Construction of the Gulf LNG Energy facility on Bayou Casotte (Jackson County, MS) involved filling of tidal marsh habitat.  Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. delineated and mapped wetlands at the plant site and in the pipeline corridor leading from that facility to sales pipelines.  At the request of the Mobile District Corps of Engineers, Vittor & Associates used the newly developed tidal fringe Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) manual, which had been prepared in part for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, to evaluate pre-impact marsh values and to determine the amount of compensatory mitigation needed to offset the marsh impact.  We designed the marsh mitigation project, inspected it during construction, and are monitoring the restored marsh by recording data for each of the various functional attributes cited in the HGM manual.

 

Vittor & Associates produced and implemented a study plan for evaluation of material to be dredged in Gulf LNG Energy’s proposed ship berth area at Bayou Casotte, Jackson County, MS.  This plan was coordinated with the Mobile District Corps of Engineers and U.S. EPA-Region 4.  Project deliverables include preparation of a Section 103 report (with TRC) and a final report concerning sediment chemistry, sediment and elutriate toxicity testing, and bioaccumulation testing and tissue chemistry.  Vittor & Associates also performed a detailed study of benthic organisms that would be displaced/removed by excavation of the ship berth basin.