Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Veh icle em issions
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Diesel emissions from large construction equipment and generators
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Volatile organic compound (VOC) releases from the storage and transfer of
vehicle/equipment fuels
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Small amounts of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates from
blasting activities
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Fugitive dust from many sources, such as disturbing and moving soils
(clearing, grading, excavation, trenching, backfilling, dumping, and truck
and equipment traffic), mixing concrete, use of unvegetated soil piles, drill-
ing, and pile driving
These emissions would also be expected during construction of a barrage facility. A
permit may be required from the state or local air agency to control or mitigate these
emissions, especially in non-attainment areas.
Cultural Resources
For offshore projects, trenching, dredging, and placement of hydrokinetic energy
devices and associated components could impact shipwrecks or buried archeological
artifacts. For onshore projects, impacts on cultural resources could occur from site
preparation (e.g., clearing, excavation, grading) and construction of transmission-
related facilities. For either offshore or onshore projects, visual impacts could also
result from disruption of a historical setting that is important to the integrity of a
historic structure, such as a lighthouse. Potential cultural resource impacts include
the following:
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Complete destruction of the resource if present in areas undergoing surface
disturbance or excavation
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Unauthorized removal of artifacts or vandalism to cultural resource sites
resulting from increases in human access to previously inaccessible areas
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Visual impacts resulting from vegetation cleaning, increased industry,
and the presence of large-scale equipment, machinery, and vehicles (if the
affected cultural resources have an associated landscape or other visual
component that contributes to their significance, such as a sacred landscape
or historic trail)
Ecological Resources
Wave and Tidal Turbine Energy Farms
The potential effects of construction activities associated with the placement of
wave and tidal turbine energy devices on marine mammals, sea turtles, and fish
may include behavioral responses such as avoidance and deflections in travel direc-
tion. Noise and vibrations generated during the various activities could disturb the
normal behaviors and mask sounds from other members of the same species or
from predators. Coastal birds could be displaced from offshore feeding habitats;
however, most birds would be likely to return within relatively short periods follow-
ing cessation of construction activities. A few could be injured or killed by colli-
sions with the survey vessels.
