Notice and Opportunity to Comment on Requests for Consistency
Agreement/Concurrence Under the Texas Coastal Management Program
On January 10, 1997, the State of Texas received federal approval of the Coastal Management Program (CMP) (62 Federal Register pp. 1439 - 1440). Under federal law, federal agency activities and actions affecting the Texas coastal zone must be consistent with the CMP goals and policies identified in 31 TAC Chapter 26. Requests for federal consistency review were deemed administratively complete for the following project(s) during the period of October 27, 2025 to October 31, 2025. As required by federal law, the public is given an opportunity to comment on the consistency of proposed activities in the coastal zone undertaken or authorized by federal agencies. Pursuant to 31 TAC §§30.20(f), 30.30(h), and 30.40(e), the public comment period extends 30 days from the date published on the Texas General Land Office web site. The notice was published on the web site on Friday, November 7, 2025. The public comment period for this project will close at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 7, 2025.
Federal Agency Activities:
Applicant: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Location: The project would affect waters of the United States and navigable waters of the United States associated with the Roberts Mueller Unit (RMU) of the Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge (JNNWR). The project area is located in the RMU of the JNNWR, approximately 14 miles south of Stowell, Texas and 1.7 miles west-northwest of the city of High Island, Texas, in Chambers County, Texas.
Latitude and Longitude: 29.584048, -94.423412
Project Description: To create, restore, and enhance coastal wetlands in two separate cells within the RMU of the JNNWR. The applicant requests authorization to create, restore, and enhance wetlands within the RMU of the JNNWR through Beneficial Use of Dredge Material (BUDM). Dredged material will be obtained from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintenance dredging of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and placed in two separate cells (Cell A and Cell B), restoring and/or enhancing a total of 540.11 acres of deteriorated marsh habitat. Specifically, Cell A is 296.60 acres with 163 acres enhanced and 129 acres restored by BUDM. Cell B is a total of 248.99 acres with 37 acres enhanced and 211.11 acres restored with BUDM.
The work associated with the restoration activity will consist of two main actions. The first action will be to create perimeter berms to a top elevation of 2.5’ above grade around each of the proposed cells for containment of BUDM. The second will be placing hydraulically dredged material for beneficial use purposes to restore soil elevations within the cells to a level that will support emergent wetland plants to a target elevation of 1.4’ above grade. Each placement cell will have at least one cross levee, dividing it into smaller sections for purposes of containment. Dredged material would provide fill for the two placement cells and the containment levees would be built from material collected from borrows within the interior of the cells, to be filled in with placed dredged material.
The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: No compensatory mitigation is proposed for this project since there is no permanent loss of waters of the U.S. The project is restorative in nature and will increase the function and value of the current wetland habitat.
Type of Application: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit application #SWG-2025-00039. This application will be reviewed pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
CMP Project No: 26-1024-F2
Further information on the applications listed above, including a copy of the consistency certifications or consistency determinations for inspection, may be obtained from the Texas General Land Office Public Information Officer at 1700 N. Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701, or via email at pialegal@glo.texas.gov. Comments should be sent to the Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program Coordinator at the above address or via email at federal.consistency@glo.texas.gov.