Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Paleontological Resources
Impacts on paleontological resources could occur directly from the construction
activities or indirectly from soil erosion and increased accessibility to fossil loca-
tions. Potential impacts include the following:
•
Complete destruction of resources in areas undergoing surface disturbance
or excavation
•
Degradation or destruction of near-surface fossil resources on- and offsite
caused by changes in topography, changes in hydrological patterns, and soil
movement (removal, erosion, and sedimentation), although the accumula-
tion of sediment could serve to protect some locations by increasing the
amount of protective cover
•
Unauthorized removal of fossil resources or vandalism to the site as a result
of increased human access to previously inaccessible areas, if significant
paleontological resources are present
Transportation
Short-term increases in the use of local roadways would occur during the construc-
tion period. Heavy equipment likely would remain at the site. Shipments of mate-
rials are unlikely to affect primary or secondary road networks significantly, but
this would depend on the location of the project site relative to material source.
Oversized loads could cause temporary transportation disruptions and could require
some modifications to roads or bridges (such as fortifying bridges to accommodate
the size or weight). Shipment weight might also affect the design of access roads for
grade determinations and turning clearance requirements.
Visual Resources
The magnitude of visual impacts of construction of a biomass facility is dependent
upon the distance of the construction activities from the viewer, the view duration,
and the scenic quality of the landscape. Possible sources of visual impacts during
construction include the following:
•
Ground disturbance and vegetation removal could result in visual impacts
that produce contrasts of color, form, texture, and line. Excavation for foun-
dations and ancillary structures, trenching to bury pipelines, grading and
surfacing roads, cleaning and leveling staging areas, and stockpiling soil
might be visible to viewers in the vicinity of the site. Soil scars and exposed
slope faces would result from excavation, leveling, and equipment movement.
•
Road development (new roads or expansion of existing roads) and parking
areas could introduce strong visual contrasts in the landscape, depending
on the route relative to surface contours, and the width, length, and surface
treatment of the roads.
•
Conspicuous and frequent small-vehicle traffic for worker access and fre-
quent large-equipment (trucks, graders, excavators, and cranes) traffic for
road construction, site preparation, and biomass facility construction could
