In addition, solid-fill structures tend to intercept, divert, and disperse 

 water currents. This may decrease available food supply and alter water 

 parameters, such as salinity, oxygen, etc., which leads to a significantly 

 changed fish and wildlife habitat. 



If the refinery is to be located in a coastal site, the facility 

 design should incorporate features to minimize intrusion upon nearby fish 

 and wildlife habitats. Access to the plant should be via existing 

 service roads with upgrading to allow for heavy equipment, but roads 

 should not be open to the general public. Buffer zones, especially of 

 evergreens, can protect wildlife from visual and noise intrusions into 

 the habitat. 



Dikes around the storage tanks should be high enough to hold all 

 the contents of the tank if it should rupture. Every tank must have 

 access by a service road to allow safe and effective fire protection. 

 Dikes should not be routinely traversed by vehicles, and the top of a 

 dike should not be utilized as a service road. 



Construction : The sponsor must perform the coastal construction in 

 a careful manner to protect adjacent aquatic and terrestrial areas. The 

 scheduling of construction must avoid sensitive periods of species, 

 including breeding/spawning, rearing of young, etc. Operation of heavy 

 equipment must be performed to protect fragile environments, such as 

 barrier beaches, wetlands and clam/mud flats. In many cases, parti- 

 cularly near wetlands, mats can reduce the impact of heavy equipment 

 operations. Construction must involve stringent erosion control methods 

 to prevent silt from entering streams and rivers where they could interfere 

 with fish reproduction. 



The need for flat land will cause large acreages to be cleared of 

 vegetation and will cause a drastic change in the microclimate of the 

 area. Species which previously occupied the sector will now find that 

 area uninhabitable. Also, with the vegetation removed there is the 

 possibility of erosion if appropriate measures are not taken to control 

 it. 



If the offshore/onshore pipeline is not suspended on a pier or 

 piles, laying a pipe to shore will cause environmental impacts from the 

 dredging needed to bury the pipeline (See Section 2.2.4). 



Operations 



The applicant's major environmental problem in operation will be in 

 meeting pollutant discharge standards on industrial waste disposal and 

 runoff water. The problems of oil spills are related to both the refinery 

 and the transport of crude and refined products. The discharge of crude 

 oil and petroleum products into estuarine and coastal waters presents 



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