project is permanently closed or that the applicant needs to restart the process from the beginning. We can reactivate the file upon receipt of the completed response and continue the process where it previously left off. Please recall, the Corps had recommended this approach during our November 18, 2022 conference call in order to provide the applicant the sufficient needed time to complete the RAI response and not feel rushed to provide a partial response or a piecemealed submittal. The Miami/Antilles Office is committed to working with all applicants and being responsive, however we also have to balance that with complying with our standard regulatory operating procedures which establishes the processing timeframes and controls when our review clock is stopped/restarted.
Thanks,
Albert
From: Amy Dempsey <bioimpact.islands.vi@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 8:54 AM
To: Gonzalez, Alberto CIV USARMY CESAJ (USA)
Cc: Chaliese Summers <csummers@summersendvi.com>;
Burns, Samantha L CIV USARMY CESAJ (USA)
Kaynor, Susan R CIV USARMY CESAJ (USA)
Subject: Re: RAI for Summer’s End Coral Bay/ St. John’s Marina (SAJ-2004-12518)
Alberto,
We respectfully request that you allow us the extra 10 days, I had people working through the holidays trying to make the deadline but we could not meet the visibility standards, literally the only days we did not try were Christmas and the day after, we were out Monday and it was horrible visibility but were able to work yesterday as it cleared up and it looks good this morning and they are in the water.
We cannot complete the benthic report without all the data. And now all we need is two more good days to finish and then we can finish all the write ups to address the RAI, Without complete data we cannot.
Amy Claire Dempsey, M.A.
President, Bioimpact, Inc.
Amy,
The Corps recognizes the efforts that have been put forth on your end and we certainly sympathize with all the challenges. I have discuss this deadline with my chain of command and we need to follow our established timeframe of January 6th 2023. I again remind you that this deadline will not negate the applicants ability of submitting the response at the conclusion of the data collection and report preparation while also allowing the Corp to maintain our regulatory processing timeframes.
Thanks,
Albert