Biological Assessment Lon C. Hill Power Station Project Nueces County, Texas Prepared for Lon C. Hill, LP Prepared by Whitenton Group, Inc. June 2014 3413 Hunter Road • San Marcos, Texas 78666 • office 512-353-3344 • fax 512-212-4043 www.whitentongroup.com Biological Assessment Lon C. Hill Power Station Project Nueces County, Texas Prepared for Lon C. Hill, LP Houston, Texas 77002 Prepared by Whitenton Group, Inc. 3413 Hunter Road San Marcos, Texas 78666 WGI Project No. 1352 June 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. i ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................................................iii 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 3 3.0 ACTION AREA .................................................................................................................................... 5 4.0 AGENCY REGULATIONS ................................................................................................................. 6 4.1 ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT ..................................................................................................... 6 4.2 CLEAN AIR ACT REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS .......................................................... 7 5.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................... 9 5.1 PROJECT PURPOSE AND LOCATION ...................................................................................... 9 5.2 CONSTRUCTION INFORMATION ........................................................................................... 10 5.2.1 CONSTRUCTION DESCRIPTION ...................................................................................... 10 5.2.2 CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES AND SCHEDULE .......................................................... 11 5.2.3 CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT REQUIRED ................................................................... 12 5.2.4 STORM WATER ..................................................................................................................... 12 5.2.5 CONSTRUCTION NOISE LEVELS ..................................................................................... 12 5.3 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE INFORMATION ........................................................ 13 5.3.1 OPERATION DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................... 13 5.3.2 WATER USE............................................................................................................................ 13 5.3.3 WASTEWATER ...................................................................................................................... 14 5.3.4 STORM WATER ..................................................................................................................... 14 5.3.5 OPERATION NOISE LEVELS .............................................................................................. 14 6.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION .................................................................................................. 15 6.1 GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION .................................................................. 15 6.1.1 GENERAL REGION INFORMATION ................................................................................ 15 6.1.2 LAND USE .............................................................................................................................. 15 6.1.3 CLIMATE ................................................................................................................................ 16 6.1.4 TOPOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 16 6.1.5 GEOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 17 6.1.6 SOILS ........................................................................................................................................ 17 6.1.7 WATER RESOURCES ............................................................................................................ 17 6.1.8 VEGETATION ........................................................................................................................ 17 6.2 FEDERALLY-LISTED SPECIES ................................................................................................... 18 6.2.1 THREATENED OR ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST ........................................................ 18 6.2.2 PROPOSED THREATENED, THREATENED, OR ENDANGERED SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 20 6.2.3 CANDIDATE SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS ........................................................................... 38 Lon C. Hill Power Station Project – Biological Assessment i 6.2.4 TEXAS NATURAL DIVERSITY DATABASE RESULTS .................................................. 39 7.0 FEDERALLY-LISTED SPECIES HABITAT EVALUATION ........................................................ 40 7.1 PLANT COMMUNITIES OBSERVED ........................................................................................ 40 7.2 FEDERALLY-LISTED SPECIES HABITAT ANALYSIS........................................................... 41 8.0 AIR QUALITY ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................... 43 8.1 AIR DISPERSION MODELING RESULTS ................................................................................ 43 8.1.1 CRITERIA POLLUTANT DISPERSION MODELING RESULTS AND EVALUATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 44 8.1.2 NON-CRITERIA POLLUTANTS MODELING RESULTS AND EVALUATION ........ 45 9.0 EFFECTS OF THE PROPOSED ACTION ....................................................................................... 47 9.1 AIR EMISSIONS EFFECTS BACKGROUND RESEARCH ...................................................... 47 9.2 AIR QUALITY EFFECTS .............................................................................................................. 51 9.2.1 EMISSIONS ............................................................................................................................. 51 9.2.2 FUGITIVE DUST .................................................................................................................... 51 9.2.3 IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION SOURCES ON FLORA AND FAUNA ...................... 52 9.3 WATER QUALITY EFFECTS ....................................................................................................... 53 9.4 NOISE EFFECTS ............................................................................................................................ 54 9.5 INFRASTRUCTURE-RELATED EFFECTS ................................................................................ 55 9.6 HUMAN ACTIVITY EFFECTS .................................................................................................... 56 9.7 FEDERALLY-LISTED SPECIES EFFECTS ................................................................................. 56 9.7.1 FEDERALLY-LISTED THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES ...................... 56 9.7.2 FEDERALLY-LISTED PROPOSED THREATENED AND CANDIDATE SPECIES .... 81 10.0 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 87 10.1 DETERMINATION OF EFFECT ............................................................................................... 87 10.2 INTERDEPENDENT AND INTERRELATED ACTIONS ..................................................... 89 10.3 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ........................................................................................................... 89 10.4 CONSERVATION MEASURES ................................................................................................. 89 11.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 90 12.0 LIST OF PREPARERS .................................................................................................................... 102 APPENDIX A FIGURES 1-8 APPENDIX B FLOW DIAGRAM APPENDIX C PRELIMINARY PLOT PLAN APPENDIX D TABLE 1 - SOILS APPENDIX E PHOTOGRAPHIC LOG APPENDIX F FIELD SURVEY DATA SUMMARY APPENDIX G TABLE 1(A) EMISSION POINT SUMMARY ii Lon C. Hill Power Station Project – Biological Assessment ACRONYMS °F Degrees Fahrenheit AOI Area of Impact BA Biological Assessment BACT Best Available Control Technology eSPARC CAMS eSPARC, LLC CO Carbon Monoxide EO Element of Occurrence EPA Environmental Protection Agency ESA Endangered Species Act ESLs Effects Screening Levels FAA Federal Aviation Adminstration FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency GHG Greenhouse Gas GLCmax Maximum Ground Level Concentration gpm Gallons per Minute GTG Gas Turbine Generator H2SO4 Sulfuric Acid HRSG