Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Texas Trustees Release Restoration Plan for Texas Gulf Coast
The Texas Trustee Implementation Group (TIG) has released its first restoration plan, selecting 13 restoration projects to compensate for injuries to natural resources caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Texas Trustee Implementation Group Final 2017 Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters was published on October 18, 2017 and prioritizes restoration projects for oysters and wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats with a total estimated cost of $45,761,000.
The 13 selected projects include:
- Bird Island Cove Habitat Restoration Engineering, Galveston Bay System
- Essex Bayou Habitat Restoration Engineering, Galveston Bay System
- Dredged Material Planning for Wetland Restoration, Texas Coast
- McFaddin Beach and Dune Restoration, Sabine Lake Area
- Bessie Heights Wetland Restoration, Sabine Lake Area
- Pierce Marsh Wetland Restoration, Galveston Bay System
- Indian Point Shoreline Erosion Protection, Corpus Christi Bay System
- Bahia Grande Hydrologic Restoration, Lower Laguna Madre
- Follets Island Habitat Acquisition, Galveston Bay System
- Mid-Coast Habitat Acquisition, Matagorda County
- Bahia Grande Coastal Corridor Habitat Acquisition, Lower Laguna Madre
- Laguna Atascosa Habitat Acquisition, Lower Laguna Madre
- Oyster Restoration Engineering, Galveston Bay System
The final restoration plan reflects revisions to the draft plan resulting from public comments and continuing project development by the Texas TIG. 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 coastal conditions did not change sufficiently to warrant a change in the suite of projects selected in this restoration plan.
For more information about ongoing restoration efforts in Texas or to view this restoration plan, visit NOAA’s Texas Restoration Plan webpage.