Permitting, Designing, and Constructing a Compensatory Saltmarsh Along the Savannah River

Southern LNG Inc. (SLNG), located near Savannah, Georgia, is one of only four LNG import terminals currently operating in the continental United States. In 1999, SLNG proposed to increase their existing turning basin to alleviate a navigation bottleneck and to accommodate safer docking for the tankers of ever-increasing size that navigate the Savannah River. Additionally, in 2001, SLNG proposed an expansion project which included the creation of a new slip. The expansion of the existing turning basin and the creation of the slip was predicted to permanently impact 3.29-acres of saltmarsh and 0.80-acres of protected estuarine mudflats. Since no saltmarsh mitigation banks are located in the State of Georgia, SLNG designed a mitigation plan to develop an in-kind compensatory wetland that was sited on the southern end of SLNG’s property. The created wetland was established in July 2003 and is undergoing a seven-year monitoring period. To date, the created wetland is functioning similarly to adjacent, naturally-occurring saltmarsh systems that are also located in the Savannah River.