Proposed Determination To Prohibit or Restrict the Use of Wetlands and Other Waters as Disposal Sites for the Nashua-Hudson Circumferential Highway in Nashua, Hudson, Litchfield, and Merrimack, NH

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Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act (Act) authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prohibit or restrict the discharge of dredged or fill material at defined sites in the waters of the United States (including wetlands) whenever it determines, after notice and opportunity for hearing, that use of such sites for disposal would have an unacceptable adverse impact on various resources, including wildlife. EPA-New England proposes under Section 404(c) of the Act to prohibit use of wetlands and other waters by the proposed Nashua-Hudson Circumferential Highway (NHCH) as disposal sites for dredged or fill material. The highway would directly eliminate 40 acres of valuable wetlands and indirectly degrade or threaten extensive additional wetland habitat. EPA-New England believes that filling the wetlands and waters of the site may have an unacceptable adverse effect on wildlife habitat and possibly municipal water supplies, and that less environmentally damaging practicable alternatives may be available.