public or private interests in planning the 

 development of our water resources. Our pri- 

 mary goal is to assure that estuary-dependent 

 fishery resources receive consideration and 

 protection. 



To achieve our goal we assisted BSFW Divi- 

 sion of River Basin Studies by reviewing each 

 of the Federally planned as well as privately 

 planned projects that might have affected the 

 estuarine zone in the western Gulf. When 

 warranted, we recommended measures to re- 

 duce adverse effects and changes and thereby 

 improve the environment for fishery re- 

 sources. We obtained assistance from other 

 BCF scientists, economists, and statisticians 

 and used all available sources of information 

 to develop the best possible contribution to the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service report on each pro- 

 posed project. Table 6 lists the number, type, 

 and general location of applications for private 

 construction projects reviewed during the fiscal 

 year. Project personnel also contributed to and 

 reviewed drafts of 33 BSFW reports on private 

 and Federal projects. 



An example of the time spent by project 

 personnel is the review of a permit application 

 for construction of a steann electric generating 

 plant on the shore of Cox Bay, Tex. The pro- 

 posed power station would be constructed on an 

 8 1 -hectare (200- acre) tract on the north shore 

 of Cox Bay (fig. 15). The initial installation 

 would be a 240-megawatt unit with a subse- 

 quent unit tentatively sized at 450 megawatts. 



The company proposes to take water from 

 the Matagorda Ship Channel turning basin to 

 dissipate the heat in the generating system. 

 The cooling water would be discharged into a 

 stilling basin and then through a dredged 

 channel into Cox Bay. Spoil dredged from the 



discharge channel would be placed along the 

 entire east bank of the channel. 



Cooling-water requirements for the first 

 unit would be about 350 c.f.s. (cubic feet per 

 second), and the second unit would need an 

 additional 650 c.f.s. Expected temperature rise 

 between the points of intake and discharge 

 would be in excess of 4.5° C. (8° F.) under 

 60-percent load capacity. 



Valuable estuarine habitat potentially af- 

 fected by the proposed power station could 

 include a small portion of Lavaca Bay, Cox 

 Bay, and lower Huisache Cove. These areas 

 amount to more than 2,023 hectares (5,000 

 acres). Operation of the proposed plant would 

 have damaging effects in the form of: physical 

 displacement of habitat associated with 

 dredging and spoil deposition; perversion of 

 water circulation patterns resulting in disrup- 

 tion of nutrient distribution and animal migra- 

 tion routes as well as accelerated erosion, 

 siltation, and turbidity; introduction of polluted 

 waters into unpolluted habitat; physical loss of 

 animals into the plant intake; and thermal 

 disruption of the environment. 



The above-mentioned general points were 

 reported to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 via the U.S. Department of the Interior Re- 

 gional Coordinator. Later, the Corps of Engi- 

 neers notified the applicant of the Department 

 of Interior's objections and recommendations. 

 The applicant was then questioned as to his 

 willingness to revise plans to meet Interior 

 recommendations and instructed either to 

 submit revised plans for further considera- 

 tion or state in writing why any of the recom- 

 mendations are unacceptable. 



To date (40 days from above-mentioned 

 notice) the power company has not responded 



Table 6. — Number, type, and location of proposed private construction projects in the coastal 

 areas of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico that were reviewed during fiscal year 1969 



Location 



Mineral development 



With 



channel 



dredging 



Without 

 channel 

 dredging 



Navigation 

 channels 



BuUdieading 

 and fill, or 

 shoreline 

 work 



Other^ 



Total 



-------------- Nixmber 



Sabine Lake .0 



Galveston Bay 7 10 3 



Matagorda Bay 3 7 1 



San Antonio Bay 3 6 1 



Aransas-Copano Bay 11 U- 1 



Corpus Christ! Bay 4- 11 2 



Laguna Madre 10 6 4 



Gulf of Mexico 88 



Rivers and streams 2 9 



Total 38 JM 21 



■"■ Such as pipelines, wharves, piers, bridges, and jetties. 



23 





 16 

 2 

 

 8 

 6 

 4 

 3 

 102 



lAl 



207 



551 



