Case: Chevron/Former Gulf Oil Refinery Port Arthur waste site

Status:

• Restoration construction is complete
• Monitoring to ensure success criteria achieved and identifying the need for corrective actions
• Selected restoration alternatives are creation of 83 acres of tidal wetland, 30 acres of coastal wet prairie, and placement of water control structures to improve 1,332 acres of coastal wetlands in the Sabine/Neches River basin

Restoration for Benthic and Wildlife Resources:

• Marsh construction and enhancement in the Former River South Unit of the Lower Neches Wildlife Management Area (WMA), adjacent to Sabine Lake near Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas. Construction of estuarine marsh consisting of a minimum of 60-70% vegetation and 30-40% open water (the “Marsh Complex”) via the beneficial use of dredge material. The original material from the construction of the Gulf States Utility canal presently stored in a dredge material management area adjacent the WMA will be used to create a field of pimple mounds and terraces. Construction of a low water plug in the lower end of the Ferry Road Canal and addition of eight culverts under Ferry Road will ensure adequate surface water circulation and exchange. The Marsh Complex will be built via reuse of dredged material from a borrow area and terracing of existing sediments in existing open water areas.
• Construction of coastal wet prairie (the “Coastal Wet Prairie”). After removal of the soil to be used for creation of the marsh complex is removed, the Dredge Material Management Area will be graded into a landscape of swales, mounds and ponds and planted with wet prairie plants native to southeastern Texas.
• Construction of Water Control Structures and levees necessary to restore and enhance the soil moisture in impoundments for enhanced wildlife management of the J.D. Murphree WMA located near the City of Port Arthur, Jefferson County, Texas. The water levels within these wetlands are managed by the TPWD. The project consists of constructing a water control structure and a low terrace with an adjacent ditch and plugging an existing ditch in the project area. This project resulted in additional improvement of over 600 acres of emergent and high marsh habitat.

Aerial photo of restoration projects.