The Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas TIG) has released its first restoration plan.
The restoration projects described in the plan address natural resource injuries resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The plan, consistent with the Trustees’ programmatic restoration plan, focuses on oysters and wetlands, coastal and nearshore habitats.
The Texas Trustee Implementation Group Final 2017 Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters, evaluated a range of restoration alternatives and selected 13 projects for implementation.
The total estimated cost of the projects is $45,761,000. The projects include:
“We began this restoration planning effort in June 2016 by requesting project ideas from the public, state and federal agencies, and stakeholders. We considered more than 800 project ideas and included 13 preferred projects in its draft restoration plan, which was published in May 2017, ” they said in their release.
The draft restoration plan was made available for public review and comment, and public meetings were held in the Galveston and Corpus Christi areas in early June 2017. The comment period closed on June 19, 2017.
The final restoration plan reflects revisions to the draft plan resulting from public comments and additional Trustee project development. In light of the recent impacts to the coast by Hurricane Harvey, the Trustees re-evaluated the proposed preferred project sites and determined that environmental conditions did not change sufficiently to warrant a change in the suite of projects selected in this restoration plan.
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