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 Framework for Dredged Material Management
May 2004
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose
This document is intended to serve as a consistent "roadmap" for U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (USACE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
personnel in evaluating the environmental acceptability of dredged material management
alternatives. Specifically, its major objectives are to provide:
A general technical framework for evaluating the environmental acceptability of
dredged material management alternatives (open-water disposal, confined (diked)
disposal, and beneficial uses).
Additional technical guidance to augment present implementation and testing
manuals for addressing the environmental acceptability of available management
options for the discharge of dredged material in both open water and confined
sites.
Enhanced consistency and coordination in USACE/USEPA decision making in
accordance with Federal environmental statutes regulating dredged material
management.
1.2 Applicability
The "Technical Framework" was developed to provide a consistent approach to
identifying environmentally acceptable dredged material management alternatives that
meet the substantive and procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Marine Protection, Research, and
Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA). This document provides that framework and augments other
technical guidance documents (e.g., the MPRSA and CWA dredged material testing
manuals) for evaluating environmental acceptability. Since this document was first
published in 1992, advances have been made in testing and evaluation procedures, and in
the area of risk assessment. Although the basic framework described in the original
document remains largely unchanged, some new tools are available to facilitate the
recommended evaluations. Additionally, formal risk assessment is emerging as a
commonly used tool for dredged material evaluation in cases where definitive criteria are
not available by which to assess potential environmental impacts. These procedures and
references were included in this 2004 updated version of the Technical Framework.
This document is applicable to proposed actions involving the disposal and
management of dredged material from both the new-work construction and navigation
project maintenance programs of the USACE as well as proposed dredged material
discharge actions regulated by the USACE. Further, the document addresses the broad
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