Support reauthorizing Texas artificial reef program
TPWD Artificial Reef RGP; Previously 19942
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers· Navigable waters of the United States within the USACE Galveston District jurisdiction, Gulf of Mexico (Texas coastal and offshore waters)Army Corps public notice ↗
Army CorpsWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Texas
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Big Bend Conservancy
Works Texas: they work only in Texas.
- Friends of Balcones Canyonlands NWR
Works Texas: they work only in Texas.
- National Parks Conservation Association
Works Texas: plaintiff in the challenge to the blanket Gulf oil and gas endangered species exemption, naming Padre Island among the threatened parks.
- National Wildlife Federation
Works Texas: co-plaintiff in the God Squad suit over Gulf drilling impacts on Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Renewing this permit keeps Texas Parks and Wildlife building fish habitat in Gulf of Mexico waters.
What’s at risk
Artificial reefs in Texas Gulf waters provide critical habitat for fish and marine life. Without reauthorization, Texas Parks and Wildlife loses federal permission to build, maintain, or repair those reefs.
If we stay silent
Texas Parks and Wildlife can continue constructing and maintaining artificial reefs in the Gulf under a renewed federal permit, preserving a longstanding marine habitat program.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
3 holes in the agency’s own analysis
What the public could have raised, from the agency’s own document
- I support this action and urge the agency to advance it.
- I support reissuing regional General Permit SWG-1994-00026, which authorizes Texas Parks and Wildlife to construct, maintain, and repair artificial reefs in navigable waters of the U.S. under the Galveston District's jurisdiction.
- Reauthorizing this permit continues a longstanding program that creates fish habitat in Gulf of Mexico waters, making it a clear conservation benefit for marine ecosystems.
- The permit's requirement that Texas Parks and Wildlife submit a Preconstruction Notification for each project ensures site-specific review before any reef structure is placed in navigable waters.
- Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
In the agency’s own words
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Galveston District is proposing to reissue regional General Permit (RGP) SWG-1994-00026 pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403). This RGP would authorize the work and placement of structures in navigable waters of the US for the construction, maintenance, and repair of artificial reefs as part of work conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). For authorization under the RGP, TPWD must submit a Preconstruction Notification (PCN) for project-specific verification.
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