NOAA and natural resource trustees in the Koppers Co, Inc. Hazardous Waste Site in Charleston, South Carolina have released the Final Supplement to the Final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment released in June of 2017 (PDF, 34 pages).

With this supplemental plan, the trustees are replacing the Long Branch Creek marsh creation project, which is no longer feasible, with a previously evaluated oyster reef creation project in the Charleston Harbor estuary.

The project from the 2017 Assessment and Plan (PDF, 99 pages) would have restored tidal salt marsh and fishery habitat within Long Branch Creek, Charleston, South Carolina. After further evaluation, the Trustees found that the Long Branch Creek project would no longer be feasible and are replacing it with an oyster reef creation project, evaluated during project selection.

The oyster project will involve the construction of one or more intertidal oyster reefs and create additional oyster reef habitat encompassing approximately 2.4 acres in the Charleston Harbor estuary. This project is anticipated to provide ecological services equivalent to those of a natural oyster reef of equivalent size. The Trustees expect to implement the oyster reef creation project  in 2020 and 2021 and will do so in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ Oyster Restoration Program.