Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Louisiana and Texas. Draft environmental impact statement.

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is a shallow-draft navigation project extending 1,115 miles from Apalachee Bay, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. The project will promote the economic well being of the people through reduction in transportation costs and reduction in hazards from collisions on the waterway. There will be some adverse environmental effects on marine and wildlife habitat in the project area from channel excavation and disposal of excavated material. Loss of low lying land, of value as fish and wildlife habitat, cannot be avoided if the improvements authorized between the Houston Ship Channel and Port Arthur are constructed. Construction of the authorized realignments in Matagorda and Corpus Christi Bays will cause some disturbance of benthic organisms and some adverse effects on marine habitat through deposition of excavated materials in the bay areas. Spoil will be deposited in previously established disposal areas insofar as possible, but limited spillage into the bay waters cannot be avoided.