JACKSONVILLE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Jacksonville District is preparing a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis for the initial fill operations for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) A-2 Reservoir. The initial fill operations will be documented in a revised CEPP Preliminary Project Operating Manual (PPOM).

Located south of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County the 10,500-acre above-ground EAA A-2 Reservoir has a storage capacity of approximately 240,000 acre-feet.

CEPP was authorized by Section 1401(4) of WRDA 2016, as subsequently modified by Section 324 of Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 to include the project authorized by Section 1308 of WRDA 2018, which includes the EAA A-2 Reservoir and A-2 Stormwater Treatment Area (STA). The EAA A-2 Reservoir is designed to attenuate EAA basin runoff and to capture, store, and treat Lake Okeechobee water (in conjunction with the CEPP A-2 STA and the State of Florida’s existing STA-2 and STA-3/4), then route the water south to the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), Everglades National Park (ENP), and Florida Bay, reducing undesirable Lake Okeechobee releases to the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie River estuaries.

USACE is developing the EAA A-2 Reservoir operations in two distinct phases. The current effort and subject of this NEPA scoping letter, Phase 1, is dedicated to developing the EAA A-2 Reservoir initial fill operations (termed hereafter EAA Reservoir Operations Phase 1 Initial Fill) documented in a revised CEPP PPOM. The primary purpose of this phase is to establish operating criteria and ensure dam safety requirements are met as the reservoir fills for the first time. This effort supports the Army Civil Works’ “Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork” (BINP) initiative by advancing the operational planning necessary to move this priority water resources infrastructure toward initial filling and operation while maintaining required environmental and safety considerations.

Phase 1 planning and NEPA analysis are targeted to be approved in late 2027 to support the accelerated construction of the EAA A-2 Reservoir. Phase 2, a subsequent regional operational planning study, may revise operations across Lake Okeechobee and the EAA (replacing the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM)) and operations across the WCAs, ENP, and the South Dade Conveyance System (replacing the pending 2027 CEPP Operational Plan 1.0).

The scoping document has been posted on our environmental page at: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/About/Divisions-Offices/Planning/Environmental-Branch/Environmental-Documents/ Click + next to Palm Beach County, located at the bottom of the page.

Jacksonville District invites all interested parties to provide comments on the proposed EAA A-2 Reservoir Operations Phase 1 and to identify any issues or concerns that should be evaluated.

Please provide scoping comments electronically to CESAJEAAReservoir@usace.army.mil The comment period deadline is November 2, 2026.

All comments will be summarized and used to inform the proposed EAA Reservoir Operations Phase 1 Initial Fill plan development.  For more information on the proposed action, including information on the dates and times for public scoping meetings, please go to the following project website:  https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/CEPPEAA/.