Originally, the state of Texas (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) mandated that the Motiva refinery cleanup sediments in Alligator Bayou, a channelized drainage way dividing the original refinery into two parts. Initially contracted develop a plan to manage Alligator Bayou and then to stabilize approximately 640,400 cubic yards of impacted sediments along a 12,000-foot reach, AECOM designed an alternative that remediated and solidified the sediments of the Old Alligator Bayou and rerouted discharge around the refinery to the Jefferson County Drainage District 7’s main canal.
Motiva, as part of a $12 Billion Crude Expansion Project (CEP), accelerated AECOM’s Alligator Bayou Project in an effort to expand its capacity from 285,000 to 630,000 barrels per day. Based on AECOM’s strategy to reroute the canal, the CEP footprint was redesigned to include 46 acres spanning the Old Alligator Bayou that would be cleared, stabilized capped to create the footprint for the new plant expansion; thereby avoiding significant CEP costs for remote separate units away from the existing and new refinery. AECOM provided planning, investigation, characterization, engineering, remediation waste coordination, and construction oversight for activities ahead of the construction of Motiva’s new entire refinery. Specific activities included ecological closure of the original upper Alligator Bayou; design and construction management of two-lane and one-lane bridges across the old channel; design of a temporary stormwater management program; design of a 5,700 foot heavy haul road extension; and design of a large wetland delineation and construction. The project closure plan and permitting was started in 2001 and the construction was completed in 3 years in September 2010.