(a) If the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, finds that the proposed project to be erected at the location to be declared nonnavigable under this section is in the public interest, on the basis of engineering studies to determine the location and structural stability of any bulkheading and filling and permanent pile-supported structure, in order to preserve and maintain the remaining navigable waterway and on the basis of environmental studies conducted pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.], then that portion of the Hudson River in Hudson County, State of New Jersey, bounded and described as follows is hereby declared to be nonnavigable water of the United States within the meaning of the laws of the United States, and the consent of Congress is hereby given to the filling in of all or any part thereof and the erection of permanent pile-supported structures thereon:
Such portion is in the township of North Bergen in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, and is more particularly described as follows: At a point in the easterly right-of-way of New Jersey Shore Line Railroad (formerly New Jersey Junction Railroad) said point being located northerly, measured along said easterly right-of-way, 81.93 feet from Station 54+42.4 as shown on construction drawing dated May 23, 1931, of River Road, filed in the Office of the Hudson County Engineer, Jersey City, New Jersey:
thence (1) northerly and along said easterly right-of-way on a bearing of north 12 degrees 11 minutes 14 seconds east, a distance of 280 feet to a point;
thence (2) south 75 degrees 28 minutes 24 seconds east, a distance of 310 feet to a point;
thence (3) south 17 degrees 15 minutes 41 seconds east, a distance of 101.70 feet to a point;
thence (4) south 62 degrees 18 minutes 12 seconds east a distance of 355.64 feet to a point in the exterior solid fill line of April 7, 1903, and the bulkhead line of April 28, 1904, on the Hudson River;
thence (5) along said exterior solid fill and bulkhead lines south 28 degrees 55 minutes 51 seconds west, a distance of 523 feet to a point in the northerly line of lands now or formerly of New York State Realty and Terminal Company;
thence (6) north 61 degrees 34 minutes 29 seconds west, and along said northerly line of the New York State Realty and Terminal Company, a distance of 590.08 feet to a point in the aforementioned easterly right-of-way of the New Jersey Shore Line Railroad;
thence (7) northerly and along said easterly right-of-way of the New Jersey Shore Line Railroad on a curve to the left a radius of 995.09 feet, an arc length of 170.96 feet to a point therein;
thence (8) northerly, still along the same, on a bearing of north 12 degrees 11 minutes 14 seconds east, a distance of 81.93 feet to the point and place of beginning.
Said parcel containing 8 acres being the same more or less.
(b) The declaration in subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to portions of the above-described area which are either bulkheaded and filled or occupied by permanent pile-supported structures. Plans for bulkheading and filling and permanent pile-supported structures shall be approved by the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers. Local interests shall reimburse the Federal Government for engineering and all other costs incurred under this section.
(
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, referred to in subsec. (a), is