Atkins assisted American Electric Power’s (AEP) former central and southwest service regions’ facilities with the first phases of Section 316(b) compliance. Six AEP facilities in these regions fell under the Phase 2 requirements. These included Flint Creek, Lieberman, Knox Lee, Pirkey, Wilkes, and Welsh power stations. 

With the exception of Lieberman power station, each of the facilities withdraws cooling water from reservoirs. Lieberman Power Station withdraws water from Caddo Lake, a natural lake on the Texas and Louisiana border. Under Phase 2, each of the facilities was required to use best available technology to reduce impingement mortality. One of the first steps in this process, as required under Section 316(b), was the development of an impingement mortality baseline.

Atkins provided impingement data collection at each of the facilities. Atkins’ responsibilities included method development, impingement monitoring, data management, quality assurance, report preparation, and coordination with AEP facility staff and project management. We began by applying the methods outlined in the Proposal for Information Collection for each facility to further develop an impingement monitoring program to be used by field staff. Atkins designed and constructed collection frames and nets specific to each facility. During the early phases of monitoring, the intake screen efficiency at each facility was evaluated and, in some cases, corrective actions were taken to ensure that valid samples were collected. Impingement sampling was conducted on a bi-weekly basis for one year. Samples were processed in the field by Atkins’ fisheries staff. At Flint Creek Power Station, Atkins partnered with Arkansas Tech University for data collection and management.

• Ecological services

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