Include District environmental staff in the DCC meeting (see ) and in subsequent project progress meetings to ensure that environmental studies and documents are appropriately updated. Results of environmental studies and the environmental commitments are included in plan sheets during final design. Refer to

TxDOT’s PS&E Preparation Manual

and the PS&E QC Milestone Checklist for details on environmental information to include on plan sheets.

The EPIC sheet must be completed by the District and lists all environmental permits, issues, commitments, and conditional requirements affecting the contractor and their work on that specific project. The sheet can be supplemented by specific details shown on other plan sheets, but the areas of concern should be shown on the EPIC for the contractor’s information.

The sheet should not be used to reiterate what is already shown in environmental permits for all projects.

An SWP3 Summary Sheet and Environmental Layouts consist of information which addresses erosion control measures during project construction. An SWP3 is required (by 1990 Clean Water Act) for all projects with soil disturbance. Refer to the TxDOT.gov TxDOT’s Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWP3) Guidance Document webpage for more information and guidance documents.

Occasionally actions are needed to avoid, minimize, or mitigate through compensation for adverse environmental impacts resulting from projects. In Title 43 TAC, Chapter 2, mitigation efforts may be defined as:

When all reasonable and feasible methods to avoid damage at a project site are employed, a net resource loss remains, compensatory mitigation may be required. Compensatory mitigation can be handled via the following three options, as applicable:

If compensatory mitigation is required, the District must submit a mitigation plan with the permit application to the USACE project manager for their review and approval. TxDOT Districts are to adhere to one of the following two standard operating procedures when addressing compensatory mitigation. If the District is withdrawing wetland credits from a TxDOT owned bank or purchasing credits from a third-party bank, the District must adhere to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): Acquiring and/or Purchasing 404 Compensatory Mitigation Credits. This SOP outlines the process for the TxDOT delegate to acquire wetland mitigation credits from TxDOT mitigation banks, or purchase wetland/stream mitigation credits from a third-party mitigation bank. If the project requires PRM, the District must adhere to the SOP: Section 404 Compensatory Mitigation via Permittee Responsible Mitigation. This SOP outlines the process for a TxDOT District to fulfill the requirement of wetland/stream compensatory mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act via Permittee Responsible Mitigation.

Other details are shown in plans (typically the environmental layout sheets) to indicate specific environmental issues and/or commitments. Refer to TxDOT’s

PS&E Preparation Manual

for additional details. These include: