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CPRA engineers propose updates to marsh-creation design guidelines, stress pipeline and cultural-resource coordination
Summary
CPRA engineers described planned wholesale updates to 2017 marsh-creation design guidelines to reflect modern survey standards, geotechnical updates, construction-rate estimation and clearer procedures for working around oil-and-gas infrastructure; presenters emphasized magnetometer surveys, buffer zones and permitting coordination.
CPRA engineers told the board Jan. 21 that they are updating the agency’s Marsh Creation Design Guidelines (originally published in 2017) to reflect a decade of accumulated construction experience.
Adam Linson described key elements of the guidelines and the agency’s intent to revise survey and data-collection standards, geotechnical requirements, construction guidance (including dredge production rates and duration estimates) and improved field instrumentation and testing protocols. Linson said roughly two-thirds of the state’s restoration budget in the 2023 master plan is directed at marsh creation, and that CPRA designs many projects in-house.
Joanne Trebeau, an engineering supervisor, described safety and logistics for marine construction. She outlined how CPRA identifies oil and gas pipelines—using NPMS and Sunrise databases followed by magnetometer surveys and probing—then coordinates with operators to establish buffer zones, float dredge pipe over pipeline crossings, require contractor preconstruction mag surveys, and notify operators during construction. Trebeau said abandoned-pipeline removal and pipeline lowering are rare and used only when necessary; preferred mitigations include route realignment or temporary protective measures.
Trebeau also covered cultural-resource coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), oyster-lease assessments and the permitting package content CPRA includes in construction permits (drawings, cut-and-fill calculations, and maximum impacted acres).
Board members urged CPRA to find cost and time savings in field investigations where appropriate and to continue coordination with pipeline operators, levy districts and local partners to avoid design delays.
What’s next: CPRA plans to publish proposed guideline revisions for stakeholder review and to integrate new survey, geotechnical and safety practices into upcoming bid packages.
